It's possible, sure, but i think it would be a poor idea.

Right now Nintendo are massively missing out on the sales of the west, if they made a new console, targeted towards that audience from the beginning, that can also play all of the 3DS and Wii U games IMO that would make it a third pillar and really quite appealing to the masses IMO.

Nintendo should put their software at the forefront, the new platform should always be able to play everything that came before it, you buy the game and you can play it on any new Nintendo system.
The library of content on Wii U isn't too big to port it over to an X86 model, similar to how Microsoft lets you download a patch from select 360 games to play on XB1.
Wii U could probably brute force emulate 3DS games if Nintendo wrote an emulator for the purpose, so I doubt any significantly more powerful system would have issues.

Future games could all be made using the same API, PC can have scaled graphics, resolutions and gameplay features, if Nintendo targeted that same approach with their software then any hardware they release could run on anything and their older content could even be ported over to increase the size of the library.
Personally I hope Nintendo takes this kind of an approach.

The hardware almost shouldn't matter, so long as they make decent profits off of games, make a small profit on hardware and don't go crazy on releasing a new platform every year, rather play catch up with a new console to fit in with Sony and Microsoft, then release a new handheld when the tech can run a decent version of the new console's games and then everything can work on that handheld.
This could be Nintendo's competitive edge, they'd definitely appeal to the 3rd party publishers if they can get their audience to buy Nintendo again.

Developer output would be much greater if they only had to focus on a single API and treat all of Nintendo's hardware as a single platform.

You may say "well what would be the point in buying the next Nintendo box", well newer machines would be more capable, run the games better, in the case if a handheld it would allow you to play all of your Nintendo games on the move, you may want both the handheld and the home console to play it the best in all places and that would also allow Nintendo to target every market much more fluidly.

If families don't have as much money then they could just buy the cheaper Nintendo system, that still allows them to play all of Nintendo's games and Nintendo would end up selling way more software in the long run, so long as they can stop people pirating it, which could be where a proprietary memory card/cartridge for the games could be useful.
Games can be made on Cards and the system could still have a Bluray drive for those movies, if Nintendo are willing to pay for the license, if not then it would probably be just as capable of streaming content from services.

I really don't think the hardware matters all that much, Nintendo just needs to treat it as the vessel for people to access Nintendo's content.
I'd say the console should always, at least be able to play everything that came from this generation moving on and at some point in the generation a new handheld can do the same (but with some scaled down graphics, resolution, same frame rate for experience).

I think this is the most logical thing NX can be, without Nintendo stating exactly what it is.

I'm actually starting to feel like a hybrid of some type may be in the offerings. 

That doesn't mean one SKU though, there could still be others, but one could be a hybrid/mobile console in effect. 

When you really think about it, Nintendo has been chasing that idea for a while. 

And put next to a vanilla console and another vanilla handheld ... a hybrid device is much more interesting quite honestly. You can't take the PS4/XB1 with you where ever you go, but you can't play "real" high end games on an iPad/iPhone. You can't take the Wii U outside the house with you or even in most cases outside of the same room. 

Being able to move the console around like a portable, have it wirelessly send a video signal to your TV, then being able to to take it out and play on an airplane or subway ... again there isn't really anything like this on the market. It's also a very Japanese idea. 

In that case, such a device would be unique to the marketplace. Seems fairly tempting for a company that's searching for a "new concept" hardware. 

Maybe that will be Nintendo's mantra for the next-gen to redefine the old concept of what it means to be a hardware platform and blur/completely break the lines between what we today consider "mobile" and "console". 

I see two options for NX, portable that you can hook up to a TV, hybrid basicly, or handheld and home console with hevi integration like same architecture, same games, cross play/cross buy, using handheld like Wii U gamepad for NX home console...

They could have three SKUs. They already do really, the Wii U, the 3DS/2DS, and the New 3DS are all different hardware, yes the 3DS can share games, but that's the same concept we're talking about. Nintendo can have so many different models of the 3DS because they all share hardware/OS/games. 

Low-End: Basic handheld, low-res screen, Mid-End: Hybrid mobile console with better LCD, High-End: Dedicated Home Console. That's how I'd go with it. 

