2DS was a failure overall IMO. Did not do much of anything for 3DS sales.

They can make a Switch Mini too, but I predict it won't sell very well.

People don't get it ... Switch is appealing to those who want a high end experience and real console games on the go. That's the appeal of the hardware. For that you need a large screen and the form factor of the current Switch is desirable.

Bringing the system down into what the 3DS is is not going to make it more appealing.

A larger screen Switch will sell better than a "mini Switch". 

That may be one appeal in the current Switch popularity, while not the only one.  The point with making a mini Switch would not be to combat that appeal, but to accommodate for a 3DS replacement that is viable to the existing handheld developers as well as to the younger players who would drive the sales.  If they were to bring those into the Switch fold, then the Switch library would explode as well as sales and in turn even more titles, and so on and so forth, in a cycle that would ride the system's life and possibly carry into the next few generations.  It is a needed step in the transition.  Who knows where the potential will end with Switch, but it must be taken advantage of while it's cultural and commercial definition is being established.

Here's the thing with that though -- kids prefer tablets to the 3DS. 

Go take a 3DS and a tablet and get a bunch of kids and see which one they want more, odds are more will be fighting over the tablet. 

Kids like the bigger screen themselves too. 3DS has been getting spanked by tablets for a while now, every time I'm in an airport I see literally like 10-15 kids with a tablet versus the very rare one with a 3DS. It isn't even a contest anymore. 

So the tablet like form factor of the Switch may be more desirable even to kids. Wouldn't surprise me at all. 

I think we will see a 'pro' version before a smaller version, but there probably will be a cheaper model coming out in the future

That may be true.  I've seen kids playing on both, but most families have more access to tablets by default.  Parents download quick games for their kids to keep them occupied.  I'm sure kids would be fine with a tablet, but Nintendo's observations are going to be the ones that make these decisions, and likely they are going to be concerned with the size of the switch in contrast with the past DS and 3DS models, the more "child-centric" designs.  Developers who are used to developing exclusively for Nintendo's handhelds are also going to be asking questions about the direction.  For instance, as it stands in terms of the handheld market, what truly separates the Switch from, say, the Vita, the next Vita, existing tablets, or smartphones that are just as viable as platforms.  In the past, Nintendo's handheld line has been consistent and distinctive: the support, the branding, the design, etc.  If Nintendo starts messing with the key parts of that formula then a lot of questions come up.  If Nintendo loses either the developer support or the userbase at any handheld generation, then they could be signing their future away 2 generations from now.  I'm not sure Nintendo would be willing to take those risks at this sensitive stage.  Not with their most consistently successful market.  Most likely they will try to adopt their past trends that have proven successful. 

Seeing this play out will be interesting.  The merging of these two lines will be an industry first and Nintendo obviously has some good ideas on how to do it.

They can do both honestly, they did basically release New 3DS and New 3DS XL at the same time in Japan, a 14nm Tegra X2 could let them do both. 

I just think the "pro" model would sell a lot more and people here will be surprised how little interest there actually is in a Switch "mini". IMO even kids don't want that. 

It's like the iPhone, there was a rabid group of Apple fans that kept insisting Apple should release a smaller iPhone along the lines of iPhone 4 because that was far more portable and blah, blah, blah, so Apple released it ... no kid would be caught dead with that phone, lol. It sells like crap. Big screens are the thing right now. 

a smaller switch? this thing is already has the best size:power ratio out of any console Ive seen. if anything i would hake it bigger. just about a centimeter or so thicker, make it more comfortable to hold, and have the extra room dedicated to a better battery and cooling. stuff like that is really all it needs.

Yes, I'm not sure if the cheaper version would mean a smaller screen size, but I still think there will be a budget version in the future, after the pro version has released to have a wider range in prices

They can make it sure, I'm sure there will be many different Switch models as times goes on.

I don't think it will sell very well though. People don't want the "budget" version, we see it again and again, even with the 3DS and other phone models. 

With the money that they are asking for additional docks, grips, and controllers and the eventual need for multiple systems and components to accommodate siblings and LAN play, I anticipate that component purchasing is going to be the future with this system.  Once consumers get accustomed to buying docks and controllers for the higher margin, then Nintendo can start charging less for body replacements.  They could easily have different body designs, taking a margin hit, in the $100 to $200 range, making a couple of upgrades or redesigns a mute point.  At those costs, we could have as many varieties of Switch bodies or controllers for various scenarios as there are versions of barbie dolls.  On average, housholds could end up with 3 or 4 Switch consoles.  Granted anything more than 3 versions of a console, even cheap and scenario specific, might seem a bit excessive and unviable, but it would certainly monopolize a lot of consumer thought/money if the Switch craze takes over.  If Switch becomes popular enough with a big enough library from integrating the handheld market, this could actually be a very very smart move.  It will all boil down to the market penetration, library, and continued demand.  The more popular, the more variety you will likely see with the "switch" concept.