Nintendo Switch Wireless Charging Hack Seems Too Easy

One intrepid engineer revealed a hardware hack this week that allows the Nintendo Switch Lite to go wireless. The hack is surprisingly simple, if one considers the use of a soldering iron and a screwdriver easy. The creator, Robotanv, has a history of turning devices like this into wireless charging superstars – Qi-standard wireless charging in full effect!

The Nintendo Switch Lite has a relatively simple-to-open outer shell. Once the insides are accessed, all the user needs to do is solder a wireless charging adapter to the battery*, really. The process isn't something we'd recommend for everyone – it'll certainly break any warranty you have with the hardware in question – but still, neat!

*TECHNICALLY it's a bit more complicated than this, since the USB-C charging pad accessory required a tiny bit of a fix. The process requires that the user have a technical knowledge of which cord needs to be soldered to which pin. Fortunately, Robotanv did the work!

Again, it's important that we recognize the reasons why Nintendo didn't just include this feature from the get-go: Cost, first of all. It wouldn't cost more than a dollar or two per device to get one of these charging parts in each Nintendo Switch Lite, BUT, Nintnedo wanted to keep costs down as much as possible. That does double for the Nintendo Switch Lite, a device that's supposed to be so inexpensive that you'll feel like you can't avoid it.

Nintendo also clearly wanted users to upgrade to the Nintendo Switch (non-Lite) to use the dock, which in turn connects to your TV screen. Nintendo will likely allow a console of the future to work with wireless charging alongside wireless transmission of video signal. But for now, the ecosystem they've created is the one they want you to USE, with WIRES.