Nintendo Confirms Switch 2 In The Most Nintendo Way Possible
Nintendo has just officially confirmed that it will reveal a next-gen Switch console later this year. The announcement was made via a post on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, as part of the company's latest financial report. "We will make an announcement about the successor to Nintendo Switch within this fiscal year," wrote Nintendo President Shuntaro Furukawa.
The Nintendo revelation also lays to rest rumors claiming that the Switch 2 has been delayed to 2025 to ensure that the company gets an ample amount of production time to avoid any post-launch inventory shortage. The Japanese company hasn't clarified exactly when the handheld gaming console will arrive, but it won't be in the first half of the year, it seems.
This is Furukawa, President of Nintendo. We will make an announcement about the successor to Nintendo Switch within this fiscal year. It will have been over nine years since we announced the existence of Nintendo Switch back in March 2015. We will be holding a Nintendo Direct...
— 任天堂株式会社（企業広報・IR） (@NintendoCoLtd) May 7, 2024
The company has scheduled a Nintendo Direct event in June to lift the covers from upcoming Nintendo Switch games slated to arrive in the second half of 2024. But just a bit of heads up here. Nintendo won't be talking about the Switch 2 at the show. The console is hotly anticipated, not just because it will finally see a generation-over-generation upgrade after the Switch came out back in 2017, but also due to the next wave of games leveraging advancements in graphics technology and the silicon developments to power those experiences.
What to expect from the Switch 2?
Nintendo's next-gen console has been popping up in leaks for a while, but given the company's secretive nature, nothing concrete can be taken away from them. A recurring theme in the leak-land is a display size upgrade, going from the Switch's 7-inch panel to an 8-inch screen on the Switch 2. There is some chatter about a jump to an LCD screen instead of the OLED panel, with some leaks even getting as ambitious as a 120Hz refresh rate panel for the second-gen Switch, but there are conflicting reports on this aspect, so don't keep your hopes high.
We are also in the dark about the silicon inside the Switch 2. A few rumors claim that, once again, we are getting an Nvidia chip inside the upcoming Nintendo handheld, but an alleged specification sheet leak suggests 10 streaming multiprocessors, an octa-core processor based on Arm's Cortex-A78AE, and 8GB of RAM. The base storage configuration will likely be 64GB (eMMC), but we've come across reports of a 256GB version, as well.
As far as the design goes, the Joy-Con controllers will reportedly get a makeover and will rely on a magnetic attachment system instead of the existing rail system. This is certainly good news, as magnets don't come with the same kind of wear and tear risks as plastic-based docking. However, do keep in mind that these are all rumors at best, so take them with a generous dose of skepticism.