Yes I fully expect a premium Switch to come out next year. The Lite came out 2 years after Switch launch, and in a year it'll have been 2 years since the Lite, so it makes sense time-wise. A premium Switch launch a year from now will give it likely 2.5 years to sell before a successor system comes out, so again, that makes sense as they probably wouldn't want to release their upgrade model less than two years before a Switch successor comes out.
Also I don't know why people argue about it being a switch "pro". "Pro" just refers to an upgraded Switch. Pro doesn't mean anything other than a higher end model. People just use the term Pro because that is what Sony used for their PS4 upgrade so it is on people's minds as a term for an upgraded system and its a generic term for a better version of something.
Also, I don't know why people are expecting a vastly upgraded Switch thats at like PS4 power. This isn't a new gen, it's just an upgraded model of the system. All games will still need to be playable on the OG Switch and the Lite. This isn't a new gen or a half new gen where there will be Switch games and then Pro games that can't be played on all Switches. That idea is absurd. Nintendo is known for power upgrades (not sure why the OP says they aren't known for pushing power/graphics) but anytime they've done it (RAM expansion pack, GBC, New 3DS) there have only been 5 or less games released that required the better model or expansion pack. It is still gonna be the Switch, all games will be playable on all Switches, stop expecting some halfway new gen 4+ years into what is gonna be a 7 year life cycle. The rumors said something about the new model having some sort of new interactive features, not sure what that could be but if that allows new kinds of games or inputs then that would be the only thing in which a handful of games are "Pro" only games, and again, as has always been the case at most it would be like 5 games that have a "Pro-only" label on the box because this rumored new interactive feature is essential to the game.
There are pretty standard upgrades that I think we should expect: bigger screen, perhaps a higher quality screen (not in resolution but in type of screen), hopefully bluetooth, maybe more battery life, more internal storage, perhaps a bit increased RAM and other specs that allow for framerate/resolution upgrades for existing games - like 700p to 1080p and 30fps to 60fps, that kinda of thing ya know, the type of thing you'd expect from a premium model. Basically I'd expect it to clear up any slowdown in some existing games and raise the resolution of lower res games up to being around the max res for the system. It's not going to bring in any games that couldn't already be ported to the Switch, because they would still need to run on the original Switch specs.
Price wise I don't think there is any way Nintendo goes over $300. This will just allow them to drop the price of existing systems to catch those who have been holding out on a cheaper Switch, while keeping the $300 price point until very late in the Switch's lifecycle. I imagine a premium Switch staying at $300 until within a year of a Switch 2 launch, allowing the Switch 2 to then launch at $300-$350 while Switch models are at that point maybe $130/$180/$230 or something like that, or maybe they eventually stop production of the OG Switch and we have a Lite/Premium at like $150/$230 by the time Switch 2 comes out.
So Pro, Premium, New, whatever you want to call it, yes I think it would be very surprising if it doesn't launch next year. But stop expecting it to be some brand new system that plays different games. The library will be the same, all games will be playable on all version of the Switch, because it's not a new gen, it's just an upgraded model like Nintendo has always done with their portables.
Last edited by Slownenberg - on 30 August 2020
