I'm not sure about two screens, I think they are leaning towards going single screen ... it makes more sense in a lot of ways (2DS is really a single screen design just with a border that artificially "breaks" the two screens apart). There was also that recent patent filing for a Nintendo handheld with replacable joysticks/buttons and the design was single screen in the patent. Just something that makes you go "hmmm" I guess. 

But we'll see ... I think this time next year we may get our first look at said platform (E3 2015). E3 unveiling followed by a March-April 2016 launch would pretty much mirror the 3DS time line from 5 years prior (E3 2010 unveiling, Feb-April 2011 launch window). 

And really a 5 year life cycle for the 3DS is pretty much dead-on, the DS deserved the extra 6th year because it sold 150 million freaking units, 3DS might not even hit 80 million at the rate its declining at. 5 years is good enough and no one can say Nintendo hasn't supported the darn thing. 

I really hope Nintendo manage to do something I like. They've always appealed to me with their best franchises, but the Wii and Wii U were/are both a disappointment.

The Wii U was very close to being ok for me. The games we all want just took WAY too long to come out. It's rather unforgivable. I don't like Mario Kart that much, so the first game I'm really going to desire is Smash Bros, but when's that coming out? 2 years after launch? 2.5 years? Not appealing enough.

I am thinking 2016 for a Wii U successor.

Iwata:

"Also, regarding what I mentioned at the Corporate Management Policy Briefing in January about our efforts to go into a new business area, namely our platform business that seeks to enrich people’s QOL (Quality of Life) in enjoyable ways, I would like to talk more specifically about the kind of business we have in mind within this year, and the current time frame we are working on puts the actual deployment of the initiative in the next fiscal year, with contributions to our profitability to follow in the following fiscal year. Moreover, I feel that we will be able to further stimulate our platform business by taking advantage of smart devices, and I think that we will be able to provide detailed information on this as well as some concrete results between the current and the next fiscal years. Also, the idea I mentioned about redefining the definition of video game platforms will also require approximately two years. This is how we would like to talk more about our mid-term measures and lead them to actual results. However, we will not be able to create a good environment for the company unless projects are undertaken simultaneously, so this is the kind of timeframe that we have in mind."


In that statment, they meant QOL platform, not next gen console.

This is the statment about new consoles:

"Once we launch a new platform, we naturally start to prepare for the next one. As it takes several years to develop a single platform, if you ask us whether we are preparing for our next system, then the correct response will be that we are always developing new hardware. On the other hand, the most difficult question for us to answer in public in concrete terms is when we are going to launch our new hardware and what kind of hardware we are going to launch, and I am afraid that I cannot talk about this in more detail. However, I can certainly assure you that we are not at a dead end of any kind in which we are out of ideas for developing new hardware. I of course believe that launching new hardware will not produce good results unless we first make sure that those who have already purchased our platforms are satisfied. We will continue to work hard to ensure that consumers who already own our platforms are satisfied, and make sure that people will continue to see great value in our software, but I would like to say that we are preparing for our next hardware system, and in fact, we already have a clear idea to some extent about the direction our next hardware is going to take."


http://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/en/library/events/140508qa/index.html

Soundwave, while I agree with some of what you say and I feel you are an intelligent analyst of Nintendo and the industry, I think you have a bit of an obsession with the Fusion idea and you retcon comments to suit your idea and see things that aren't there. There are some things that we do, explicitly, know about Nintendo's future:

From Iwata:

"In this perspective, while we are only going to be able to start this with the next system, it will become important for us to accurately take advantage of what we have done with the Wii U architecture. It of course does not mean that we are going to use exactly the same architecture as Wii U, but we are going to create a system that can absorb the Wii U architecture adequately. When this happens, home consoles and handheld devices will no longer be completely different, and they will become like brothers in a family of systems.

Still, I am not sure if the form factor (the size and configuration of the hardware) will be integrated. In contrast, the number of form factors might increase. Currently, we can only provide two form factors because if we had three or four different architectures, we would face serious shortages of software on every platform. To cite a specific case, Apple is able to release smart devices with various form factors one after another because there is one way of programming adopted by all platforms. Apple has a common platform called iOS. Another example is Android. Though there are various models, Android does not face software shortages because there is one common way of programming on the Android platform that works with various models. The point is, Nintendo platforms should be like those two examples. Whether we will ultimately need just one device will be determined by what consumers demand in the future, and that is not something we know at the moment. However, we are hoping to change and correct the situation in which we develop games for different platforms individually and sometimes disappoint consumers with game shortages as we attempt to move from one platform to another, and we believe that we will be able to deliver tangible results in the future."

What this says explicitly is that it is their desire to have a universal OS on their handheld devices and their home devices. It also says that they may have additional devices, such as a tablet or phone... all playing the same or similar games. It also says that Wii U software should be easily portable to future devices.

However, it also explicitly says their intention to have multiple hardware options - or "brothers" - possibly more than 2. It does state that at some point there may be only one hardware device, however, so your theory is being at least considered. With Iwata's recent comments about when Wii U would be replaced (not that it would not be replaced at all), I personally, think a "fusion" type solution is at least one generation of hardware away, if it ever comes.

