Wall Street Journal: Nintendo to release two new Switch models as early as summer

[JEMC]

Bofferbrauer2 said:

Jumpin said:

I am not sure where you are reading that. It’s  near certain they’re going with the iOS model in that all Switch systems will receive support for X amount of years, independent of whether or not new hardware is released. That means, unless a special exemption is granted, software must work on all supported hardware units in the family. They already said that the current Switch model has a 7 year plan, so there’s nearly 5 years left before they stop mandating support.

He's probably referencing the 3DS's late games, which technically ran on a 3DS, but where such a stuttery mess that they were only really playable on a New 3DS.

The big question for these models is the hardware. Did NVidia relent and make custom chips for Nintendo now? Or will it just be an X2 with 2 different clock speed settings (basically switch and switch plus modes)?

Also, I seriously hope for a bigger battery. These things have gotten a lot cheaper and more compact over the last 2 years, so unless the weight gain would be too much I don't see why not going for about 5500-6000 mAh (30% increase, basically 1 hour more in demanding titles if the consumption is the same)

I'm pretty happy with my Switch right now, not going to upgrade anytime soon. If however the OG Switch may get too sluggy, I will possibly upgrade later down the road - but not before 2021. My nephew or my niece would then probably inherit the base model.

What I find interesting is the timing. With the slew of games coming out this year, Switch will already sell let hot pancakes, so I was expecting new hardware to only come out next year to keep the sales high. Maybe the fact that some bugs cracked the security of the X1 chip and it not being patchable could have been used as leverage to get a new, safe chip from NVidia. I guess we'll see at E3 (I don't imagine Nintendo squanders that announcement on anything less than their E3 direct)

In any case (lame pun considering what's gonna follow), I don't think the dimensions will change much, if at all. That would allow to upgrade the cheap one with more feature-rich Joycons (one feature removed for instance is vibration according to the kokatu article I read) and allow Labo to work with the new models without a fuss. They could also keep the current Dock and cables (and this time implement USB 3.x correctly, please) in production.

In other words, only the internals would change, but the external dimension will be left unchanged - it's too standardized to change them now.

I mostly agree with you.

The Tegra X2 should be the most sensible approach for the Pro model, as it would guarantee compatibility with the original Switch and, not being a custom part, it would also be "cheap". And with two power modes, users could have what's currently the TV performance mode when in portable while also having better graphics and performance when in TV mode.

The security flaw should be a reason for the change as Nintendo, much to the surprise of anyone, managed to patch it via software. They'll probably keep using it for the smaller model.

Finally yes, a bigger battery life should be one of the new upgrades for both consoles.