So recently, the Nintendo Switch got a major update, update 5.0. However, with that update came a way of destroyed Nintendo Switches. Why? Because apparently, these people were using 3rd party Switch docks, and through that and the update, the Switches short circuit, becoming paperweights.
Now, Nintendo has commented on the situation and basically said don’t use 3rd party docks. Which is understandable from their perspective, however, when it comes to gamers, we want to know why things are happening. So, someone decided to investigate, and found out that the USB-C connection seems to be the cause of this. Here’s an explanation given on Reddit:
The Nintendo Switch Dock USB TypeC power supply is not USB-PD spec compliant. As a result it does not “play nice” with other USBC devices. This means you should strongly consider only using the Nintendo Switch Dock adapter only with the Nintendo Switch (and Dock). Additionally, it also seems the Nintendo Switch Dock does not “play nice” with other USB-PD chargers. This means you’re forced to use a Nintendo-brand power supply.
The question now is, did Nintendo intentionally make the Switch this way in order to ensure that only their docks were being used? What’s more, why did the 5.0 update trigger these events? We’re not sure if we’ll get an answer, but we will be speculating.