With specific mention of 3D Mario, Yoshiaki Koizumi and Kenta Motokura have specifically mentioned it is in development, but were unsure what system it would be designed for. They did state that if it was released on Wii U it would use the Gamepad more than 3DWorld. What we can clearly take from this is that it is being made for a system that will be as or more powerful than Wii U, but also that Nintendo are unsure when Wii U will be replaced - and that the next 3D Mario may in fact come to Wii U, perhaps if it is selling better.

I think that Nintendo themselves are very much unsure about the Wii U's successor. I think they are currently strategizing where to go next, but have no concrete decisions. They are committing to this year and next to ensure Wii U owners get their MK, Smash, Zelda and probably some others like Kirby. I think they will review sales after the release of MK and decide on a course of action. They are definitely unifying OS and tech for future devices. They are definitely researching new options for consoles and/or handhelds to hopefully come up with then next Wii/DS innovation and looking at ways they can better compete (join?!?) with Smart devices that have eaten into their market. I think they are unsure how their next products will look or when they will come, but based on current Wii U and 3DS sales I would personally guess that we'll see a 3DS successor in 2015 and a Wii U successor in 2016, along with their QoL (mobile? Smart?) device launching somewhere in there. And 3D Mario will hit in 2016 and be playable on both the home and handheld (and mobile?!?) Nintendo devices. In this way Nintendo hopes to return to big profits with a new suite of products all in play by 2017.

I have been thinking about the Fusion machine. As far as I understand your post there will be a portable part around march-april 2016, and a console part for holiday 2016. Both will make Fusion work.

In regards of the portable part I don't have a problem, but my doubt and concern is about the console part. When Nintendo release the portable part there will be games that I understand will be playable months after in the console counterpart. But how does that games will look? Aside from better framerate and resolution, I don't think they can upgrade graphics with it. Poly count and textures will be the same and it won't look very good in a 1080p tv.

On the other hand, having the portable part as a stream device (Wii U gamepad off-tv) and the game running since the beggining from the console part will mean both must launch at the same time, but with this they can release full HD games with impressive graphics. Which raises another doubt, do I need to have on my console all the time to play on my portable part? Or should it play only downloaded games? In that case, will Fusion be a digital machine like PSPgo?

My concern is if the Fusion portable will be able to play the same games of the Fusion console and it would be able to handle it. Imagine a beautiful Zelda with high polycount, impressive textures and outstanding lighting played on my console Fusion. Could I be able to play the same game on the portable Fusion?

Likely reality is that the "Fusion" platform will likely top off at visuals just slightly better than the Wii U, and portable Fusion will run the games at a lower resolution (like the Vita actually runs many games at less than 960x540 resolution even). The home variant could maybe run the same game at 1080P though. Like the same chip as the handheld maybe with 2-4x the CPU/GPU cores and double the RAM. 

That's kinda where I see it going. 

I think modern mobile processors should be capable of that by 2015, a Snapdragon 805 + Adreno GPU should be able to come close to matching Wii U visuals at say 540p. 

I suspect the Fusion will largely be a portable platform first and foremost, the home variant will be more like a secondary thing for people who really need to play their Nintendo games on a TV (a decidely shrinking demographic) or a value accessory for portable players . 

I see. That was my concern actually. I don't want Nintendo to stay another generation with the same graphics, but looks like they can still make progress.

Assuming that Nintendo releases new hardware arounf holiday 2016, be it the Wii 3, Fusion, or whatever, development is probably getting started by a few groups. Games we can expect to see for the system in its first five quarters would include:

• New Super Mario Bros 3/Z/whatever
• Mario Kart 9
• Super Smash Bros (Rumored to already be in development)
• Retro's next Big Game 
• Pokemon Generation 7 (f it really is a hybrid system)

The following games are less likely, IMO, but also possibly in development for this mysterious system

• 3D Mario (Why wouldn't they just make 3D World 2 or Galaxy 3 for the Wii U as a latter game to keep software in its library?)
• Animal Crossing 5 (More likely a 2014 or 2015 game for the Wii U IMO)
• Mario Party/Wii Party (Probably doesn't take THAT long to make, so another Wii U entry will be first)
• Nintendogs 3 (A dying series)

These are my guesses for software splits

Wii U:

Everything we already know about (Bayo 2, Yarn Yoshi, SMT x Fire Emblem, Fatal Frame, etc.)
Mario Party U
Pokken Fighters Tournament (Namco)
Zelda U
Metroid U
Wii U Zapper Game
Mario Galaxy or Mario 64/Sunshine HD Remakes

Fusion Platform:

Super Mario Galaxy 3 (or next EAD Tokyo 3D Mario)
Animal Crossing Next (moved from Wii U)
Luigi's Mansion 3 (Next Level Games)
Ports of several Wii U titles (Pikmin 3, DKC: TF, etc.)
Paper Mario Next (moved from Wii U)

3DS:

New Super Mario Bros. 3 (NSMB2 team)
Zelda: Majora's Mask 3D
Fire Emblem sequel
Advance Wars 3DS (eShop only)

Diddy Kong Racing Returns (Monster Games?)

Few other titles, maybe some new IP

If they can have both Mario Galaxy 3 and Animal Crossing in the launch window for this new platform that should ensure a fairly solid launch I think.

I think that makes sense though, that should give Wii U enough heavy hitters through 2015 and gives Wii U owners pretty much all the major Nintendo IP and nice helping of support titles too, so I think that fulfills Nintendo's obligation there.