Nintendo says Switch 2 details coming before March 2025 — seven years after the original version was released

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A better, faster Nintendo Switch is just over the horizon.

Switch OLED
(Image credit: Nintendo)

Nintendo confirmed on X that the Switch 2, the successor to the highly popular Nintendo Switch, will be announced this fiscal year. The original Switch went on sale seven years ago, in March 2017, making it one of the oldest consoles currently on the market. Although Nintendo updated the Switch with the Switch OLED in 2021, it was technically the same console, but with a larger 7-inch OLED screen and bigger storage.

Despite its aging hardware, Nintendo has released some great exclusives on Switch in recent years, allowing it to remain competitive despite nearing the end of its life cycle. These include Animal Crossing: New Horizons (2020), Xenoblade Chronicles 3 (2022), and The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (2023).

In contrast, the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S launched in 2020, with a newer, slimmer version of the former coming out in 2023. We also reported on a leak of the PlayStation 5 Pro specs in March, as many expect it to come out this year. Furthermore, the recent launch of portable Windows gaming consoles like the ROG Ally and MSI Claw could add pressure on the company, especially as Asus plans to launch the ROG Ally 2 later this year.

Because of the new rival consoles on the market, Nintendo may feel hard pressed to release the next-generation Switch. However, Nintendo President Shuntaro Furukawa said on X, “We will be holding a Nintendo Direct this June regarding the Nintendo Switch software lineup for the latter half of 2024, but please be aware that there will be no mention of the Nintendo Switch successor during the presentation.”

If Nintendo launches new exclusives for the current generation Switch in June, it won’t make sense for the company to pre-empt any last-minute sales of the old console by announcing the Switch 2 soon after. The original Switch was first announced in March 2015, with the handheld arriving two years later in 2017. So, if Nintendo sticks to this schedule, it will probably announce the Switch 2 in March 2025.

However, we don’t have any news on when it will hit store shelves. It took Nintendo two years to bring the original Switch to market, but we hope that it won't take Nintendo to give us the Switch 2, as we want to get it by late 2025. By then, the first-generation Nintendo Switch would have had a full eight-year lifespan.

The company hasn’t released any official specifications for the next-generation console yet. However, Nintendo Switch 2 rumors indicate that the new handheld will use a more powerful Ampere-based Nvidia chip, with eight times as many CUDA cores as the current Switch. It will also likely take advantage of DLSS, allowing gamers to enjoy higher-quality visuals without suffering from reduced battery life or poor game performance.

Jowi Morales
Jowi Morales
Contributing Writer

Jowi Morales is a tech enthusiast with years of experience working in the industry. He’s been writing with several tech publications since 2021, where he’s been interested in tech hardware and consumer electronics.

14 Comments Comment from the forums
  • YouFilthyHippo
    Most rumours point to a GTX 780 (2013) equivalent performance, and.... this is Nintendo talking here.... So I expect 8GB Unified. So regular switch games might finally be playable at respectable framerates. Other than that, I don't hold out much hope. It's sad to see the biggest IP in the gaming industry subjected to hardware that's 12 years old hardware at release, nevermind the fact that it has to last 7 years. They will be reliant on DLSS to save face, and of course that looks horrible compared to native. The most comical thing would be to see Nintendo say 4K capable. It's fine. I'll just wait for an emulator before I try and play switch 2 games. I'm not interested in 720p slideshows
    Reply
  • Admin said:
    Nintendo President Furukawa confirms that the Switch 2 is coming this fiscal year.

    Nintendo confirmed on X that the Switch 2, the successor to the highly popular Nintendo Switch, is coming out this fiscal year. We expect Nintendo’s new handheld console to arrive in November 2024 at the earliest

    I'm not sure if that's a correct article heading/info, because it sounds kind of totally misleading.

    Nintendo didn't confirm the product is launching this fiscal year. They will only do a formal announcement of the successor. They haven't mentioned any specific product release date, but this is most likely a 2025 product.

