If you’re dealing with what appears to be poor battery life on the Nintendo Switch 2, the company has a support document with steps you can try to fix it.
The document spells out what you can try if “the battery amount displayed and the actual remaining battery use don’t match,” according to Nintendo. “For example, you are able to continue using your Nintendo Switch 2 console for a few hours even though the battery charge indicator displays the battery is almost depleted.”
Nintendo’s troubleshooting steps include making sure you have an “adequately powerful AC adapter” to charge your system, confirming that your console has the latest system update, and booting the system into recovery mode, which the company says “should reset the battery level meter.” If those steps don’t work and your battery life is still showing incorrectly, Nintendo suggests sending your console in for service.
Since last week’s launch, there’s been some chatter about poor battery life, but some of that might just be due to the Switch 2 not having a great battery. On the Switch 2 tech specs page, Nintendo rates battery life from approximately 2 to 6.5 hours, and it notes that those are “rough estimates” and that “the battery life will depend on the games you play.” For comparison, Nintendo rates the Switch and Switch OLED for about 4.5 to 9 hours of battery.
The differences are stark in a battery test on YouTube between the Switch 2, Switch OLED, and Switch Lite. With all three running Super Mario Odyssey under similar conditions, the Switch 2 was the first console to power down after about 2 hours and 45 minutes. The next was the Switch Lite, which lasted nearly 30 minutes longer. And the Switch OLED? It lasted for approximately double the time of the Switch 2, finally powering off at just about five hours and 30 minutes.