In 2018, hacker Kate Temkin released a hardware hack for the Nintendo Switch. Because it was a hardware hack on the console's NVidia Tegra chip, it allowed all Nintendo Switch consoles at the time to be hacked, regardless of the firmware version. In response, Nintendo began producing an updated, error-free hardware version, later renamed "patched V1", unlike the original "patched" models. These upgraded units reached customers in the summer of 2018. In the summer of 2019, Hackear Nintendo Switch Lite 2022Nintendo also released a complete overhaul of the console's hardware, codenamed Mariko (or V2), which had no vulnerabilities. Switch Lite, another console format with an improved chip (not sensitive to hacks), was also released in 2019.
Although it is now technically possible to break any Switch on the market, making original, irregular V1 models is much simpler and cheaper than other models.