And that's great if only one person is playing but what about 2P/groups going online to play? 

A voice chat solution that's a legacy from PC gaming might be good for Sony/MS's systems but it's not really suited to Switch. Headsets aren't exactly the best idea if your focus is local multiplayer, motion control and portability are they? 

If only there was some sort of widely available, portable device capable of voice chat that solved these problems (headset optional) and didn't cost $300/gen. Imagine if it let you make play appointments or allowed cross console chat so you never lost your friends list when you/they change systems or stop playing. Add in parental controls to reduce the chance of your kids playing camera games with some dirty old man and you'd have a far better online setup than what's currently available,imo.

For that, like I said, you just need the PS4's camera. It has a built in microphone array. It costs $60. They offered similar cameras with built in microphone arrays on the PS3,  and the PS2. You don't need headsets for multi-player voice chat with Playstation. Never have.

Also, who said anything about $300 per gen for voice chat? An iPhone's or samsung galaxy's ear buds will work with your PS4. Here you are arguing it's ridiculous for people to go out and spend $30 (The Tritton Kama is decent, and you can get even better earbud solutions for that price), per player for a PS4 headset that's probably backwards compatible with PS3 and Vita as well, when that's the Worst case scenario. As I said, the PS4's camera has a microphone array for this very purpose and doesn't cost anywhere close to $300.

But still, here you are, haing absolutely no issue with Nintendo requiring people to go get a smartphone just to use voicechat while accusing Sony/MS of forcing their users into buying expensive headsets,  which is especially ironic considering the earbuds that likely come with that required smartphone can also be used as a PS4 headset without much issue. And why are you assuming that you won't need a new smartphone per generation? Apple and Samsung have a very bad habit of making it difficult for applications to support both new and older hardware. For example, the Apple's own Apple store app is currently only supported on iPhone 5s or later devices, meaning you might not be able to use your iPhone to buy a new iPhone. It's entirely plausible Nintendo's voice chat app won't support smart phones that are more than 3-4 years old, and will update later with a feature that makes it incompatible with smartphones it might currently support. There's no guarantee you won't have to upgrade your phone in order to keep using voice chat on your Switch. But for some strange reason I'm pretty sure my PS4's camera will always be supported by my PS4.

Things like appointments or cross-console chat are features that can be added by Sony/MS without the need of addtional hardware, and I have to ask if you are familiar with Sony/MS's online system if you're bragging about not losing your friends list if your device died, or your friends stopped playing. See, that's only something Nintendo users have an issue with. I have the same friends list on my PSN account that's connected to my PS3, PS4, Vita and my Playstation smartphone app, which allows me to message any one on my friends list from any one of those devices. Microsoft has a similar system with Xbox, where you can chat with people on Xbox One and Xbox 360 from your PC and smartphone. Again, all of these things you're bragging about can be done within the console itself if Nintendo just implemented a decent online infrastructure.  There is zero need to use a smartphone to accomplish these things at all.

Cameras aren't very practical for a portable console, do you know what else has a camera?

$60/yr + headset(s)/camera to voicechat = ~$300/gen (i know it includes other stuff).

If the app is available on any smart device then even a microwave could work. If you're not mature enough for a smart device you probably shouldn't be using voice chat.

By cross console I meant Switch to PS4 not PS3 to PS4. You could stop playing Switch and play PS4 whilst still chatting to your friends. We don't know enough about it yet so that's speculation. 

A mandatory app will obviously be used much more than an optional one. Switch's app is a smartdevice to smartdevice connection which is better for comms/arranging play appointments than the console to console messaging setup used today.

Nintendo's decisions make a lot more sense if you look at them from a console pov instead of a computer one.

... the camera part of the PS4 camera is irrelevant to this discussion. The microphone array in the PS4 camera is relevant. Not sure why you're getting hung up on this.

As for arguing that the cost of PS+ is relevant, considering that PS+ isn't even required for voice chat, I'm just going to let that one slide.

Regarding that cross-console chat, If all of your friends have PS4s and Switches and you want to go between the two... you can just use the PSN's voice chat features to do all of this if you really want to nitpick. There's no reason why all of those Switch users can't just create a party chat on PSN and use it for Switch, just as you're arguing they can do for Switch and use it for PS4. Again, smart phone is optional with PSN, and mandatory with Switch.

If everyone wants to use the playstation app on their phones instead of their consoles, they have that option. If they want to use their consoles, they can. With the Switch, you aren't given a choice, and there's no good reason for it.

Here's the part you're not getting. Every argument you're making about the possibilities of Nintendo's system doesn't actually require a smartphone, none of them.  Any argument you can make can be also be done by adding a microphone array to a Switch.   You're arguing for removing a choice from the consumer for no good reason. Removing an option here doesn't actually lead to a better experience since using your console for voicechat is not a worse experience.

I am looking at it from a console POV, as I'm literally talking about what's possible on my PS4 and my Vita.  Though, it appears there might be a difference between a console POV, and a Nintendo POV.

You know what else has a microhphone array?

So a microphone array in each joycon/controller, and a headset socket in each joycon for those who want to use one. Are we putting another array in the main unit for future tablet games too? How well are those microphone arrays in the joycon going to work when playing a motion control game like ARMS?

What if one person only has a Switch and the other person has a Switch and a PS4 but they want to stay in touch?

These are just rhetorical questions that I don't want an answer to. Just trust Nintendo, it'll all be fine.

Okay, so there's a microphone in each joycon. So problem solved. Just use that for voice chat. Again, no need for a smartphone. Everyone can use the mic that's built into the controller.

If we're going to get in hypotheticals, what if one person doesn't own a smart phone and doesn't want to buy a smartphone or better yet, what about a parent doesn't want their kids to use a smartphone? Ohh right. No voice chat for you.

Rather telling that your argument has fizzled down to "just trust Nintendo okay?". In fact, that really says all that needs to be said about your argument, doesn't it.

Why are they doing this? I legitimately do not understand.

Is it because of processing power? Or lack of some essential component?

Fixed.  Since the Vita came out in 2011 lol