Before the holidays we covered the latest Switch 2 leaks that were doing the rounds. Rumors were abound that Nintendo had already shown off a prototype to select game developers at Gamescom earlier in the year and that early 2025 could be the date penciled in for a launch.
Like most rumors, they needed to be taken with a pinch of salt. Console manufacturers are not generally known to release a machine just after the biggest selling period of the year has passed, although the original Switch did arrive on March 3rd, 2017, meaning we didn’t have to wait too long – it was still in the first quarter of the year.
Now, more news has emerged from the Taiwanese Economic Forum on Reddit about some of the potential specs we could be looking at, and it’s fair to say that while some aspects will be very much appreciated, others may not elicit a round of applause.
First the good – the report from the forum suggests we can expect a greatly improved battery life, alongside a 120Hz display (which, ironically, would draw more power than the original display, requiring a better battery in the first instance.)
Now for the bad news, the report also suggests that the Switch 2 is getting just 8GB of RAM and a measly 64GB of onboard storage which seems exceptionally low in this day and age. We all probably have USB pen drives on our desks with that amount of space free.
Nintendo has made a habit over decades of eschewing top-tier specs and being ridiculed for the decisions, only to come out on top when it comes to unit sales and managing to keep costs in line with consumer expectations.
The original decision to place a 720p display on the first Switch models did not do it any real harm, even when consoles from Sony and Microsoft were offering full HD at the time.
Potential price hike for Switch 2?
As ever, these are just merely the latest rumors but they also suggest a cost rise of around 33% to the $400 mark, This could be the reason for the improved display rate of the panel as the cost will need to be justified to the consumer.
The translation reads, “It is widely rumored in the industry that Nintendo is expected to launch a new Switch this year to capture the market. In response to the pressure of global inflation and the weak yen, the price of the new product will be unprecedentedly raised. The retail price will be raised from $300 to $400, a 33% increase.”
We await the next batch of rumors with eager anticipation.
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