I think that's too early, just got my xl and sales are still high. i doubt it

3ds selling like hotcakes, Nintendo probably shoot anyone who says anything inside their company which would damage this hot cakeesque selling atm and the announcement of a new generation of handheld would kill the 3ds and really damage people's willingness to fork out for the new system and then be expected to do the same again in 2 years. People don't have that kinda cash.

At this point, Nintendo can release an HD handheld in 2014 and it will still sell more than the Vita. I wouldn't mind an HD handheld in 2015 as long as it can still play 3ds games (Not digital only). But what I would like more than an HD handheld is a second analog stick more than amazing polygon count.

I'm not sure if they'd even go HD just yet. Even if they drop the 3D, I think an HDS at this point would still cost as much as the 3DS originally did, which probably wouldn't be the best idea, though who knows maybe they'll have key titles available at launch.

Despite Pokemon and 2DS it looks like 3DS is on for its lowest selling year. If it's already peaked then Nintendo definitely should be thinking about the successor.

They are anyway, all the big 3 are already planning their next consoles, these things take years to create.

Just hit me how soon 2016 is, really just 2 more years.

As ganoncrotch said, it's selling too well to bring out a competitor. Would you rather have them make hd Ipad/Surface games?

if they re-render all the 240p 3DS games to full screen resolution in each game, i would buy.
But it seems improbable.
Ill let to buy the 9th gen handheld nintendo console.

The games would still run in their native resolution (which is sadly much lower than even 480p). It would have to be an all new system, and it's definitely too early to even be thinking about that. Especially now with such little competition I'd say we won't even hear rumblings of a new system until 2017 at the earliest (and I'm almost certain it will be quite a bit later than that).

And I was already bummed about the low res this time around, so if the next one isn't a considerable bump I'm going to be pretty dang upset. I hate looking at everyone's smartphones with their massive retina displays and I'm looking at my dinky two-inch screens that are so crappy you can pretty much count the pixels. It's like, seriously? Is this a calculator?

The battery life would most likely be shit so no.

You're missing a D in your title.

First of all, since WiiU is barely an HD console, I don't see Nintendo releasing an HD DS in 2015. I think Nintendo is going to stick with 3D, so making an HD 3D DS would need a powerful system. WiiU isn't exactly pocket sized...

However I do see Nintendo releasing an HD 3D DS in 2017 or 2018, and when that happens I will do what I've done for every system. Buy it when it finally gets that "must have" title. For 3DS that was Fire Emblem, for DS that was Advance Wars, and GBA it was Golden Sun. When Nintendo makes a AAA JRPG or Strategy game, then I will get an HD 3D DS.

But that's years in the future, just got my 3DS now, and I have too much to play.