The rumors of a follow-up to Nintendo’s hugely popular Switch handheld have been flying around, but they have been just that – rumors. Bloomberg is now reporting that Nintendo will launch a new Switch this year with an 8-inch LCD screen, or so says Omdia analyst Hiroshi Hayese,

This prediction is based on Hayese’s research on small and medium displays and says that Nintendo will be responsible for doubling the shipments of these displays in 2024.

Sharp Corp. said at the end of 2023 it was to supply LCD panels to an unnamed upcoming consoles that was currently in Research and Development. Bloomberg says that Sharp previously worked as an assembler for Nintendo during the COVID-19 pandemic, and is owned by Foxconn.

Nintendo, not surprisingly is not commenting, but this, while by no means definitive proof, is yet another indicator that the console giant may be readying an assault on the holiday market with its next generation of handheld.

The Nintendo Switch is seven years old and has sold over 132 million units. While still popular with gamers the world over and still seeing hit titles such as The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom and Pokemon Scarlet & Violet within the last 12 months, gamers are now ready for an updated model. 

Sony and Microsoft both released their own next-gen consoles at the end of 2020 and the world has been waiting for Nintendo’s next move.

Rumors that Nintendo was showing prototypes of the Switch 2 as early as last September to select game developers have circulated and we have had various leaks already about potential specifications for the new machine.

Nintendo would however be unlikely to make an announcement too far in advance of launch in order to continue to maximise final sales of the current generation Switch.

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