Report: Nintendo Switch includes a touchscreen

Nintendo’s upcoming home console-handheld hybrid, the Nintendo Switch, won’t ditch the touchscreen its predecessors have, Eurogamer reports. “A number of sources” confirmed that not only does the Switch have touch controls, it will include a multi-touch screen.

That differentiates the Nintendo Switch’s reported six-inch, 720-pixel resolution screen from those on Wii U and the Nintendo DS line of handhelds. Those consoles boast resistive screens that allow for just single-touch use, while Eurogamer’s sources suggest the Switch will include touch functionality akin to most smartphones. That includes multi-finger gesture support, according to the unnamed sources.

Nintendo has been pushing the Switch as a home console first, meaning that the tablet-style portable is meant to spend most of its time in the dock that connects it to the TV. That suggests that touch support may be limited in use, in comparison to its prominence in Wii U and 3DS games.

Recent patent findings suggest that the handheld does include a touchscreen, as well as a gyroscope, GPS, compass and motion-tracking capabilities. The company filed these documents over the course of the last year; we took a look at several of them earlier this week.

In the console’s reveal trailer, Nintendo chose to focus on what Nintendo Switch does differently from the Wii U and 3DS, its current systems. That left the status of touchscreen controls up in the air, making it onto our list of the biggest questions we still have about the device.

We’ll learn much more about Nintendo Switch in mid-January, when Nintendo is expected to unveil more specs and titles at a press conference in Tokyo, Japan.