Nintendo Switch 2 could be announced this week: The rumors (and facts) so far

With CES 2025 finally in the rearview mirror, it’s time to move on to the next round of big hardware announcements. Rumors have surfaced in recent weeks, pointing to an imminent announcement for the next generation of Nintendo’s hugely successful Switch hybrid console.

In particular, the word of the industry stalwart Eurogamer (among others) pegs an announcement of January 16 – that is, Thursday. If indeed the big reveal comes this week, aim for a more incremental announcement. The company will probably provide information one Nintendo Direct at a time instead of a big keynote with specifications, availability and launch titles.

We know for certain that the company had its sights on a Q1 announcement for the Switch 2 – specifically, before the end of March 2025. Another key bit confirmed by Nintendo is the compatibility of the device with its predecessor. That’s good news for the 150 million or so who bought the first Switch.

The biggest question at the moment is how big of an update we’re finally talking about here. Nintendo’s console names have largely pointed to big departures for each successive generation. With a few exceptions – like the ill-fated Wii U – things have been a lot less simple than, say, Sony’s PlayStation.

It is reasonable to expect that the Switch 2 will be an evolution of the existing product, rather than a significant departure. After all, Nintendo spent some time in the wilderness before the launch of the Switch in March 2017. The convertible form factor and some really excellent titles were precisely what the company needed to re-establish itself in a dramatically different gaming landscape after the Wii U’s setbacks.

There is no doubt that the new console will improve the original specifications, but it is also important to temper expectations, given Nintendo’s history. The days of going toe-to-toe with competitors on things like GPUs are decades in the company’s past.

Other rumors are just that: magnetic Joy-Cons and a jump in the size of the screen to 8 inches up from 6 in the classic Switch and 7 in the OLED Switch, which arrived towards the end of 2021. Among that update of console and only portable. , budget-minded model that Nintendo introduced with the Switch Lite in 2019, there have been updates along the way.

(Nintendo Switch 2 is not printed)