The Nintendo Switch 2, as described by Dbrand

Nintendo is inching ever person to its promised deadline to uncover the Switch’s successor before April 2025. But caller leaks from lawsuit manufacturers look to uncover precisely what the Nintendo’s adjacent console could look like, and a fewer notable upgrades it mightiness person implicit the archetypal Switch.

We were inspired to constitute this nonfiction successful the archetypal spot due to the fact that of Dbrand’s just-announced “Killswitch 2” case. The website for the product features an in-motion render of the lawsuit and, inside, a mockup of hardware that has immoderate cardinal differences from the Switch and Switch OLED: the caller console appears to beryllium larger, and it has a mysterious caller 2nd fastener connected the close Joy-Con nether the Home button. Accessory leaks implicit the past respective days person shown a akin potential design for the hardware.

It seems Dbrand is reasonably assured successful its case, but we asked CEO Adam Ijaz to beryllium sure. He says Dbrand has “actual dimensions” — not an educated conjecture — based connected a “3D scan of the existent hardware.” (When we asked however helium knows that, Ijaz lone said “Nice try, Nintendo.”)

Based connected Dbrand’s measurements, the adjacent Switch (which we’ll telephone the Switch 2) volition some beryllium larger and taller than Nintendo’s Switch OLED, but astir the aforesaid thickness. Nintendo’s spec sheet shows its erstwhile handheld is 242mm wide, 102mm gangly and 13.9mm thick, wherever Ijaz says the Switch 2 should measurement person to 270mm wide, 116mm tall, and 14mm thick, with the console information taking up 200mm worthy of that width.

Ijaz besides says the kickstand volition inactive measurement astir fractional the console’s tallness astatine astir 55mm; a diagonal measurement of the screen solid supports erstwhile rumors that it’ll person an 8-inch screen.

Ijaz says it’s his “understanding” that Joy-Cons are “magnetically attached” with an “an ejection button” that’s connected the backmost of the Joy-Cons adjacent the top, and his caller lawsuit takes vantage of the detachable controllers — helium says the controller portions of Dbrand’s lawsuit tin detach with them inside.

He doesn’t cognize what the 2nd quadrate fastener is nether the Home button, which helium says has a “C” printed connected it. The near Joy-Con successful Dbrand’s mockup inactive has a fastener connected the near Joy-Con, which is wherever you’ll find the seizure fastener connected the archetypal Switch, truthful it’s unclear if this “C” fastener present means seizure oregon if some buttons enactment differently. (Nintendo primitively introduced C-buttons connected the Nintendo 64 controller successful 1996 arsenic a mode to power a game’s camera, earlier gamepads introduced a 2nd instrumentality to fto you displacement perspective.)

Ijaz says the joysticks basal 6.27mm tall, and the D-pad and ABXY buttons protrude by 1.57mm, with a 180mm wide kickstand, and backmost triggers that widen 14.1mm.

While Dbrand does look to cognize a batch astir the console, Ijaz is “genuinely unsure” astir its imaginable merchandise date. He says that Dbrand is moving toward a precocious March oregon aboriginal April merchandise for its case, though. Ijaz besides doesn’t cognize astir Nintendo’s imaginable TV dock for the Switch 2, but says that Dbrand’s presumption is that “the signifier origin volition beryllium akin to the erstwhile gen.” He doesn’t cognize if the surface volition beryllium LCD oregon OLED.

While it’s highly antithetic for an accessory shaper to publically uncover this overmuch astir a merchandise from a powerful, litigious institution similar Nintendo, it’s not astonishing that Dbrand’s the 1 stepping up to the plate. Having beef with console makers is an intentional (and often fun!) portion of its selling strategy, and Nintendo is simply a predominant people — similar that Zelda tegument that was a mediate digit to Nintendo’s lawyers, oregon the “(not) Animal Crossing” one.

Much of what Dbrand is showing and what Ijaz is saying lines up with a video from SwitchUp showing what it calls a Switch 2 mockup sent to them by a lawsuit manufacturer. That mockup is intelligibly larger than today’s existing Switch OLED, and the caller Joy-Cons are intelligibly bigger than the aged Joy-Cons. You tin besides spot the 2nd quadrate fastener nether the location fastener there, the larger fastener nether the triggers that presumably ejects them from the console, and a wide kickstand akin to the 1 connected the Switch OLED.

One different bully addition? A 2nd USB-C larboard connected the apical of the mockup, which theoretically means you’ll beryllium capable to plug successful a charging cablegram portion you’re utilizing it successful tabletop mode; with the existent Switch, the charging larboard connected the bottommost is blocked erstwhile you’re lasting it up connected a table.

While we’re inactive waiting for Nintendo to really denote factual details astir the Switch 2, the institution has shared that the console volition beryllium capable to play existent Switch games and it volition person Nintendo Switch Online arsenic well.