I gotta admit, I do fear for the price tag but I also think Nintendo might be willing to take a slight lost to hit the 399.99. Maybe with a game sold which I think the prices are going up across the board to 69.99 helps the console break even with a game sold. I also think the iPad comparisons aren't fully one to one because Apple has great profit margins on top of likely a much more expensive screen, cameras, and battery. If the price is 449.99, then I see a game bundled like Nintendoland or Wii Sports that shows off the new controller features along with a very robust launch line up including a massive 3D Mario game and 3rd party titles in holiday 2025. Dont see Nintendo launching a 450 console in March, so holiday 2025 with 3D Mario, Mario Kart X in Spring 2026 with the Mario movie 2 hype and Pokemon Gen X in holiday 2026. Switch 2 with that price needs everything it can get. 

I doubt Nintendo will take a loss on hardware especially in a high inflation environment. 

If they can sell Switch OLEDs at $349 they probably figure they can get away with $449 Switch 2. 

Don't get me wrong, if they want to eat $50/unit and sell it to me for cheaper, by all means, I just seriously doubt it. 

These components are not dirt cheap components. Maybe a game will be bundled to soften the blow, I dunno. 

Obviously an iPad has much more in the screen and what not, but we're also talking about $1000+ vs only $450 and the Switch 2 has even more RAM (12GB to 8GB). I think they are launching in March because they will want those extra sales for the fiscal year end, unless software development is falling even further behind. 

But I would expect that they will come out swinging with a lot of big gun software early, new Mario Kart, new 3D Mario, new Donkey Kong, etc. to justify the price. 

Good point.  The Rog, Deck and ps5 all have 16 gb of ram.  If anything 12 gb is low and should be bumped up.  Just rumors but the 5000 series is thought to be 16 gb (dedicated) for their cheap cards, with their high end (5090) at 36 gb. 

Time moves quick, 12 gb really isn't much in terms of ram these days.

I'd rather have fast RAM than slow RAM. When people overclock the Switch (tons of videos of this on Youtube) overclocking the RAM creates better performance uptick than overclocking even the GPU in many cases. Higher bandwidth also probably tells you that Nintendo is planning to use the full capability of the chip, otherwise there'd be no point in the bandwidth so that's a good sign also. 

12GB LPDDR5X is quite pricey even today, ROG Ally and Steam Deck use cheaper regular (but slower) LPDDR5. LPDDR5X currently really is only in high end premium flagship phones/tablets like the $1050 Google Pixel 8 Pro (exact same 12GB LPDDR5X RAM + exact same 256GB UFS 3.1 storage) and the new iPad Pro OLEDs that just released this week and those even only have 8GB of LPDDR5X for $1000+.

The XBox Series S only has 8GB of RAM for games, 12GB is comfortably ahead of that in size, so I don't see the issue. 

You're getting more RAM in the Switch 2 than a $1000 iPad and more RAM than the XBox Series S, which is a legit next gen home console, at the best speed available in mobile RAM currently. I'd say if you're complaining about that, you're just looking to complain about anything, that's a very good hardware design decision, the reaction to this news on the internet has been largely very positive. 

Nintendo is in the business of selling 120+ million pieces of hardware they're not going to make a $700 niche console like the Lenovo Legion Go or whatever, you have to be realistic. This is still way, way, way, waaaaay better than the Wii/DS/3DS/Wii U era, this is much more in line with the GameCube/N64/SNES days where Nintendo provided fairly good hardware but still at a mass market price. And even this I think is going to push that envelope a bit because I think this is going to cost $450, which is way cheaper than like a $700 ROG Ally, but it's not exactly dirt cheap either.

Vgchartz needs to remove the ignore feature from behind a paywall.

All signs point to it being at least as powerful as the commodore 64. I only know this because I have insider information and no, don't ask for my sources because I signed an NDA

I think Digital Foundry said it best, it would be amazing if Switch 2 had a mode that enables docked modes/clocks in portable play.

I agree that a $399 price seems impossible without Nintendo taking a bit of a loss; last time that happened was the Gamecube, I believe, which sold for a ~$9 loss at launch at $199 (with no losses recorded in its reports). But there would be a bigger-picture advantage here.

First, look at successful systems that incurred a small loss at launch: The PS4 was selling for, what, a ~$40 loss when it launched? By the second year, it was profitable already. Sony stated that the purchase of one game (1st party) put them in the black when buying the system at launch. Now, think about the amount of 1st party software Nintendo would be able to sell for Switch 2 with a strong lineup.

Second, like Switch, Nintendo is probably aiming for no price drop for most of the generation and the system staying strong at $399 would benefit that image. I don't see Switch meeting Nintendo's forecast this year without some kind of price reduction so a $399 price for Switch 2 would separate the new system nicely from a $299 Switch OLED.

Still, it would not surprise me if the price of Switch 2 did end up being $429 - $449 but who knows; maybe all of those investor meetings that Nintendo had were to explain all of this to them in that an expected loss would become beneficial in the long run for the company.

Well, the Switch had an unusually long lifetime for a Nintendo system. It also wasn't necessary to buy two Nintendo systems (home console + handheld console) within one console cycle to play all interesting Nintendo games.

If someone bought a Switch 1 at launch and has saved just 5 bucks every month, the savings would already be $430 for the Switch 2.
If it launches in March 2025, the budget of a "$5-saver" would be $480 (plus interest).

So I don't see a big problem with $449 or even $499 for the Switch 2.

Millions paid $400 for a Wii + DS combo in the 2000s.

1) battery life.

2) there is a fan, inside the dock this time, to cool it, so it can clock higher.

Both of these things, fly in the face of "docked mode" speeds in handheld mode..... also nintendo is very KISS mentality with their products, because they need to be family friendly devices.  I highly doubt, they would even consider what your saying you want.


What I suspect is the Switch 2, is powerfull enough, to run old Switch 1 games's docked mode, even when the switch 2 is in handheld mode.
The screen on it will likely run higher resolutions, and with the better performance of the switch 2, old switch games, could run full mode on the go.
(without it being a battery / cooling issue, because the device itself is so much more powerfull than the switch is)