The thing about this is it would "liberate" Nintendo from a lot of the design restrictions they've had on themselves in the past where the home console had to be cheap, but somewhat powerful, for kids, but for adults too, for Japanese tastes but for Americans too, quiet and small with low power draw because Japanese housewives don't want an obnoxious big console in the home (heaven forbid Nintendo draw their wrath), oh and there needs to be a new controller gimmick every time now too ... is it any wonder their consoles have generally sold like shit outside of the four good years with the Wii out of the last 20 years?

How can you possibly make a good console with so many damn restrictions? 

You see the clarity of design with the PS4, there is no mistake who that console is targetting first and foremost and Sony did everything hardware wise to make the console demographic happy.Let the kids have their cheap handheld in bright candy coated colors, let Japan and those wanting something more non-traditional have a hybrid ... but the console can the be built to spec for the *modern* console market ... meaning older gamers in the West first and foremost. 

They would shoot themselves in the foot in both markets. They'd have an overly large cumbersome handheld and a weak console

The way I see it working if they did go this route that it'd be a handheld that you could dock. The actual home console however will be its own system IMO, maybe arriving later down the road.

Console could be more powerful than the PS4 still if they wanted it to be. That's part of the beauty of the unified platform is the console is freed of having to be all things to all people, it can just be a damn proper console, let the other SKUs carry the weight with the kids/I want a unique Nintendo console crowd. 

People overwhelmingly choose the bigger/clunkier 3DS XL over the smaller model too, bigger portable electronics that offer bigger more premium experiences are where the mobile business is going (see: Apple's sales explode after iPhone 6 Plus, now an iPad Pro is apparently coming tomorrow). 

I'll need some sort of reference for what kind of specs are possible within the shell of the 3DS XL. The Tegra 1k looks like its somewhere between last gen and Wii U in terms of specs, I wouldn't expect much more then that which would be too weak for a replacement to the Wii U

I added in my earlier post that I can see them having it as an alt to the Wii U but they'd still be planning a Wii U successor for release in the next few years

In a 3DS XL size case ... you can probably get a 350 GFLOP or so GPU in there, but you likely would have to lose the bottom screen (which I think Nintendo is kinda prepping for anyway). The removal of the bottom screen would allow for a much, much larger battery and more space for the chip components. A 3DS XL is pretty freaking huge, I mean even an iPhone 6 Plus is big, but think about how much thicker the 3DS XL is it's like 3x the thickness. 

The hybrid I'm talking about wouldn't be in that casing though. I'm honestly not sure what type of form factor it would be. It could be something like a mini-laptop, a Wii U tablet, or a Surface tablet with the kickstand and seperate controller. That would be fun to design. It's designed to be easily mobile, but that doesn't mean "fit into your pocket". 

Console can then just be ... a no-nonsense plugged-to-the-wall console without Nintendo having to appease fifty different audiences. 

Honestly, unifying the platforms will be *fun* for Nintendo's R&D, a lot of new ideas that previously wouldn't be possible can be tried. If a SKU doesn't work out so well (like the 2DS for instance) it doesn't really matter. They can just phase it out, it's not a software ecosystem dies with it. 

I see 3DS/3DXL/2DS/New3DS like revision of same hardware so you relly cant say that New 3DS is different SKU from 3DS/2DS like Wii U. We had same situation previous gen with DS/DS Lite/DSI XL/DSi.

With NX, NIntendo will first probably have only one or two devices, but later (few years later) they probably add stronger handheld with better screen and stronger home console that will be on par with competition...that will have same architecture like those first NX devices, that literally could give the opportunity to release one game that will work on all previous devices (but with differents like resolution, better texture and effects), like Nintendo already mentioned they want system like iOS or Android where one game/application works on almost all previous devices.

This would give Nintendo to release hardware more often but in same time not deserving previous device onwers with new one, not to mention bigger number of released more different games that would sale on bigg instal base because of multiple devices.

First good example of this is Monster Hunter Ultimate 4 that works on New 3DS but also on 3DS too, difference are better textures (and probably better FPS) on New 3DS.

But I cant see Nintendo launching more than 2 devices at same time or with small time difference (one year or less).

Also Nintendo talked about absorbing Wii U architecture, so maybe Wii U will be also include in this NX plan.