Nintendo Switch (HAC-001-01) vs Nintendo Switch Lite

The Lite is the Switch that doesn’t switch: a one-piece handheld with the controls built in, no dock and no kickstand. Nintendo announced it on 10 July 2019, two and a half years after the original Switch’s 13 January 2017 announcement, and US colors went on sale from 20 September 2019. The standard Switch on this page is the revised model, HAC-001(-01), with the bigger battery, not the 2017 launch unit.

Side by side

Spec	Nintendo Switch (HAC-001-01)	Nintendo Switch Lite
Model	HAC-001(-01)	HDH-001
Ways to play	Handheld, tabletop, TV	Handheld only
Screen	6.2-inch LCD, 1280 × 720	5.5-inch LCD, 1280 × 720
TV output	Up to 1080p over HDMI, from the dock	None; USB-C is for charging
Controls	Detachable Joy-Con	Built in
HD Rumble	In the Joy-Con	Not listed
IR motion camera	Right Joy-Con	Not listed
NFC	Right Joy-Con	In the console
Battery	4310mAh	3570mAh, not user-removable
Battery life	About 4.5–9 hours; about 5.5 in Breath of the Wild	About 3.0–7.0 hours; about 4 in Breath of the Wild
Weight	About 0.66 lb; 0.88 lb with Joy-Con	About 0.61 lb (275 g)
Size	About 4 × 9.4 × 0.55 in with Joy-Con	About 3.6 × 8.2 × 0.55 in (91.1 × 208 × 13.9 mm)
Storage	32GB, plus microSD up to 2TB	32GB, plus microSD up to 2TB
Wired LAN	Optional adapter, in TV mode	No TV mode
Wi-Fi, Bluetooth	802.11ac, Bluetooth 4.1	802.11ac, Bluetooth 4.1
Processor	NVIDIA Custom Tegra	NVIDIA Custom Tegra
RAM	Not published	Not published
Power while playing	About 4W handheld, 7W on a TV	About 4W
US price	$299.99 (historical list price)	$199.99 regular price

The TV is the whole decision

The standard Switch plays three ways: in your hands, propped on its kickstand with the Joy-Con off, and on a TV. Its dock sends up to 1080p over HDMI, with linear PCM 5.1 audio, and has two USB 2.0 ports on the side and one at the rear alongside the AC input. For wired internet in TV mode you add an optional LAN adapter; unlike the OLED model’s dock, this one has no LAN port built in.

The Lite plays one way. Its USB-C port charges it and nothing more, so there’s no HDMI output and no dock, and without a kickstand there’s no tabletop mode either. Every game you play on it has to support handheld mode: a game built for the TV, for a detached controller or for tabletop play is the wrong fit. If anyone in the house wants to play on the big screen, that settles it.

Joy-Con that come off, or controls that stay put

The standard Switch’s Joy-Con slide off and carry the sticks, ABXY, a D-pad on the left, L and ZL, R and ZR, plus and minus, Capture and HOME, SL and SR, and release buttons; the console keeps Power and Volume. Each Joy-Con senses motion with an accelerometer and gyroscope, the right one adds an IR motion camera and NFC for amiibo, and both have HD Rumble. A charge lasts about 20 hours and takes about 3 hours 30 minutes, attached to the console or in a charging grip. The kickstand is the narrow, replaceable kind; the OLED model’s wide metal stand came later.

The Lite is one piece, and its controls are fixed: clickable left and right sticks, ABXY, a +Control Pad, L and R, ZL and ZR, plus and minus, HOME, Capture, Power and Volume, with an accelerometer and a gyroscope inside. NFC sits in the console itself. Nintendo lists HD Rumble for the Joy-Con but not for the Lite, and there’s no IR camera.

A bigger battery, and the longer rating

The standard Switch has a 4310mAh battery that Nintendo rates at about 4.5 to 9 hours, and about 5.5 hours when you’re playing The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. The Lite’s 3570mAh battery, which you can’t remove, is rated for about 3.0 to 7.0 hours, or about 4 hours of the same game. The ranges overlap, since the Lite’s best case of 7 hours sits inside the standard Switch’s range, but the standard Switch is ahead at both ends and in Nintendo’s Zelda example.

Both take about 3 hours to charge over USB-C while asleep, and Nintendo’s store listing says the Lite comes with an AC adapter. Nintendo also rates power draw. The standard Switch uses about 4 watts playing a game in your hands and about 7 watts on a TV, about 3 and 6 watts for video, and about 6 kilowatt-hours a year at two hours a day. The Lite uses about 4 watts for games, 3 for video and 2 on the home menu, about 3 kilowatt-hours a year, and Nintendo gives its US operating range as 41 to 95 degrees Fahrenheit.

If you’re buying a standard Switch used, check for HAC-001(-01), because the 2017 HAC-001 launch model carries a smaller battery with a shorter rating.

Smaller and lighter, with the same pixels

The Lite puts the same 1280 × 720 resolution on a 5.5-inch screen instead of 6.2 inches, so the picture is a little denser. It weighs about 0.61 lb, or 275 grams on Nintendo’s UK page, and measures about 3.6 × 8.2 × 0.55 inches (91.1 × 208 × 13.9 mm), or 28.4 mm at its thickest. The standard Switch weighs about 0.66 lb on its own and 0.88 lb with the Joy-Con attached, and measures about 4 × 9.4 × 0.55 inches. Both are 1.12 inches deep at the sticks.

What they share

Both run Nintendo’s system software on an NVIDIA Custom Tegra chip, buy games from the Nintendo eShop and take Switch game cards. Both have 32GB of storage with part of it reserved for the system (Nintendo UK puts the Lite’s share at about 6.2GB), and both expand to 2TB with microSD, with microSDXC support arriving in a system update. Both have stereo speakers, a 3.5mm CTIA headset jack, a capacitive touchscreen, Wi-Fi up to 802.11ac and Bluetooth 4.1.

Price, and the newer Switches

Nintendo’s store has listed the Lite at a $199.99 regular price, in colors that have included Yellow, Turquoise, Coral and Blue plus special editions. The standard Switch’s historical US list price is $299.99. Nintendo’s August 2025 pricing update warned that prices, including the Lite’s, could change; nintendo.com has the current figure.

Both are last-generation Switches, so if yours suits how you play, keep it. If you want a bigger handheld screen, the OLED model has a 7-inch OLED and 64GB with the standard Switch’s battery rating; Switch vs Switch OLED covers that step. For Nintendo’s current console, Switch 2 vs Switch OLED is the place to start.