Nintendo Switch 2 Announcement Rumored for This Thursday

Speculation surrounding the successor to the Nintendo Switch has reached a fever pitch, with industry reports indicating that an official announcement could arrive as early as Thursday, January 16.

Following the conclusion of CES 2025, attention in the gaming sector has shifted toward Nintendo’s next hardware iteration. Sources, including Eurogamer, have pointed to this week as the potential window for the reveal. If the company proceeds with an announcement, experts anticipate a phased rollout of information via Nintendo Direct presentations rather than a single, all-encompassing keynote event.

What We Know About the Next Console

Nintendo has previously confirmed that it intends to make an official announcement regarding its new hardware within the first quarter of 2025, aiming for a reveal before the end of March. Perhaps the most significant detail confirmed by the manufacturer is that the upcoming device will feature backward compatibility, allowing the existing base of approximately 150 million Switch owners to retain access to their current libraries.

While anticipation for the new hardware is high, industry analysts suggest tempering expectations regarding a massive leap in raw processing power. Historically, Nintendo has moved away from competing directly with rivals on technical specifications like GPU performance, focusing instead on unique hardware form factors and software experiences.

Evolution vs. Revolution

The original Switch, launched in March 2017, successfully pivoted the company after the commercial struggles of the Wii U. Consequently, the upcoming model is widely expected to be an evolution of the existing hybrid design rather than a radical departure.

Current rumors circulating in the gaming community include several potential hardware adjustments:

• Display: A rumored increase in screen size to eight inches, surpassing the six-inch original and the seven-inch OLED model released in 2021.
• Controllers: Unverified reports suggest the implementation of magnetic Joy-Cons.

Since the introduction of the budget-friendly Switch Lite in 2019 and the subsequent OLED upgrade, Nintendo has demonstrated a pattern of incremental hardware improvements. Whether this next iteration follows that trajectory or introduces new mechanics remains the subject of intense debate until the company provides official details.