Between the chip shortage during the peak of the pandemic and the already decent sales of the NX, it was probably a very late decision considering we had multiple sources saying devs have a dev kits for a more powerful Switch in late 2020 https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-09-29/nintendo-switch-4k-developers-make-games-for-nonexistent-console?leadSource=uverify%20wall
Whats interesting is that Nintendo were concerned with the immenent release of the PS5 and Xbox Series consoles. But that came at the time of crazy chip shortages it made more sense to cancel that and release an iteration with improvements instead and we got the OLED NS where manufacturing isn't affected so much. I wonder if Nintendo also worked with Nvidia to get a better deal for a new chip, instead of what we were going to get with the Pro. 4K was the target for Nintendo, which is quite a high bar for a handheld console.
Also other red flags that a new console is imminent is that we're still waiting for some flagship titles from Nintendo (Next big Mario release, Mario Kart 9 and Metroid Prime 4) some still MIA and LOZ ToTK delayed to 2023.
