I feel like I prefer the idea of it being a PS4Pro-esc device rather than PS5-esc, but with all this talk we've heard of the Switch being weak and all it makes me wonder. They won't add all this power and still force backwards compatibility.

From what I gathered, more like PS4 (slightly cut-down Tegra Orin NX), but yeah, not a powerhouse compared to current gen home consoles.

Still, that would be about tripling the raw GPU performance while the CPU performance would be 5x-7x the one from the Switch (depending on the clock speeds; Switch is clocked very slow), so still quite a substantial upgrade. Visuals wouldn't be that far behind the ones from a Series S.

If Nintendo were smart they should manufacture a good stock of switch 2 units prior to launch. Avoid Sony's situation.

Now that Nintendo only has one platform they need to release new hardware while its still selling well to avoid periods of time of low sales. 

Fair point, but my response was regarding a new Switch when BotW2 launches....  that ain't happening.  Perhaps a 2023 xmas new hardware?  Maybe.  2024, sure.  But we aren't getting new hardware in less than a year.  

*by new hardware I mean a real upgrade, not minor

The ESRAM in the Xbox One is 32MB. You can't take the ESRAM bandwidth and add it to the total RAM bandwidth and call it a day. That's literally like saying the 360's RAM bandwidth was over 250GB/s (it wasn't). While ESRAM can help with bandwidth limitations, it's more often used for framebuffers. 

May actually is not that bad of a time window. 

Your point about having to announce it now is a bad idea because it would impact Switch sales for this holiday season and why would you want to do that. 

May release means they can comfortably unveil say in January 2023 so as to not impact holiday sales and then launch a few months later. 

I don't know if that's their plan, but a May launch is attractive for that reason especially. You also have time to replenish stocks for the holiday season, launching in the holiday season is kind of a waste because early adopters are just going to buy the first batches of systems no matter what, leaving regular consumers with no systems for the holiday rush, I've always felt launching before the holiday season is smarter. 

I don't think again though "new hardware" means the "old hardware" is some how now obsolete. Nintendo probably ordered new hardware for 2023 years ago and it could simply be the hardware is ready for that time frame because these things have to be planned years in advance. If the don't want to leave the current Switch ecosystem they don't have to ... simply keep making games for the Switch OG and just let them run at 4K on the new system for several years before transitioning software support to the newer model. 

I can see even Mario Kart 9 still being playable on the OG Switch because do you really want to lose out on a 100 million userbase. A 4K version of MK even with Switch 1 tier graphics is still going to look good. 

I simply do not recall ever hearing of a hardware announcement and a launch a couple months later.  Seems highly unlikely.  Plus doing as such would be horrid for PR.  You buy a $300 Switch for xmas to find out a week later there is going to be a better version......  yeah, brilliant marketing strategy.  A great way to alienate a whole bunch of consumers.  

So is that good tech?

I mean the Switch itself was officially unveiled in late October 2016 and launched in the first week of March 2017. Which is basically like 4 months. And that was OK because Nintendo had nothing that holiday season anyway (Wii U was dead and 3DS was geriatric by that point). PS5 was officially unveiled in June 2020 and launched 5 months later in November. 

It's not the 1990s or 2000s anymore. Popular electronics being unveiled even a week before launch is normal for consumers (see Apple iPhone). 

4-5 month lead time is more than enough in the 2020s. 

You're going to piss off people who have just bought the older model at some point no matter what that's unavoidable, what difference does it really make if its late January or say April, that person's Switch they got for holiday that previous December is still going to be "new" in their eyes.