By the end of 2016 there will be smaller, cheaper, and more efficient components to produce the same amount of power that was put into the xbox one in 2013. Nintendo has always made cost cutting decisions in other areas as well. If Nintendo wants to maximize graphics power which im not convinced will be their primary goal I think they could release a 249 dollar console at the end of 2016 which rivals the power of an xbox one. They do benefit from having been able to sit back and analyize what went into the xbone and what went into the ps4 and make more efficient choices. They could also limit the hard drive size as Nintendo games tend to not require as much space as your average PS4 game.  They could also minimize other expenses but just have on hdmi out and no optical out and other nintendo like solutions. Personally I see Nintendo going for a smaller more efficient box which is somewhere in the middle of wiiu and Ps4 in terms of power. I don't think Nintendo wants to compete directly because that would be suicide this late when gamers have either gone ps4 or xbone for this gen and have a large catlogue of games and momuntum ect. The only way to edge into that market would be to actually come out with a console which has a significant power edge and is costly. But that's not going to work because too many publishers would not take advantage of the extra power. Nintendo is better off with a box which is smaller and cheaper and has loads of exclusive content so gamers will purchase it as an additional console.

20 million is likely the handheld and the console combined. So maybe 12 million handheld and 8 million console.  Please understand..  Everything console is relatively weak compared with PC. It's really a matter of how weak it's going to be.

The Nintendo NX should be a handheld Wii U. This is what they should do:

1. Shrink existing Wii U chipset to 14nm.
2. Release it as a 6" 720p tablet with physical controls for $199. This tablet will be compatible with all Wii U titles that support off-TV play. Create a great web browser and work with third-party developers to port all the popular mobile apps and games so people can use it as their main tablet.
3. Create a $40 Chromecast-like accessory to stream it to the TV. This will provide support for the rest of the Wii U games that require a second screen.

This is the perfect strategy because:

1. Wii U goes from underpowered home console to the most powerful handheld available with AAA games.
2. Strong first party library from Day One and opportunity to generate more profit from Wii U games they've already spent a lot of money developing.
3. Replaces both Wii U and 3DS, no need for separate handheld/console development teams.
4. Replaces the need for a separate tablet for most consumers as long as basic apps are there (Facebook, Netflix, popular mobile games like Candy Crush, etc.)
5. Extends Wii U lifespan another 6 years.

Yes, it worked for the Wii. Wii U had too many problems to succeed, one of them is if you making under powered console it need to be cheap, Wii U still isnt cheap.

New hardware that is stronger than Wii U but probably weaker than Xbox One, with new "gimmick", without numerous Wii U mistakes, and with affordable price.

The reason the Wii sold is because they used one of the most influential business theories in the world as a blueprint and made the Wii a disruptive product. Disruptive technology is a concept with decades of research on it and is heavily backed by data all around the world. The reason the DS succeeded was because they used Blue Ocean Strategy, another highly acclaimed theory with lots of research. Other companies that use these concepts are Apple (disruptive products) and Samsung (Blue Ocean Strategy). 

If Nintendo pulls another Wii they will succeed greatly. And once more hardcore gamers won't have a clue and think they succeeded by chance, because they are too lazy to read a single 300 page book that explains Nintendo's strategy in detail.

Saying the Wii succeeded by chance is rewriting history. The Wii was the most thought thorugh and research backed console in the entire history of videogames. Everything about it was designed with the theory of disruptive products in mind and Nintendo was extremely open about it before launch. They talked endlessly about disruption, about the competition overshooting the market and gamer drift, which was the result of said overshooting. The gaming "press" just never covered it and came up with the "casual gamer" term, which was originally used by Sony's and Microsofts PR departments to downplay the Wii when they realized that Nintendo had an actual plan and was about to suceed. 

Just to clarify: This was a Digitimes rumor and Digitimes is always, always, always wrong. Both the shipment numbers and the release date were pulled out of someone's butt. It's just click bait. 

I liked the nunchucks.... and after useing the gamepad... I even miss them.
The problem is if you design games to run both on a handheld and a console (that uses nunchucks), I think your going to run into alot of issues.

It kinda rules out them launching with a new montion controller, like the nunchucks.

I like the fusion concept alot, dispite this, and hope thats not just a rumor but something they actually do.

the new Nintendo console regardless of power should have 3rd party developers that would appreciate its tool and able to develop a quality game/port out of it. problem in the triplet home console is the comparison which would always favor the console that has the better specs.

NX

nintendoom BS as usual.

Considering how weak of a console the Xbox One is, along with the improvements made since 2012 and the supposed release time of 2016, there is no reason that it should be weaker. There is no reason they couldn't release a console- be it x86 or ARM based with an equivalent, or superior CPU setup, 8, 12 or 16GB of DDR4 or HBM and a GPU that is equivalent to the r9 280x .

But considering that we're talking about Nintendo... they probably will.