Back in 2017, Nintendo Switch burst onto the scene, saving Nintendo after the Wii U failed to meet expectations, and the 3DS started to fade away. Interestingly, the Wii U Gamepad might’ve inspired the Switch with its game streaming to its unique handheld controller.
Fast forward to the present day, last year Nintendo sold over 130 million Switch units worldwide. Big hitters like Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, and The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom are the reason behind its success.
However, rumors heard through the grapevine hints that Nintendo might be readying a successor, and it may be called Switch 2. Expect it to be way more powerful, and since it’s Nintendo, there’s probably a fresh Mario adventure in store. If reports are believed, it might be one of the most powerful handheld consoles once launched.
Switch 2 expected specs
While nothing has yet been made official, early rumors from key insiders suggest fans should keep expectations in check, at least in terms of Switch 2’s performance. In particular, GameIndustry.biz’s Dr. Serkan Toto argued the new model will simply be an “iteration rather than a revolution.”
The Switch 2 is rumored to be using an updated Nvidia system-on-chip (SoC), which was spotted in May 2022. Nintendo is currently using a Tegra X1 SoC to power the Switch, with the suspected hardware dominating the performance by a considerable margin.
When it comes to the display, it’s likely the Switch follow-up will come equipped with an 8-inch LCD screen. This development was reported on by Omida analyst Hiroshi Hayase, who spoke to Bloomberg to discuss the upcoming handheld.
With the most recent Switch model having an OLED display, this would be a step back for the Switch 2. Yet, it’s likely this would be an effort to cut down on costs, putting the console at a more affordable price point upon launch.
On the other hand, an 8-inch screen would put the Switch 2 above its predecessors. The first Switch model currently has a 6.2-inch screen, whereas the OLED comes in slightly bigger at 7 inches.
Digging through forums and other speculation is quite messy, but the gist of the new hardware is that it’ll potentially support current Nvidia graphical features like DLSS.
Nvidia DLSS on Nintendo Switch
With DLSS in tow, it would allow Nintendo to push the Switch 2 further than expected, as many weaker PCs are currently doing right now. This could potentially mean that 4K gaming is doable by blowing up the image to a bigger size through Nvidia’s algorithms.
On a 3050-based laptop, we managed to squeeze out considerable performance by using DLSS 2, and hardware that supports DLSS 3 sees massive gains.
DLSS is Nvidia’s current baby, but we doubt there will be anything like frame generation enabled. This said, the SoC will require tensor cores, which power DLSS. With this in mind, the current suspects for being embedded in the Switch 2 all feature the component.
It’s also expected to see DDR5 RAM onboard the new Switch 2, which should give an enormous boost to overall performance. How much they’ll use is not yet known, but current Nvidia SoCs like the Jetson Nano, use 8GB. However, NX versions use 16GB and there’s a development kit that uses 64GB. Don’t expect anything more than 16GB, and even then, we’d say to expect closer to 8GB.
For storage, Nintendo should be going with an NVMe or eMMC drive. 2230 drives are what currently power things like the Steam Deck, and are relatively low-cost. However, Nintendo is staunchly against self-repair, and we could see an embedded storage solution soldered straight onto the motherboard.
Switch 2 release date speculation
Two recent reports have come out from different ends of the world. One comes from China, where a tech outlet has reported a key partner in creating the Joycons’ infrared camera is expecting a big year.
Another, from outlet VGC, matches suspicions from another leaker detailed below. The outlet reports that the upcoming Switch 2 is in more developer hands, as well as being the first outline to report on the initial details about the handheld’s screen.
A leaker, Nash Weedle, has hinted that the Nintendo Switch 2 is almost ready. He claims that a development kit for a Switch 2 is already in the hands of a Spanish studio, most likely to be MercurySteam.
While Nintendo plans to keep things strictly under wraps, this leak suggests that the key hardware specifications, including the display, processor, and RAM, have been finalized as sharing a dev kit ahead of the launch helps partner studios prepare the games well ahead of launch.
Though the above leak doesn’t hint at the launch timeline, reports indicate that the Switch 2 is expected to ship with a powerful new chipset at its core.
A YouTuber Doctre81 also speculated that the console is almost ready for launch in one of the videos that detailed Best Buy’s new subscription service. The service will offer Switch owners access to a new buy two get one free on all the Nintendo Switch games for the foreseeable future. This exclusive offer suggests that Best Buy might be looking to clear physical inventory ahead of the Switch 2’s release.
We expect the Nintendo Switch 2 to release after April 2024. As of today, there’s no actual release date for the console. However, some key moments in the last few months have sparked the rumor mill once again.
Release date speculation has been rife since around 2020. As it turns out, the console Nintendo planned to put out was the OLED Switch, rather than the successor.
More recently Nintendo’s current CEO, Shuntaro Furukawa, has stated that we shouldn’t expect any hardware until after April 2024. We suspect a partial reason for this is that Nintendo will want to include hardware sales in the next quarter, sort of like a fresh start.
We’d suspect that the announcement to release will follow a similar pattern to the Switch, with announcement months in advance before release. The Switch was announced in October 2016 and launched in March 2017.
Switch 2 price speculation
With hardware expected to be a significant jump, and with more features also suspected to arrive thanks to the onboard Nvidia chip, the Switch 2 might be a little more costly than its predecessor.
Nintendo often sells its consoles at a loss to begin with, as does Sony. This is to inject hardware into households, and then make up the difference with software and accessories. Eventually, future revisions become cheaper as the parts do.
This might still be the case, but with flash storage and RAM dropping in price for manufacturers, the system could potentially be cheaper than initial guesses.
Having taken a look at the handheld market recently, Nintendo might only have to consider Valve a notable competitor. The Switch 2 will not be priced in line with things like the ROG Ally, but Valve’s Steam Deck comes in at a starting price of $399 and this is where we’d put the Switch 2 as of right now.
Although, Nintendo isn’t a company that actively takes potshots at competitors with aggressive pricing. The Wii, which launched at $249, could do so because the hardware inside was essentially last-generation. Meanwhile, the DS and 3DS undercut Sony’s offerings simply due to it featuring weaker hardware overall.
An insider suggests a $400 launch price tag as the most likely outcome, with an analyst for GamesIndustry.biz making similar claims. The one thing that could keep the price up around the $400 mark or above is whether Nintendo keeps the OLED panel. OLED screens aren’t particularly expensive parts in the grand scheme of things, and keeping one around to remain current can have the potential to increase the price.
Will the Switch 2 have backwards compatibility?
We don’t know yet, but there’s a high possibility. Nintendo has been known for supporting their older libraries between more recent generations. You shouldn’t worry about your library, as Nintendo is very aware of how many copies of games have been sold.
With the Switch 2 presumably using a similar backend to the original, we’d bet big money on digital copies of games carrying over. Whether Nintendo continues with the cartridge is not known, but with the potential for bigger games coming, the carts would need a definite upgrade.
As of right now they top out at 64GB and Nintendo cannot rely on every Switch 2 owner to be connected to the internet for updates or downloading missing files.
They have done this previously, with the 3DS using the same form factor but swapping the innards, and the Gameboy only changed the form factor of its current cartridges to prevent unsuspecting players from putting in a copy of Pokemon Crystal into hardware that it wasn’t made for.