There have been rumors of an upgraded and more powerful Nintendo Switch, generally referred to by fans as the Nintendo Switch Pro, for a while now, with the most common belief being that it will support 4K resolution.

Doug Bowser, president of Nintendo of America, has attempted to downplay such rumors, stating in an interview that the company is completely focused on the current Switch models. But, one dataminer claims to have uncovered new evidence that the Switch Pro is, indeed, real.

RELATED: Nintendo Switch Pro Trends as Fans Make Fun of Nintendo Direct ‘Leak’

According to SciresM, a well-known console hacker/reverse engineer, who shared their findings on 4chan, which were then reposted on ResetEra, Nintendo has been working on an upgraded model for the last two years. While they reiterate that it could potentially support 4K, they confidently state that it will feature an upgraded display screen.

Specifically, the Switch Pro will have an OLED screen and the new hardware, codenamed Aula, has firmware support for a Realtek chip which advertises itself as having 4K UHD multimedia SoC. While this indicates that it will support 4K resolution, SciresM isn't sure whether the chip is in the tablet itself or inside a new dock, which could suggest that the Switch Pro won't be compatible with the current Switch's dock. What's more, Aula also supports handheld mode, so the Switch Pro will continue to be a home console/handheld hybrid.

It will also contain a Mariko SoC, which SciresM says means the Switch Pro will have substantially better cooling and battery life. They theorize this will mean Nintendo Switch games played on the Switch Pro will be enhanced, similar to how some PlayStation 4 games had better performance when played on the PlayStation 4 Pro.

miyamoto violence video games

For example, Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity has frame rate issues, with the game very noticeably chugging when a lot of enemies are on-screen at once. A Switch Pro could potentially upgrade the game and allow it to offer a much smoother experience.

But while there seem to be very few downsides to the existence of a Switch Pro, there is arguably just as much evidence to prove that Nintendo isn't actually making it. While the DS and 3DS handhelds received new iterations, Nintendo has never really made an upgraded revision of a home console before.

Plus, with how financially successful the Switch continues to be, nearly four years after it launched, Nintendo doesn't necessarily even need to make a new version. It even managed to outsell the PlayStation 5 during its launch month, despite the PS5 being much more powerful and the hot new console.

In the end, unless Nintendo officially announces it itself, the Switch Pro may be nothing more than a fantasy at this point.

MORE: Nintendo Switch Pro Console May Not Be as Likely as it Seems

Source: ResetEra