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

With CES 2025 finally in the background, it’s time to move on to the next round of big hardware announcements. Rumors have surfaced over the past few weeks, pointing to the announcement of the next generation of Nintendo’s hybrid Switch console.

Specifically, a quote from an industry expert Euro games (among others) peg the announcement for January 16 – that is, Thursday. If the big show is coming this week, it shows more publicity. The company will probably release information on the Nintendo Direct one at a time instead of one, the main points with descriptions, availability, and launch titles.

We know for sure that the company focused on the Q1 announcement of the Switch 2 – in fact, at the end of March 2025. Another important thing that Nintendo has confirmed is that the device is backwards compatible with its founders. That’s good news for the 150 million or so people who bought the first Switch.

The big question at this point is how big of an upgrade we’re talking about. Nintendo’s console names have hinted at a major departure for each subsequent generation. With a few exceptions – like the ill-fated Wii U – things have been much more straightforward than, say, Sony’s PlayStation.

It’s reasonable to expect that the Switch 2 will be an improvement on existing products, rather than a departure. After all, Nintendo spent a long time in the wilderness before the March 2017 Update. A revamped interface and some great titles were exactly what the company needed to re-establish itself in the gaming space after the Wii U stumbled.

There’s no doubt that the new console will be the best of the original, but it’s also important to upset expectations, given Nintendo’s reputation. The days of going toe-to-toe with competitors for things like GPUs are years of industry.

Other rumors include: the magnetic Joy-Cons and a jump in the size of the screen to 8 inches from 6 on the old Switch and 7 on the Switch OLED, which arrived at the end of 2021. Among the upgrades of the console is portability only. , the budget model that Nintendo launched with the Switch Lite in 2019, there have been updates along the way.

(Nintendo Switch 2 not pictured)