I've thought about it and in light of the Pokemon Go success, I think Nintendo should strongly consider making a smartphone (NX phone?). 

They benchmark shouldn't be about competing with Apple or Samsung, who sell over 120+ million phones a year each ... if Nintendo could sell even a fraction of that, say 16-35 million/year, it would be a large boon to their business. 35 million/year would be right in line with their DS peak days. 

They could do pretty much what Amazon does with their Kindle phones and tablets ... use a customized version of Android where they control the store, so they get the licensing fees. Imagine Nintendo not only making money on Pokemon Go and Animal Crossing Mobile, but also making money on every mobile app that generates revenue. 

Nintendo could create a new brand for this venture if they want to as well. It could have physical game controls for more indepth gaming that are discreetly designed. I was thinking maybe it could have very basic controls, like a small trackball/joystick on one end (doubles as home button), small B/A buttons on the other side, and L/R buttons. If you want more in-depth controls you can buy a seperate controller that attaches on to the device. 

$249.99 - Non-phone model. Has cheaper cameras + lower resolution display (720p). 

$399.99 - Phone model with higher end camera (13 megapixel+, 5 megapixel front), higher resolution display. 32GB storage, expandable via SD Card. Compares to $600+ for iPhone or Samsung S7. 

They can still keep their regular apps coming to iPhone and Android too, that wouldn't change. If it doesn't work out they could just phase out the cell phone model, but nothing ventured, nothing gained. 

I'd rather they not. Apple and Samsung too strong.

To be honest, I was always open to the idea of them making a phone in the same vein as the Xperia play. The Xperia was neat but it didn't have dedicated support or long term plans. I think that they could make a phone that has connection to the eShop to download their handheld's games. Maybe they could even partner with Apple or something because I'd assume they'd like proprietary software/hardware over the more open Android.

Yes, and truthfully Nintendo shouldn't expect to sell anywhere near either one of those. That shouldn't be the expectation. 

The expectation should be to move 15-20 million units/year ... which on top of the non-phone model would probably bring their total sales past 25-30 million, which would be great for Nintendo ... this is around what the DS was doing at its peak. 

I do sense also people are kinda getting sick of buying nothing buy Apple or Samsung devices, there could (emphasis on the word could) be an opening for a different brand for people who want to stand out a bit and not have the same phone their grandma does. Could be an opening for Nintendo, though they may have to create a seperate/new brand. 

A cheaper phone with good specs could also do well under a centralized brand ... buying an iPhone or Galaxy S7 off contract will run you over $600 (more like $1000 for Apple) ... Nintendo could charge $399.99 and still take home probably a nice, fat $60-$100 in profit just off the hardware alone per unit (that's likely a larger profit margin than the 3DS ever earned). 

They should do it as a strategic partnership with several device makers.

Think of all the money HTC, Apple, Samsung would throw at Nintendo to license this.

I also do think Nintendo could also do well with it's own smartwatch. Like a Microsoft band that interacts with your Nintendo smartphone games and NX games - but unlike Band, it'd actually be fun.

I'm sure right now there would be several phone companies/electronics manufacturers willing to work with them if Nintendo really needed a partner. Even Sony, lol probably would probably love to take that phone call from Mr. Kimishima, but there would be others too with interest. 

To be honest though it's not like it's rocket science to make a phone, rinky dink little Chinese companies that aren't 1/10th the size of Nintendo make Android phones. Nintendo already has the global distribution channels they use for their traditional hardware. They could have this stocked in Best Buy, Game Stop, Wal-Mart, Target, stores without any problem. 

Forking/customizing Android isn't terribly difficult, I think Nikkei was right (because they're almost always right) and Nintendo is using Android on NX, but it's a custom version. 

A partnership could work too. 

As a long time Nintendo owner and fan, why would I buy a Nintendo smartphone for its casual Pokemon Go and others when I can get an iPhone like the rest of my family that has iMessage? I think its too late and I recognize people said the same thing for Pokemon Go and Miitomo but Nintendo is more known for their software than their hardware.

The non-phone model seems expensive like the 3DS was at launch and will do just as bad. Nintendo should just make a cheap portable that syncs with your phone to receive push notifications and possibly play smartphone games with it traditional controller. No need to price hike it to be like a smartphone. So no expensive cameras, gps, and expensive and horrible battery life when playing games.

Well like I said Nintendo doesn't need to compete with Apple or Samsung. They don't need to sell 100 million+ phones a year (would be nice of course, lol). 

Even 10-12 million/year for the phone model + say 8-12 million/year for the non-phone model would give Nintendo portable sales they haven't seen since the DS era. 

They can also undercut Apple on cost big time. 

I would seriously consider a $399.99 Nintendo phone *IF* it ran a forked Android OS that let me do everything a regular smartphone does with the same apps, AND I could play Nintendo games on it? 

Yeah, I'd switch. Not everyone would and I'll conceed most wouldn't, but it really sucks to break a $1000 iPhone too and have to buy a replacement. 

Nintendo could carve out a nice niche as a no.3 or no.4 phone maker. Nothing wrong with that, money is money. Not only from phone sales but on their own phones they would now also be able to get licensing fee money on all those other apps like Candy Crush, Game of War, Clash of Clans, Mobile Strike, as well, instead of paying Apple and Google 30% of their game take. 

I've never be against the concept per se as I've stated multiple, multiple times here, the a big chunk of Nintendo's mainstream audience is on phone devices and they would do very, very well on mobile. I would say it's hard to argue against that now. 

My issue always was that they couldn't compete with Apple or Samsung, but now having examined that a little further ... they don't need to. Apple/Samsung sell like 120-200 million devices/year, Nintendo doesn't need to sell that much to have success, even 10 million phone models/year would more than justify the effort. If the 3DS was selling 10 million more units/year it would be considered largely a big success. 

The key is Android is a forkable OS that you can customize. If Nintendo had to make their own OS from scratch, I would say hell no. But if they can use Android the same way Amazon does with their Kindle Phone and tablets, then it could do everything a regular phone does with little/no effort from Nintendo.