A recent patent publication suggests that the Switch 2 System is supposed to support external VRR via HDMI, but for unknown reasons it hasn’t been implemented.
Long version: To guarantee stable rendering of System UI and processing of GameChat camera, at the beginning of each frame period (e.g., 1/60s) a small amount of GPU time (kT in image 1 below) is reserved for these system processing (e.g.,notification pop-up); the rest of the GPU time (1/60 – kT) is for game rendering. If a frame completes rendering before the frame period ends, it’s sent to the LCD or TV immediately (image 2). However, if the display doesn’t support VRR, the frame isn’t sent until the end of the frame period.
When the GPU cannot complete a game frame (Ap1 in image below) at the end of a period, it is suspended and the system processing (Sy2) takes over; the game rendering (Ap1) resumes afterward. The VRR LCD/TV isn’t refreshed until a frame completes rendering.
Note that a GameChat camera image may also take multiple frame periods to process. So in theory, if a) the game renders quickly and b) the display support VRR, the GameChat camera frame rate can be higher (image below).
Since the patent application was filed in the US on 2025-08-14, months after Nintendo removed the VRR mention from its site. It seems that internally they still expect to support docked VRR, but it’s delayed possibly for technical reasons.
[Originally posted on 2026-04-01 Pacific Time]
