How powerful is the Nintendo Switch 2 compared to other consoles?

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Short answer: about as powerful as a PS4, which is roughly 7 to 10 times stronger than the original Switch.

The Numbers

When docked, the Switch 2 pumps out around 3 TFLOPs of GPU power. That's more than the PS4 (1.84 TFLOPs) and Xbox One (1.31 TFLOPs). In handheld mode, it drops to about 1.7 TFLOPs to save battery.

The PS5 and Xbox Series X are still way ahead at 10+ TFLOPs each. The Switch 2 isn't trying to compete on raw power with those.

But Here's the Thing

Raw numbers aren't everything. The Switch 2 has some tricks:

DLSS is the big one. It's NVIDIA AI magic that takes a lower-resolution image and upscales it to look like 4K. This means the Switch 2 can output 4K that looks nearly as good as native 4K without actually rendering at 4K. Clever.

Ray tracing is in there too. Realistic lighting and reflections that weren't possible on the original Switch. Not every game will use it, but it's available.

What Games Actually Look Like

Cyberpunk 2077 runs on Switch 2. Actually runs. The enhanced Zelda games look gorgeous. Third-party games that struggled on the original Switch play smoothly now.

Will you get PS5-level graphics? No. But the gap is way smaller than it used to be. The original Switch was embarrassingly underpowered compared to PS4. The Switch 2 holds its own.

The Portability Factor

Here's what matters: you're getting near-PS4 power in something you can throw in a backpack. The PS5 can't do that. If portability matters to you, the Switch 2's power is more than enough.