Summary
A major image sensor manufacturer and long-time Nintendo supplier has reportedly teased the launch window of theNintendo Switch 2. This development dovetails with a recent rumor claiming thatNintendo has already shifted its focus to the Switch 2 consolefollowing the release ofThe Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, supposedly its last big mainstream exclusive for the system.
Though the Switch was never considered to be a particularly powerful device, the six-year-old console is certainly showing its age nowadays. Given that state of affairs, many were hoping that Nintendo would release a follow-up to its hit hybrid console even beforeTears of the Kingdomdecided to play it safe with the Switch’s hardware, thus further underlining its aging capabilities.
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A successor to the Switch might finally hit the market in 2024, Chinese media outlet MoneyDJ reports, citing sources close to PixArt Imaging, a Taiwan-based CMOS image sensor manufacturer. The company is said to be expecting a “Japanese game console” launch in early 2024, with the upcoming hardware supposedly coming from one of its long-time customers. This is plausibly a reference to Nintendo, not least because PixArt Imaging has been supplying the Japanese gaming giant with components since mid-2006, when it first reached an agreement to produce sensor tracking technology for the Wii controller. The company was also widely rumored to be the manufacturer of the IR camera built into the right Joy-Con since before theNintendo Switchwas even announced.
PixArt Imaging’s apparent expectation that a Japanese game console will launch in early 2024 is largely consistent with some other recent rumors about the Switch 2. One particular report from May already narrowed down therelease window of Nintendo’s new console, claiming that the device isn’t planned to launch before spring 2024. Taking that previous rumor and this newly surfaced one at face value, it would appear that Nintendo might be looking to debut the Switch 2 in late March, primarily because there’s not much overlap between “early 2024” and “spring 2024.”
While console manufacturers have historically favored the holiday season for new hardware launches, the Switch itself released in March 2017. The notion of the Switch 2 hitting the market around its predecessor’s seventh anniversary hence doesn’t seem particularly farfetched.
The two aforementioned reports aren’t the only recent indications that Nintendo may soon be debuting some new gaming hardware. The last such claim emerged in mid-July from aleaked Microsoft document that also alleged the Switch 2 is coming in 2024.
