A 'Super Switch' Nears?
Takashi Mochizuki
There have been no shortage of rumors about a new Nintendo Switch in 2024 for the past year or so, but display analysts, such as Hiroshi Hayase at Omdia, tend to have the best info about such forthcoming products for obvious reasons.
Nintendo will launch a new game console this year with an 8-inch LCD screen, according to Omdia analyst Hiroshi Hayase.
The new device from the Kyoto-based games maker will be responsible for a doubling in shipments of so-called amusement displays in 2024, Hayase said in Tokyo on Friday. His research focuses on small and medium displays and he bases annual forecasts on checks with companies in the supply chain.
Nintendo’s seven-year-old Switch has sold over 132 million units and is approaching the end of its life cycle. The company has been tight-lipped about any potential successor, but expectations have narrowed to this year’s holiday period for the release of the next generation.
An 8-inch screen compares to a 6.2-inch screen on the original Switch and a 7-inch screen on the newer OLED Switch (the Switch Lite has a 5.5-inch screen). Though it's interesting that they think it would be an LCD screen, versus the OLED of the aforementioned newer model of the Switch. Perhaps there would be two models, at the lower and higher ends?
Regardless, it remains wild to me that the videogame consoles can wait seven-plus years in between upgrade cycles in this day and age. Smartphones are updated every single year with significant upgrades in performance and various other technologies. Most people don't upgrade every year, but certainly every few years is the norm. Can you imagine if everyone was still using the iPhone 7 right now? That's the device which was released the same year as the Switch.
Yes, yes, as the Switch has made abundantly clear in the face of competition from not only the Xbox One and the Playstation 4 — the last generation of consoles for Microsoft and Sony, respectively — but now the Xbox Series X and S (ridiculous naming) and the Playstation 5, this isn't all about top speeds and specs. Nintendo is nothing if not a testament that IP matters. Still. Seven years! The Switch is using an NVIDIA Tegra X1 chip (an ARM Cortex-A57). It was made using a 20nm process. 20nm! The latest iPhone chips are built using a 3nm process!1
Anyway, the Switch is the only gaming console I've owned for these last two cycles. And I imagine the new one will be the only one I own for the next cycle as well – depending on how you classify Meta's Quest and soon Apple's Vision Pro, not to mention the iPhone itself, and one day, maybe, finally, the Apple TV? My snark aside, it's a great system thanks to that incredible IP mixed with great controls. After a few years lost in the wild with the Wii U, Nintendo nailed it – to the tune of a console that may surpass 150 million in sales when all is said and done.
With that in mind, they shouldn't overthink this new device too much. Previously, I threw out the branding ideas: Switch 2. Switch II? SwIItch? But a comment on that post had a far better one. One that calls back to Nintendo's OG consoles: Super Switch.
Boom. Ship it. Ideally before the end of the decade.
1 Can you imagine the improvements a new Switch would see in power and battery life if they move to even just a 7nm chip?