Nintendo Switch 2 Approaches: What We Know

Mario’s getting a makeover. The Nintendo Switch, which will celebrate its eighth birthday next March, is about to get a sequel. Nintendo has already confirmed a whole new console, and it should be unveiled before Nintendo’s next Super Nintendo World theme park opens at Universal Studios Florida in May.

Watch this: Switch 2 Rumors: Don’t Buy a Switch Just Yet

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If you already own a Switch or are thinking of buying one, here’s what you need to know. And here’s what we think we know based on reports and rumors. None of it is a huge surprise yet, but signs point to a big jump in gaming power that’ll be worth waiting for if you’re considering a new Switch purchase right now.

It’ll be backward compatible with the Switch

Nintendo’s president, Shuntaro Furukawa, confirmed the next Nintendo console — which doesn’t have an official name yet — will be backward compatible with both Nintendo Switch games and Nintendo Switch Online. The brief post on X in early November made it perfectly clear that Switch games will play on whatever console comes next.

Backward compatibility for Nintendo game consoles isn’t new. Many TV-connected Nintendo consoles and handhelds could play games from the immediate last generation before it: the Wii U, Wii, Nintendo 3DS, Nintendo DS and Game Boy Advance, for instance. 

It means you should be perfectly safe treating the next Nintendo console as a stand-in for a Switch. It won’t be surprising if it’s called a Switch 2 or a Super Nintendo Switch, but Nintendo can be unpredictable.

It should look similar to the Switch, with a few changes, maybe glasses support

Reported renderings of Nintendo’s next-gen console appeared on Reddit in September, via a Chinese social media site. The images show a console that looks a whole lot like the current Switch, at least in general design. It’s another widescreen handheld, with removable controllers at the sides that sport a familiar button layout.

According to the report, the console will have an 8-inch screen, up from the 7-inch Switch OLED, and USB-C ports on both the top and bottom of the console this time. The handheld will dock just like the Switch, but that extra USB-C port suggests something else: maybe accessories and, who knows, support for secondary displays like glasses.

The Steam Deck, laptops and most phones already support video-out modes that work with display glasses like those made by Xreal and others. It would be a great bonus to have this work on a new Nintendo Switch 2 and could even hint at Nintendo making some glasses-like accessory of its own (that’s speculation on our part, but considering Nintendo had its own cardboard VR kit for the Switch and a remote-controlled AR race car, not impossible).

Joy-Cons updates: Magnetic, but what else could that unlock?

Reports have largely suggested that the Switch successor will have modular Joy-Con controllers like the Switch, but ones that are redesigned and connect with a new magnetic system. One report from game controller manufacturer Mobapad goes into detail on the magnetic system as well as extra buttons on the controllers.

Will that allow for new accessories as well? I’m curious how modular the next Switch successor could be. The current Switch doesn’t have other accessories that slot into the side rails to replace the Joy-Cons, but might there be peripheral surprises with the next version? We’ll see.

Graphics should get a big boost to play more current-gen games

Reports going back to 2023 and earlier have pegged the next Switch as having revamped graphics capable of handling current-gen console games that the current Switch can’t. Think of games like Death Stranding or Elden Ring or Madden NFL. The next Nintendo console should still be a combo console with handheld and TV-docking modes, especially since that model is one the rest of the industry is slowly drifting toward (see the Steam Deck and a wave of PC gaming handhelds). 

How high-end will the TV docking graphics feel compared with handheld mode, though? It’s possible that TV docking could flex 4K gaming, but handheld modes could reduce frame rates and be limited to what’s been reported to be a 1080p LCD screen. That makes sense: The Steam Deck, in comparison, still only has a 1,200×800-pixel resolution display, and it looks just fine for most games.

According to Digital Foundry and others, an Nvidia T239 processor looks to be the likely chip inside the next console. This chipset’s notable features include ray tracing and PlayStation 4-level or better graphics, along with the possibilities of faster load times, added AI capability and the ability to upscale to 4K or downscale as needed for more efficient handheld gaming modes.

Price: Could it be $400 or more?

It wouldn’t be any surprise if the new console were at least $400 since the many-year-old Switch debuted at $300. Inflation alone would merit a price uptick. Could it be $500, though? Or, could Nintendo sell different configs, similar to what Microsoft and Sony are already doing? Reports also suggest higher prices for the games themselves, possibly around $70 for big first-party games. 

Expect surprises

One thing I feel personally confident about, knowing Nintendo, is to expect the unexpected. Nintendo loves a good, weird surprise. No matter how seemingly normal the reported Switch 2 design leaks seem, history says Nintendo will throw curve balls.

This fall already prepped us: A surprise Nintendo alarm clock and a streaming Nintendo music service. In the past, who could have predicted Nintendo Labo or Mario Kart Live or, going back further, the Wii’s odd controller design or the Nintendo DS’s dual-screen design or even the Nintendo 3DS’ glasses-free 3D? Whimsy is Nintendo’s calling card.

Doug Bowser, president of Nintendo of America, said as much in an interview with the AP in 2023: “One of the things we look at always is how can we surprise and delight. How can we introduce new, unique ways of playing. That’s always in front of our mind.” 

The current-gen Switch had its own surprises baked in, like its infrared camera on one of the Joy-Cons that can measure heart rate and track finger movement. Will the Switch 2 have a new standout feature that’s equally whimsical and surprising? I’d be surprised if it didn’t.

It’ll be arriving next spring, probably

Nintendo already confirmed that a new console would be announced by the end of its fiscal year, which is March 2025. The first Switch debuted in March 2017, and Nintendo seems to like that window; the Nintendo 3DS came out in the spring too.

As for when it’ll be teased with an official trailer? Who knows. The first Switch was unveiled out of the blue in the fall of 2016, and the same could still happen this time. I doubt it, though: the Switch is still a hot seller in 2024, while Nintendo was at a dead end with the Wii U in 2016. An unveiling after the holidays would make a lot more sense.

What you should do: Right now, the Switch still has great games, and those games will work on the next-gen console. Buying Switch games feels safe, but I’d hold back on any Switch hardware purchases until 2025, when we see what Nintendo has in store — and how much it will cost.