Every new feature and change we expect to see

The Nintendo Switch has been a monumental success for Nintendo and gamers alike. It revitalized the company and its IP after a massive misstep with the WiiU and reminded us why Nintendo is such a pioneer in the industry. By combining its handheld and console efforts into one unified system, it was able to outsell its competition despite a massive power gap.

No matter how many amazing games the Switch has, it can only go for so long before the technology inside it needs an upgrade. In terms of technology, the Switch was behind even when it launched, and at this point, is struggling to run its own games well. As excited as Nintendo fans are about the prospect of a new, more powerful piece of hardware from Nintendo, we only have second-hand reports and rumors to go off of right now. Take this all with a grain of salt, but based on everything I’ve heard, these are the 7 features I feel confident Nintendo Switch 2 will have when it launches.

Backwards compatibility

Let us ditch the old Switch

Nintendo

Every other player in the console space knows that backward compatibility is almost required to keep your audience. Nintendo has gotten away with it with the Switch, mainly because so few people bought the Wii U and because of the significant change in direction the new console represented, but no more. The Switch has sold too many units, and too many people have built up massive libraries, both physically and digitally, for Nintendo to make us all start from scratch again. I believe it knows this and will be sure to highlight the Switch 2’s ability to play all our current games. I’d also hope that those games would look and run better on the new hardware, but that might be asking too much from Nintendo.

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A new and improved Switch dock

4K at home

Rocketfish / Pocket-lint

The dock is critical to what makes the Switch a Switch. The portability is great, but it also needs to prioritize being a home console by improving the dock. Aside from the obvious, such as ensuring your dock doesn’t damage your Switch’s screen, I want it to provide a more substantial boost to the system’s power. It shouldn’t be too much to ask for games to run at some form of 4K, even if it isn’t native, while docked. It also needs to come with an Ethernet port by default this time. It’s 2024, and online gaming is the standard, and Wi-Fi just isn’t going to cut it for most people.

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Modern online features

Get with the times

Asus

I know Nintendo is all about people playing together and likes to push split-screen and local co-op, but it’s time to face reality. Online features are essential to keeping your audience happy, and what we have on the Switch is a good start but won’t be enough for long. If Nintendo is going to charge us for an online subscription, I expect us to keep our digital libraries, have a consistent rollout of classic games, and most importantly, have a streamlined online multiplayer interface. Using friend codes and separate apps for voice chat is archaic at this point.

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Better Joy-Cons

No more drift

The Joy-Cons are a fantastic idea, but they are not executed perfectly. The major downfall is how prone they are to experiencing stick drift, rendering them essentially useless. That should be the number one priority to address with the hardware set, but updating the design would be a nice improvement as well. I love the technology inside, but we must admit that these little controllers are just too small for some people to use comfortably. I’m sure a new Pro Controller will be available, but I don’t want to be forced to purchase an extra controller just to play the system. New and improved Joy-Cons are a must.

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Custom themes

Light and dark don’t cut it

Remember the good old days of the 3DS, where you could choose from dozens of backgrounds? What happened, Nintendo? How come we only ever got two basic themes for our Switch? Let us unlock new themes for games we’ve bought or download cool new designs online. Heck, let us make our own and share them with our friends! Just don’t make me stare at a boring dark background for the next six to eight years.

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More power!

Impressive internal specs rumored

While the Nintendo Switch Lite and Switch OLED both have similar internal hardware to the existing Switch, the Switch 2 is expected to make a massive leap forward. Even as far back as 2019, the Japanese site Gamepedia claimed it would have some impressive internal specs.

The RAM, it said, would be 8GB, double that in the current console, while the onboard storage would get a major hike to 128GB. The standard Switch only has 32GB of storage and almost demands that you buy a microSD card if you want to store more than one game, while the Switch OLED upgraded this to 64GB.

But, while rumors previously suggested that the Switch 2 would use an upgraded Tegra X1+ processor, as found in the Switch Lite, it is now thought a new Nvidia chipset with DLSS technology could be utilized instead. That complies with a February 2021 data mine detailed on Reddit, which revealed the Switch 2 would be able to offer native 1440p resolution and upscale to 4K through Nvidia’s DLSS 2.0 technology.

Subsequently, details have surfaced suggesting it will be a customized version of the Nvidia Tegra Orin, called T239. A leak of Nvidia details in March 2022 also further implied that the manufacturer is working on new hardware for a fresh Switch model.

That was further backed up by a job listing in May 2022 which suggested it’s working on a new GPU that would be perfect for an upgraded Switch.

According to reports, the Switch 2 is guaranteed not to have a 4K display built-in, though. It is expected to have a similar 720p display resolution and could well pack the exact same upgraded OLED display that the Switch OLED debuted. VGC’s release date report did claim that, in order to keep the console’s costs down, it could ship with an LCD screen instead of this OLED option, though.

Contradicting these rumors is another unconfirmed spec sheet that comes via Paul Eccleston. This supposed report claims the Switch 2 will have an eight-core Cortex-A78AE processor, 10 streaming multiprocessors, 8GB of RAM, and 64GB of storage. This would put the console somewhat in line with the power of the PS4 when docked. A potential positive change from past reports is the claim that it will come with a seven-inch OLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate rather than the LCD screen previously reported.

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Switch 2 release date

Whill we ever make the switch?

We’ve been hearing rumors about a Switch 2 release date for years now, but the latest rumors (reported by Nikkei and translated by VGC) suggest that it was initially intended to arrive in late 2024 but was internally postponed to early 2025. This delay allows Nintendo to ensure it can produce enough systems to meet demand. Considering how challenging it was to acquire the Switch when it launched, and the rise of scalpers who will undoubtedly seek to exploit the new system launch by purchasing as many as possible to sell at prices well above retail, this delay will hopefully mitigate that issue.

Other sources have stated that the push to 2025 was to give Nintendo additional time to develop a stronger lineup of launch titles. Regardless of which reason proves accurate, if either, the delay should serve both purposes.

Time to save up

The new system could debut at $400

Nintendo / Pocket-lint

It’s very challenging to predict the Switch 2’s price when we lack concrete details about its specs. Nonetheless, some have tried to estimate its cost based on the rumors and reported specs.

One leaker, known as Zippo, asserts that the new system will debut at $400. This price is only $50 more than the current OLED model. According to their anonymous source, “That’s the ‘golden number’ they have in mind. It’s the price that aligns with the power of their new system, the price that allows them to make a decent profit, and the price they believe is suitable for the audience they aim to retain. No more, no less.” It’s important to note that this price prediction is based on rumors that the Switch 2 will feature an LCD screen, not an OLED. If it comes with an OLED, or if there’s a different version that includes one, the price could increase by about $50, considering the price difference between the standard Switch at $300 and the OLED model at $350.

It’s very hard to predict the Switch 2’s price when we don’t have firm details on the specs yet. That said, some have attempted to estimate what it could cost given the rumors and reported specs.