The 3ds was only a year old in 2012 so there's your answer.

Agree, Switch was released in 2017. hardly they could released exactly same Switch 4-5 years ago.

Disagree, you obviously skipped the most important part: the older Tegras had shit battery life, on top of being weak as hell (which was no PS360 level but more like Vita). Therefore the battery life alone killed the prospect of Switch coming out earlier.

Also, Nintendo would never come out with the Switch if they didn't learn from the Wii U, the bomba had to happen.

Personally, I'd rather they had waited launching until Q3 so the Switch could have used the Tegra X2 and be twice as good.

Yeah, also I cannot understand why Nintendo doesn't lauch a K4 Switch more powerful than XBOX X and with built-in Virtual Reality for 199$, it would be an instant success!