Knowing Nintendo the Switch 2 will already be obsolete at launch
This is the reason I believe it’s delayed. Tinfoil hat rant incoming:
Nintendo usually is ready to go for obsolete cheaper designs to maximize profit on hardware. However the Nvidia tegra family successor for entertainment devices never materialized (I won’t count anything on the Jetson platform). These chips never came down in price either. Nvidia pretty much dropped everything related to gaming once deep learning became its future cash cow. No shield tablets, android TV’s, or gaming devices anymore. Nvidia has disappeared from the consumer arm market.
Until now. Nvidia recently been looking to bring derivatives of its Grace Hopper platform to desktops and laptops in the near future. I’m sure the timing has to do with the rumors that Qualcomm is going out as M$oft’s exclusive arm for windows partner. There is a major urge in the AI field to have development uniformity across platforms and therefore arm coming directly to the developer is speeding up everyday (apple is the only name in the game atm).
That puts Nintendo in a place where to get priority, they will need to bid high for hardware. I don’t think they will. They know they make toys and they will just keep stretching the life span of the switch. It’s probably a better strategy anyway as Nintendo Remains in demand and they have no need to be a loss leader on hardware.
We think 8 years is long for a console but Nintendo dragged out it’s Gamcube, Wii, Wii U dynasty of hardware for almost 16 years before moving to a new platform. The DS hardware line lasted much longer.
We’ll get a switch 2 when Nintendo can get cheap Arm Chips.