Nintendo Switch 2: Everything We Know About Nintendo's Next Console - Nvidia Chips, Rumours

Nintendo Switch launched in March 2017 and is now in its seventh year on store shelves. In that time, Nintendo has released both the Nintendo Switch Lite, a handheld-only variant, and the Nintendo Switch OLED Model, a premium version with a larger OLED screen and other minor enhancements to the base model.

However, whispers have circulated for many years now concerning a 'Switch Pro', a long-rumoured enhanced Switch console with increased technical abilities. A variety of sources — some more reliable than others — have suggested a range of potential features this upgraded Nintendo hardware might have, including 4K output, improved processing power offering improved frame rates for existing titles, and more.

However, this fabled Switch 'Pro' model has yet to materialise. In fact, rumours suggest that although it was once part of Nintendo's plans, strong sales of the standard model and supply constraints exacerbated by the pandemic caused the company to abandon the project and focus instead on the true successor to Nintendo Switch.

In this 'Switch 2' guide, we'll cover all industry rumours and everything we know about the next Nintendo console so far.

Nintendo Switch 2 - What We Know So Far

Rumours of a new Switch model began early in the system's life, beginning with whispers of a 'Switch Mini', a handheld-only console that launched as the Switch Lite. In January 2019, analysts began predicting the release of multiple Switch SKUs including both a Switch Lite and a Switch 'Pro'. Nintendo President Shuntaro Furukawa dismissed rumours, saying that Nintendo wasn't considering a "successor" at the time — a technically correct comment as both Switch Lite and the then-unknown Switch OLED model are variations on the base console.

In 2019, Nintendo replaced the original Switch console with a 'silent' update of the hardware which used the same Nvidia Tegra X1 chip found in the Switch Lite. Since inventory of the OG model sold through on store shelves, the updated console has the only base model available to purchase. While the chip closed a security hole in the original model's CPU, it also afforded better power efficiency and improved battery life. This chip was used again in the Switch OLED model.

Various rumours surrounding a 'Switch Pro' did the rounds throughout 2020 and 2021, although many of these were related to Switch OLED, not a Switch SKU with offered performance improvements over the base model.

In September 2021, Bloomberg reported that multiple developers said they had been working on 4K Switch software using tools provided by Nintendo. Nintendo swiftly issued a statement denying the report. A patent was subsequently made public suggesting that Nintendo is working on upscaling technology, and 'Switch Pro' speculation reignited after references appeared following a massive Nvidia leak n March 2022. Whether this reference was to a cancelled Switch 'Pro' variant or the console's true successor is unknown.

In September 2022, an Nvidia employee confirmed the existence of the T239 system-on-a-chip, a long-rumoured frontrunner for the silicon Nintendo would use in a 'Switch 2'. In March 2023, chip rumours surfaced once again, with further mentions of the T239.

In December 2022, Digital Foundry claimed that Switch Pro was indeed a real thing at one point, but was cancelled by Nintendo in favour of sticking with the base Switch model and focusing R&D on a full Switch successor.

In May 2023, Sharp CEO Robert Wu confirmed that the company was working with an unnamed company to produce LCD screens for a new console. While it was speculated that this might relate to a 'Switch 2', it's also possibly related to Sony's Project Q streaming device for PS5.

Nintendo Switch 2 - Will It Offer 4K Visuals?

Technically, the current Switch's dock is capable of delivering 4K 60fps visuals over HDMI 2.0, although the console in the dock doesn't output that signal.

It's conceivable that an updated system could use the same dock and output to a television at a higher resolution than the current Switch, although until Nintendo reveals the exact nature of its future hardware, it's impossible to say.

Given patents revealing that Nintendo has experimented with upscaling technology, an upscaled 4K solution might be more likely, as opposed to a native 4K presentation.

Nintendo Switch 2 - Release Date

The original Switch launched in March 2017 and is now in its seventh year on the market. Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa discussed in May 2022 how cautiously the company is approaching the launch of Switch's successor, be it a 'Switch 2' or some new console concept. In February 2022 he said that Switch was "just in the middle of its lifecycle."

Furukawa and Nintendo apparently envision a decade-long life for the Switch as it continues to sell even after the launch of newer, more powerful hardware, and they have insisted — naturally — that there's life left in the standard Switch yet.

As we're firmly in the realm of speculation, if Nintendo were to try and follow the successful formula of the Switch's reveal and subsequent rollout, which was revealed in October 2016 and launched the following March, an October 2023 reveal for a March 2024 launch would make sense — although it very much depends on Nintendo's Holiday 2023 plans as well as its manufacturing position with new hardware.

Piers Harding-Rolls of Ampere Analysis told GamesIndustry.Biz at the end of 2022 that the company is forecasting new Nintendo hardware for 2024.

Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom may well be Switch's last 'big' game, a bookend of sorts to the hybrid handheld's lifecycle. If that's the case and Nintendo decides to hold back a new Mario or Metroid Prime 4 to fuel interest in new hardware, it seems unlikely that the company would remain silent on its future hardware plans until 2024 (Tears of the Kingdom launched in May 2023).

We'll update this guide as new information on Nintendo Switch's successor comes to light.