Nintendo Switch 2: first details about the new 4K console

Although Nintendo's Switch has been available since March 2017, the company was able to sell 5.68 million units - 1.7 times as many as last year, according to Taiwan's Economic Daily News. According to the report, which coincides with the details of another article by Bloomberg, Nintendo allegedly plans to introduce an updated console early next year.

Bloomberg's sources report that developers and engineers are currently working on more performance and 4K graphics. It's not clear what hardware will be used inside the console, though. Nintendo is also feeling the competition among gamers due to the upcoming sales launches of PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X this autumn – just in time for the Christmas season.

Nintendo Switch: new games for updated hardware

The new hardware will be accompanied or closely followed by new games from Nintendo and its partners. As usual, these will appeal to as many players as possible – but no concrete titles were mentioned. According to Bloomberg, this upcoming presentation of new games in the coming year explains the comparatively quiet year 2020. Nevertheless, "Animal Crossing: New Horizons" was an extreme success, not least due to the Corona crisis.

At the same time, Nintendo could barely keep up with the production of the Switch and Switch Lite. However, at the beginning of August, Nintendo announced that they had overcome this supply bottleneck. The decreasing demand for smartphones had helped Nintendo suppliers.

Production of Nintendo's next console will probably not begin until next year, according to Bloomberg. The reason given is the constant demand for the current models. As the biggest improvement, experts expect the jump from 720p to 1080p in handheld mode. In the TV dock, a 4K resolution should finally be possible thanks to an improved processor.

Nintendo was able to sell 61 million Switch consoles between March 2017 and the end of June 2020. For comparison: The Wii was sold 102 million times, the Nintendo DS even made it to 154 million units. Analysts expect that the Switch can overtake the Wii even without a hardware upgrade. However, new hardware could ensure that the Switch will also leave the DS behind.

Source: Bloomberg, Economic Daily News