A New Nintendo Switch is Coming This Year and It Looks to be More Than a Standard Upgrade.

Rumors have been flying since before the announcement of the Switch Lite that Nintendo was interested in selling a premium console akin to PS4 Pro. But we now have leaked details that suggest this may not be a traditional raw power upgrade many expected.

Where this new Switch will keep its current form factor is still unknown.

System update 10.0.0 arrived yesterday with several quality of life improvements, including allowing players to remap their controls (so maybe I’ll finally stop exiting the menu when I think I’m hitting ‘confirm’). However, on top of this, there were some back end changes too. Self-proclaimed Infosec enthusiast and data-miner Mike Heskin claims that amongst this update there is mention of support for a new hardware model referred to as the “nx-abcd”, NX being the internal code name for Switch prior to release.

 While system refreshes are nothing new, the current Switch model has an improved battery life over the older model and improves the infamous “Joycon Drift” problem, what has been mined out of this update points to “a secondary display of sorts being added exclusively on this model”. Some speculate that this could point to a dockless Switch that could somehow display on a monitor or TV wirelessly but that could be a firmware update pushed to all Switches (including the Lite) and the support for multiple screens will apparently be exclusive to the new model. So what does this update mean?

Seems like the Switch Advance will be more evolution than revolution.

Well, we now have speculation from renowned E3 cancellation and Nintendo Direct leaker HotGirlVideos69 that lends credence to the idea of this being an entirely new model of Switch that Nintendo is building support for. Last night she posted on Twitter claiming to have knowledge of two sources with details as to what this new console will entail. According to her first source, Nintendo seeks to add a secondary display which will be “attached or attachable to the controller”. This secondary display will act like the Wii U’s gamepad increasing functionality however unlike the Wii U it will be dockable into the main device rather than a separate peripheral.  While her second source claims “Nintendo is very pleased with how Labo went. New hardware is taking this into account”. Both sources mention Virtual Reality seeking to utilize the new system’s functionality. And her second source alleges its official name will be the Nintendo Switch Advance, however, HotGirlVideo69 warns us that she is skeptical of that particular claim. 

What does this mean? At this point it seems very likely we’re getting a Switch with a second screen. How this screen will integrate into the system is yet to be seen but don’t expect it to be like the Nintendo DS’s second screen, being integral to the functionality of the system. It seems to be intended for experiences detached from the main console focusing on Labo style peripherals or as a Wii U-Esque glorified mini-map and inventory system for games that support it. And with no mention of increased horsepower or games being exclusive to this platform, it is hard to see this being much more than a gimmick.

This comes as Nikkei reports that Nintendo is halting all Switch shipments in Japan, due to stock shortages caused by increased demand during the COVID-19 pandemic. This is despite operations at their Chinese and Vietnamese manufacturing sites having “recovered to a certain point”. This could mean that these plants are working on the production of a new Switch model, not the old one that is sold out everywhere, or it could just be that demand for the Switch is so high right now that Nintendo is trying to replenish their inventory.

While only time will tell what Nintendo has in store, their recent history of hardware and peripherals points to the next iteration of the Switch being unlike whatever you or I were probably expecting.