    Announcement is different than confirming an actual product's release timeline. So Switch 2 is likely NOT coming out this fiscal year, if I understood the tweet correctly.

    "This is Furukawa, President of Nintendo. We will make an announcement about the successor to Nintendo Switch within this fiscal year".
    Reply
  • edzieba
    Metal Messiah. said:
    I'm not sure if that's a correct article heading/info, because it sounds kind of misleading IMO.

    Nintendo didn't confirm the product is launching this fiscal year. They will only do a formal announcement of the successor. They haven't mentioned any specific product release date, but this is most likely a 2025 product.

    Announcement is different than confirming an actual product's release timeline. So Switch 2 is likely NOT coming out this fiscal year, if I understood the tweet correctly.

    "This is Furukawa, President of Nintendo. We will make an announcement about the successor to Nintendo Switch within this fiscal year".
    And since all the sum total actual substance of the statement was that "the successor" would be:
    1) Not mentioned in the June Nintendo Direct
    2) Announced this fiscal year (which for Japan, is April to April)
    This does not even 'confirm' a 'Switch 2' exists - a successor could be a new home console (e.g. with a WAN-enabled Wii-U like remote), a fully mobile-only device (e.g. a DS successor) or something else entirely and that a 'successor' - whatever it is - will have an associated announcement sometime before April 2025. That may not even be an announcement of the product, just an announcement related to it (e.g. "we will not be announcing a successor before 2026" released April 2025 would constitute "an announcement about the successor to Nintendo Switch within this fiscal year".

    Always fun to watch the gaming press whip out their Jump to Conclusions mat when Nintendo makes even the most noncommital possible statement in to spin it as whatever they want to hear.
    Reply
  • hotaru251
    I think msot people alreayd assumed the 2025 release date when Pokemon z-a was announced ot be 2025.

    Nintendo ALWAYS launches new console w/ launch title of one of the big three IP's (zelda, mario, or pokemon)
    Zeldas too soon for a new one since totk, Mario is focusing on remakes/masters (luigi mansion2, pm 1kyd, & mario vs dk) in 2024, and pokemon was announced for 2025.

    YouFilthyHippo said:
    It's sad to see the biggest IP in the gaming industry subjected to hardware that's 12 years old hardware at release, nevermind the fact that it has to last 7 years. They will be reliant on DLSS to save face, and of course that looks horrible compared to native.
    Nintendo has never pushed bleeding edge (well not since N64) graphics as they, unlike sony & ms, don't have to.
    Nintendo knows its place & its users are fine with it mostly.
    Would we want better? sure. do we need it to be great? no. Considering the specs of switch how good the games are is impressive.
    Most of switch games look and run fine w/ a few outliers & stuff like Pokemon vi/sc was likely more to do with rushed development.

    You don't play Nintendo games for best visuals. You play em for the fun gameplay and most again play extremely well.

    My only desire (apart from a more modern spec which we can always expect) is joycon update w/ better joysticks.

    and rumors were mainly on the cpu ( custom nvidia T239 ) and gpu was never really known just entirely assumed w/o much grounds. (only based on ampere but no performance related stuff minus using dlss)
    Reply
  • YouFilthyHippo
    L
    hotaru251 said:
    I think msot people alreayd assumed the 2025 release date when Pokemon z-a was announced ot be 2025.

    Nintendo ALWAYS launches new console w/ launch title of one of the big three IP's (zelda, mario, or pokemon)
    Zeldas too soon for a new one since totk, Mario is focusing on remakes/masters (luigi mansion2, pm 1kyd, & mario vs dk) in 2024, and pokemon was announced for 2025.


    Nintendo has never pushed bleeding edge (well not since N64) graphics as they, unlike sony & ms, don't have to.
    Nintendo knows its place & its users are fine with it mostly.
    Would we want better? sure. do we need it to be great? no. Considering the specs of switch how good the games are is impressive.
    Most of switch games look and run fine w/ a few outliers & stuff like Pokemon vi/sc was likely more to do with rushed development.

