New reports about future Nintendo Switch hardware releases are making the rounds following the company's financial reporting for the year. According to the reports, the Big N is planning to release a new Nintendo Switch SKU in 2019. The new Nintendo Switch will be a smaller version of the current hardware that retains its portable nature, and given that smaller nature, it would also be available at a lower price. Nintendo could announce the device later this year.

The initial report for the new Nintendo Switch hardware comes from Japanese media outlet Nikkei, followed by murmurings from across the Internet. It has long been rumored that Nintendo is working on new a new model for the Nintendo Switch hardware, but unfortunately, Nikkei has no further details to share regarding the matter.

As for what the new hardware could be, the broader speculation assumes that Nintendo is working on a much more portability-focused console, though maybe a handheld would be a more appropriate description. The smaller Switch would drop several of the core console's features in favor of its tinier form factor, which would also justify the price drop. Some believe the point of the device will be to replace the now all-but-abandoned 3DS, whose hardware sales dropped significantly in 2018.

Imagining a portable-focused Nintendo Switch, the device would likely have to drop support for the JoyCons and may even lose its ability to dock. Nintendo would still likely keep the device's wi-fi to continue spreading its ever-growing online service.

The question, though, is whether consumers would want such a device. Whether playing Fortnite or Minecraft purely on-the-go would be as popular, or whether the Nintendo Switch's first-party titles would market well as purely handheld tiles would be big questions to answer before launching such a device.

On the other hand, Nintendo has both Animal Crossing and the newest main franchise Pokemon title tentatively planned to launch in 2019, and both games are well known to sell well on handheld devices. If the company is truly developing such a device, then there may never be a better time to launch a solely handheld Nintendo Switch than in 2019. Expect to hear more news on this in the months to come.

Source: Nikkei (via Nintendo Everything)