Nintendo Switch 2: Original console getting updated insides alongside new 'Mini' version

It is not yet clear whether the new Switch will be obviously different from the old one

The new Nintendo Switch game console is displayed at a pop-up Nintendo venue in Madison Square Park, March 3, 2017 in New York City (Drew Angerer/Getty Images))

Nintendo is updating the insides of the Switch, with a new processor and storage.

The company has revealed the new internal specifications in an update to the Federal Communications Commission, which is intended to make regulators aware of the upcoming change.

The filings make reference to a new "SoC type" and new "NAND Memory". That refers to the processor that includes the CPU and graphics, as well as the memory that stores information inside of the Switch.

The outside of the console does not appear to be changing. The filing with the FCC is specifically meant for products that are changing a little to ensure that they are re-registered – and so the console mentioned in them is almost certainly not a Switch 2 or a new generation of the console.

They give no details about the new components inside of the console. That means they could improve performance, battery life or other key measurements – or they might simply run the same as before.

The filings come immediately after Nintendo announced the Switch Lite. That smaller console gets rid of some of the main features of the bigger one, in exchange for a smaller footprint and a lower price.

Both a mini version of the Switch as well as one with updated components have been long rumoured.

But it's not actually clear that players will ever know whether their Switch includes the new components. Nintendo might make the change without informing their users.

Companies regularly change components inside in ways that give no discernable change to the way the products actually work. (Earlier this year, for instance, Sonos released the second generation of its One speaker – but said that despite the improved performance it wouldn't do anything differently, suggesting the change had been made for cost or other reasons.)