The Nintendo Switch OLED takes approximately 3,600 hours to create burn-in on its OLED screen in handheld mode, as one YouTuber has discovered.
YouTuber WULFF DEN put their Nintendo Switch OLED to the ultimate test by leaving a screenshot from Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild on the screen for 24 hours a day for almost six months straight to see how long it would take to start to see signs of OLED burn-in on the handheld’s screen.
As demonstrated in the video, it took 3,600 hours to see even the tiniest bit of burn-in, which honestly, we can barely see in the video. When the Nintendo Switch OLED presents a white screen (for example the home screen) there is a very faint trace of "blue ghosting" after six months, which is where the lights were located in the Breath of the Wild screenshot.
Thankfully, if you are the type to leave an image continuously on your Switch for six months, there is a way to reverse the damage - but it will take another six months. According to WULFF DEN, all you’d need to do to reverse the damage is invert colours via the Switch’s settings and leave it on for another 3,600 hours so that the rest of the screen burns in and evens out the rest of the colours.
If you were worried about playing your Nintendo Switch OLED in handheld mode for long periods of time because of OLED burn-in, as the YouTuber explains, you really shouldn't be. It would take years of playing games with a lot of UI elements or leaving the screen on for an extreme length of time to even begin to see any damage. We still don’t recommend that you leave your Switch OLED on like that though, just in case.
Have you now been convinced to pick up this console? Take a look at our Nintendo Switch OLED buying guide.
