Rumors about a Nintendo Switch 2 seem to have been circulating almost since the Switch originally launched, but over the past seven years, Nintendo has been mostly silent on the subject. The company did recently break its silence on its plans for its latest console, but here's the surprise: It still hasn't revealed much.
In the absence of any official intelligence, it would be easy to dismiss any new claims as pure speculation. Still, I think some rumors about the Switch 2 are more reliable than others, and could actually give us a glimpse into Nintendo's plans for what could be the most anticipated new console in years.
Nintendo confirms the existence of Switch 2
The best rumor isn't a rumor at all: On Tuesday, May 7, Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa posted on X (formerly Twitter) to reveal that the company will "make an announcement regarding a successor to the Nintendo Switch within this fiscal year."
Tweet may have been deleted
That doesn't tell us much, but it's the first time the company has publicly acknowledged the Switch 2's existence. Plus, we now have a schedule for some official Switch news: By the end of this fiscal year, we'll have at least a glimpse of what Nintendo has planned for its latest console.
If the original Switch is any indicator, we'll probably get quite a bit of information from the initial announcement: The Switch's first reveal video showed off its now-famous ability to "switch" from TV mode to handheld mode, as well as being Portable multiplayer game console. Hopefully any Switch 2 news will provide us with at least the same level of insight.
Rumors have some credibility
Last month, writer Ramón Varela published a groundbreaking article for the Spanish outlet Vandal that included some claims that had never been circulated before. These claims were later confirmed and expanded upon by Mobapad, a company that makes Switch controllers and accessories.
While all rumors should be taken with a grain of salt (and they're pretty serious ones at that), there's reason to believe Vandal's reporting. The outlet's article on the 2021 "Switch Pro" actually got a lot of details right about what turned out to be a Switch OLED. While Vandal incorrectly predicted that the Switch OLED would output 4K when connected to a TV, it accurately reported that Nintendo would increase the display size without increasing the size of the console, and that the company would use OLED panels instead of OLED panels as display. LCD. It also correctly claims that the upgraded stand will be similar to that of the Microsoft Surface, and that the dock will have USB 3.0 ports as well as an Ethernet port.
That's not to say you can expect everything said in Vandal's latest report to be true. But it's nice to know that these rumors aren't coming from a source that has zero credibility, and it would certainly help if Switch accessory makers were able to back up some of them.
Old Joy-Con, new connection
The current Switch Joy-Con's rail design is iconic: you align the Joy-Con's rail with the corresponding rail on the Switch, then slide and click into place (hence, the Switch's famous "click" sound).
For the Switch 2, it seems like Nintendo will stick with a similar Joy-Con design, which makes sense: the detachable controllers are a fun way to make multiplayer gaming on the go on a portable console, though I wish they'd found a way to A way to prevent stuck drift forward. One big difference, however, is that the new Joy-Cons attach via magnets rather than rails. Vandal didn't reveal any more details about how this magnetic technology actually works, but Mobapad says they're made with "magnetic attraction" and use an electric current. Perhaps there is some type of locking mechanism that snaps into place once the magnets snap into place, similar to the locking system in the current Switch.
Regardless, switching from a rail option to a magnetic connection likely means your old Joy-Con won't be fully compatible with the Switch 2 unless Nintendo or a third party makes a magnetic rail attachment for them. That said, Mobapad believes the current Joy-Con will be compatible at least via Bluetooth, and both companies believe the existing Pro controllers will be compatible as well.
Mobapad also said the Joy-Con buttons are getting an upgrade. The SL and SR buttons are supposed to be metal, and Nintendo is adding a third button to each Joy-Con. In addition, a new function button will be added below the HOME button on the right handle.
Nintendo Switch OLED game console
Fully backwards compatible
Vandal said the latest rumor doesn't specify whether the Switch 2 will be backwards compatible with original Switch games, but the report says the manufacturer "believes and assumes" the console will be backwards compatible.
I'm with the manufacturers: it would be a disaster for Nintendo if the Switch 2 wasn't backwards compatible. The Switch is the first Nintendo console since the GameCube not to be backwards compatible with previous generation consoles. (Putting a Wii U disc into the Switch's cartridge slot would be difficult anyway.) But given that the Switch 2 is likely to be the spiritual successor to the OG Switch, expecting customers to upgrade to the latest console is a fool's errand a generation can't Choose to play your existing Switch library.
Nintendo, you've got us buying all the best Wii U games as Switch ports. Please don't let us do this again.
More powerful hardware
Specific details on the Switch 2 hardware specs are still hard to come by, but we do know that Nvidia will likely be involved. An unnamed source told Reuters in February that Nintendo planned to use a custom Nvidia chip on the Switch 2, and a previous Vandal report suggested that Nintendo planned to use an Nvidia chip based on the GeForce RTX 30 series. If the rumors are true, the chip is called the T239 and is a customized version of the existing T234 chip.
Vandal believes the hardware will support DLSS (Deep Learning Super Scaling), which uses artificial intelligence to create upscaled frames, and that the Switch 2 will support ray tracing, a modern lighting technology that produces realistic lighting environments. These changes, along with the rumored 4K output, will certainly make the Switch 2 graphically far superior to the original. If the news leaked by Centro is true, the Switch may also come with 12GB of memory. (Centro also confirmed many of Vandal's leaks.)
Even if we have the exact hardware specs, we can't say for sure just how powerful the Switch 2 is. That's because Nintendo may underclock the chip to balance the system's performance and portability, just like the current Switch. If Nintendo allowed us to use the SoC to its full potential, it could drain the battery too quickly and overheat the system. You can overclock your Switch to improve performance on demanding games like Kingdom Tears , but it's not recommended.
All that said, it's safe to say that the Switch 2 will improve the graphics performance of the current Switch, but the difference won't necessarily be huge, especially if you're using a Sony or Microsoft console, or maybe even a PS5 Pro. But Nintendo has never prioritized having the best graphics quality: As long as the next generation of Nintendo IP looks and plays great, and third-party developers on the platform continue to provide support, the Switch 2 will do what it's supposed to do .
Games should look good in handheld mode, too: Mobapad says the system will feature an 8-inch display, which is even larger than the 7-inch display on the Switch OLED. and 1080p resolution. All current Switches have 720p displays, so even though the Switch 2 won't run at 4K in handheld mode, it should look sharper than anything we've seen so far. Despite this, many outlets, including Centro, believe that the Switch 2's display will be LCD, not OLED. This is somewhat surprising:
Switch 2 may not be released this year
If you're waiting to buy an OLED Switch because you think the Switch 2 is coming, you might be waiting a little longer. Vandal and other sources believe Nintendo plans to launch the game in early 2025, which would bring the gap between console generations to eight years . This would be consistent with Furukawa's commitment to make an announcement before the end of this fiscal year.
Vandal said accessory makers thought Nintendo would wait until the Switch 2 had a larger catalog of games before releasing it, which wasn't a bad strategy: Nintendo didn't have enough killer games when it launched the 3DS, causing the handheld to struggle in its first year. . (It's also too expensive, but that's a story for another day.)
Whatever Nintendo's reason for delaying the Switch 2, it's likely it won't hit shelves in the near future or before the holidays. If you hold out, you'll miss out on a lot of great games, so unless you're willing to wait another year, you might want to buy a Switch.
