29 January 2024 , 18:00
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A new report has gone into detail about what we can expect in terms of size from the Nintendo Switch’s forthcoming successor.
Whereas consoles from PlayStation and Xbox tend to get smaller as the generations roll on, Nintendo will allegedly prove an exception to this rule. So says a new report from Bloomberg, which speculates that the forthcoming successor to the Nintendo Switch – colloquially known as ‘Nintendo Switch 2’ around these parts – will have a bigger screen than the current console. Not much bigger, mind you. Still, it’s our best indication yet that for its next console, Nintendo intends to prove that bigger is better.
Such details come directly from Omdia analyst Hiroshi Hayase, who suggests that the screen size will be an “8-inch LCD”. This will surely dampen hopes for anyone holding out hope that Nintendo would launch its next device with an OLED screen by default. That said, the report in question goes on to strongly suggest that the Nintendo Switch 2 will also indeed be released this year.
The Nintendo Switch 2 having an 8-inch LCD screen would make it the biggest screen Nintendo has created for a handheld console yet, beating the likes of the original Nintendo Switch model’s 6.2-inch screen, the Nintendo Switch Lite’s 5.5-inch screen, and even the Nintendo Switch OLED model’s 7-inch screen. The report’s predicted size even beats out the screen size of Valve’s popular Steam Deck device, which matches the current Nintendo Switch OLED at 7 inches.
But, can a single inch really make the difference? An 8-inch screen is no doubt generous, but it’s almost to be expected from a console intended to also improve on the existing base Nintendo Switch in terms of raw power. If true, an 8-inch screen as the report indicates would be a great way to showcase the new tech.
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Inching closer
An 8-inch screen being planned for the Nintendo Switch 2 launch model isn’t all that surprising. After all, it’s an easy way for the house of Super Mario to show people there’s been some significant improvement in the hardware, even if the results in real life are minimal. The report unfortunately doesn’t go into detail about whether the Nintendo Switch 2’s overall size will be bigger; there’s every possibility the unit will be the same in size, just with a much smaller bezel.
The bigger issue here personally for me is that the 8-inch screen will, according to the report, be LCD. Since the launch of the Nintendo Switch OLED model, I’ve been an avid appreciator of the much brighter and crisper panel, to the point that I’d still rather play indie games on my Switch as opposed to my Steam Deck. It’ll be difficult going back to an LCD.
Nintendo knows that it can get people like me to double dip, first by selling them an LCD Nintendo Switch 2 and then a revised OLED model later down the line, as before. However, what would be more preferable is if two models were available to buy at launch, with an 8-inch OLED model Nintendo Switch 2 being purchasable at a premium. I doubt this will happen, but it won’t stop me from dreaming.