    You don't play Nintendo games for best visuals. You play em for the fun gameplay and most again play extremely well.

    My only desire (apart from a more modern spec which we can always expect) is joycon update w/ better joysticks.

    and rumors were mainly on the cpu ( custom nvidia T239 ) and gpu was never really known just entirely assumed w/o much grounds. (only based on ampere but no performance related stuff minus using dlss)
    I don't expect bleeding edge. PS5 wasn't bleeding edge at release, but it sure as hell wasn't 12 years old. NVidia has mobile chips for a reason. I wouldn't expect a liquid cooled 4090..... But theres no excuse to not have a 4070 mobile.... Or even a 4060 mobile..... which would be downclocked on portable mode, like a laptop GPU downclocks when not plugged in. I'd be fine with that. But I know we're gonna get a half baked 12 year old potato. It's disappointing. I get why Nintendo does it. I understand the business model, but people who care that their games look nice have to pay the price of that. Like I said. I'll just wait for an emulator
    Reply
  • hotaru251
    YouFilthyHippo said:
    PS5 wasn't bleeding edge at release
    it cost way more, used raytracing, direct storage, & while not used had ability to enable frame gen in hardware.

    to consoles that was bleeding edge at the time.

    Switch was made 7yrs ago. its hardware would of been picked a yr or 2 before that.

    yes, nvidia does have mobile chips..but they also aren't as power efficient as tegra & in a device that's main feature is handheld mode thats kind of important.
    YouFilthyHippo said:
    but people who care that their games look nice have to pay the price of that

    I don't think thats been the primary focus of the userbase.

    If looking pretty was main concern the PSP would of destroyed the NDS. (it didn't)

    YouFilthyHippo said:
    . I'll just wait for an emulator
    which is fine.

    I kept my og switch just to dump stuff to play it on emulator so I know how much better it is...but again thats not the primary focus for their majority userbase.
    as a business why push beyond your users needs when it barely makes more profit than if you didnt?
    Reply
  • jeremyj_83
    hotaru251 said:
    Nintendo has never pushed bleeding edge (well not since N64) graphics as they, unlike sony & ms, don't have to.
    The GameCube was bleeding edge for graphics. It was more powerful than the PS2 and only slightly less powerful than the XBox.
    Reply
  • YouFilthyHippo
    hotaru251 said:
    it cost way more, used raytracing, direct storage, & while not used had ability to enable frame gen in hardware.
    to consoles that was bleeding edge at the time.
    Switch was made 7yrs ago. its hardware would of been picked a yr or 2 before that.

    Bleeding Edge was a 3090. The PS5 is a radeon 6700. It's not even fair lol. Switch came out un 2017. Its a GT-830M. The Radeon 4870 from 2008 beats it. That's 9 years, not 2.

    hotaru251 said:
    yes, nvidia does have mobile chips..but they also aren't as power efficient as tegra & in a device that's main feature is handheld mode thats kind of important.

    I'm sure they could tweak a 4070 mobile or 4060 mobile to be fairly power efficient. They can even add a setting.... like a slider, left to right, for battery life vs performance, and adjust accordingly. The user can choose

    hotaru251 said:
    as a business why push beyond your users needs when it barely makes more profit than if you didnt?

    The year is 2024. A GTX 780 (assuming the T239 rumour are legit) doesn't cut it anymore. I get that, its all about profit, user experience be damned. If its the T239, like they say.... ya I definitely won't pay for that lol.
    Reply
  • edzieba said:
    Always fun to watch the gaming press whip out their Jump to Conclusions mat when Nintendo makes even the most noncommital possible statement in to spin it as whatever they want to hear.

    Amen !
    Reply
  • ivan_vy
    jeremyj_83 said:
    The GameCube was bleeding edge for graphics. It was more powerful than the PS2 and only slightly less powerful than the XBox.
    also the N64 was more advanced than Sony PS and SEGA Saturn
    Reply