Bloomberg has a new report from Omdia analyst Hiroshi Hayase showing that Nintendo’s next console – let’s call it Switch 2 for now – will launch this year and will have an 8-inch LCD screen.
Switch 2’s 2024 launch window has not yet been confirmed, but is widely expected. That it will have an LCD screen – similar to the base Switch model, and a downgrade from the beautiful OLED Switch model – has already been reported. In 2023, Sharp said it was supplying LCD panels to the maker of an upcoming console.
But the important new detail here is the size of the screen. Because when it comes to portable gaming consoles, that’s 8 inches big.
For comparison, the Switch Lite has a 5.5-inch screen; The screen of the original Switch model is 6.2 inches; and the OLED switch has a 7-inch screen. A basic Steam Deck model also has a 7-inch screen, and the Steam Deck OLED screen is 7.4 inches.
So 8 inches is a luxurious amount of screen real estate for a portable console. But it also suggests that the form factor for the console itself will be noticeably larger.
Because the original Switch had a wide, black bezel around the screen, Nintendo was able to dramatically increase the size of the screen for the OLED model by reducing the width of the bezel and moving the edge of the screen closer to the edge of the device. Push. .
Even if Nintendo could reduce the bezel width further, there simply isn’t enough room for an 8-inch screen on the current Switch form factor (which measures about 7.5 inches diagonally). It sounds like Switch 2 is going to be a bit of a monster.
Nintendo has yet to publicly confirm the existence of its next console, let alone say anything about it. A full reveal this summer seems likely, though it’s possible Nintendo will make some sort of basic announcement sooner: before the financial year ends in March, to appease investors.