50mil didnt though (3DS) nor will a successor that wont sell less than 30mil. Smartphones dont have MK/SSB/Pokemon, and if they did real gamers wont want to play on an inferior device.

PsVita and 3DS are both hardware design failures. If Nintendo releases a new handled with a proper hardware (and by that I don't mean powerfull graphics) then it could still sell more tha 3DS+Vita combined.

The counter point is in an environment where every major platform has more good games than any person with a life could reasonably play, quality in and of itself is not the main arbiter of platform success any longer. 

This is not the 80-early 90s anymore when there was literally only 1 or 2 platforms with more than 10 good games on them. 

That's how Nintendo can have arguably 2 or 3 of the top 5-6 game releases last year in terms of quality, but still end up with the lowest sales. You can't just come to market with a great Zelda game or something and expect to steamroll the competetion anymore. Times have changed. 

Benighted statement right there ...

How is not true?

What person has the time to play every single good game on the XBox 360 for example? And still have some semblance of a social life?

Read: You ain't gaming that much if you got a girlfriend/significant other right off the bat. If you're married/have kids ... ha ... good luck. 

Nintendo has some great games. 

But that's becomes a "so what?" to the average consumer. Everybody has some great games. There's Last of Us over here and Halo over there and Minecraft over here and gotta have Madden and FIFA to play with the boys when they come over. 

That's just how the general gamer thinks. So what if Splatoon is the best game of 2015? That's not going to sway someone to buy a Wii U alone. 

People look at a platform now as an overall investment for 5 years. Is it going to have all/most of the games I want to play? Does my friend own said console so I can play with him/her online? Does this machine fit my lifestyle? Do I want to paying $40 for a handheld game when I only realistically can play maybe 15-20 minutes a day outside of my house? Etc. etc. 

i dont think there are as much "real gamers" as you make out to be

i can see where the Vita was a design failure, but 3ds? explain.

Getting back to topic then, I think handhelds have a future, but a more limited one, maybe Nintendo can grind out 50-65 million handhelds next cycle out. That won't be an easy 50-65 mill either, they will have to work their asses off just to maintain at that level. 

But if Apple actually goes through with that pop-up joystick patent ... I think Nintendo is basically fucked.

Doesn't matter what software they have, they will need a miracle in that scenario.

If smartphones start to have the ability to not only play cheap/simple/arcadey games but even more credible, deeper styles of games, then the traditional handheld is pretty much screwed. 

Your right 30mil-70mil isnt alot compared to billions that have phones.

Yeah but can you play pokemon? MK? Zelda? Nope. Like i said previously, NintendoHH can literally only sell pokemon (a new generation) for $200... Thats already sold more than WiiU lifetime. Add on 5 years of support and boom.