Digitimes reported that Nintendo is busy preparing a revised Nintendo Switch system with an aim to make it available to consumers sometime this upcoming summer.
The site says that production on the new unit will begin this quarter and will be released mid 2020, that’s according to sources from the related upstream supply chain.
In 2019, Digitimes previously reported that Nintendo would shift some of their production to Vietnam and also claimed that the company would release a cheaper version of the Switch. All of these turned out to be true, so there may be some truth to their report.
Veteran of the journalism scene Takashi Mochizuki weighed in;
I reported in Aug 2019: "Nintendo has ideas for further updates to the Switch lineup after those two models to make the platform’s lifecycle long"
DigiTimes on Jan 6: "Nintendo is reportedly planning to release in mid-2020 a new model of Switch"https://t.co/giypufcW4A
— Takashi Mochizuki (@mochi_wsj) January 6, 2020
There’s no concrete information regarding the potential upcoming model, but some are predicting Nintendo’s next console as a “Switch Pro” device.
Dr. Serkan Toto, CEO of game industry consultancy Kantan Games, told GamesIndustry.biz “there’s no doubt in [his] mind that Nintendo will launch a ‘Switch Pro’ in 2020” — specifically, “after the summer holidays to counter the roll-out of the PS5 and next-gen Xbox later in the year.”
Nintendo Switch revision / pro… why?
The original Nintendo Switch was released in March 2017, but the updated version with increased battery life began rolling out in August 2019. But why would there already be a new model in the works?
Well since it’s release, Nintendo’s has received a fair amount of feedback regarding malfunctioning Switch controllers — “Joy-Con drift,” which is associated with analog sticks registering movement without player input.
Personally though, I never experienced it.
In 2019, a class-action lawsuit was filed against Nintendo of America over the Joy-Con malfunctions. An update filed in September 2019 added the Nintendo Switch Lite to the lawsuit, suggesting Nintendo had not improved the malfunctioning parts.
As always Nintendo probably has; nothing to announce.
