Late last year, the Wall Street Journal reported that Nintendo was working on refreshing their Switch line-up. An updated report now suggests that the reveal is slated for summer 2019 and that Nintendo will release 2 new hardware variants.
It seems that Nintendo is working on making a portable-only version of the handheld, but also an “enhanced” version of the console. Unfortunately, the report also suggests that neither will be as powerful as the PS4 Pro or Xbox One X. Nevertheless, we can’t help but hope that we’ll get a peek at new devices at the upcoming Electronics Entertainment Expo 2019 (E3) in June.
According to the WSJ‘s source, who has access to a prototype, the new Switch “is a hybrid device that can be played either as a hand-held unit or connected to a larger screen,” and Nintendo suppliers have revealed that the new models will sacrifice the vibration feature.
But here’s the question: while the enhanced Nintendo Switch will definitely pack beefier hardware, will it be enough to get fans to upgrade? The current Nintendo Switch uses the NVIDIA Tegra X1 chip, but unless Nintendo utilizes a superior version of the X1, they probably won’t impress the current Switch fanbase. Nintendo likely won’t utilize the superior Tegra X2 or the Xavier chipset since that would mean developers would have to make 2 different versions of the game to run on each hardware variant.
While Nintendo does have a history of releasing successful new versions of their handhelds (like they did with GameBoy, and more recently with the 3DS and 2DS line of products), the company doesn’t have a great track record with home console revisions (remember the Wii Mini? We try not to.).
Since the Nintendo Switch is a hybrid console, it fits into the categories of both home console and portable console, so the rumors have us a bit skeptical. We’re going to temper our excitement until we see some teasers.
Fatima Bhutta
