Nintendo Switch Mini to Release This Financial Year: Report

Nintendo is planning to release a smaller version of the Nintendo Switch in this financial year. A Nintendo Switch Mini has been rumoured since 2017 and according to Nikkei, it's in the works. As per the report, it would focus on portable play and not have certain functions to reduce the cost. The Nintendo Switch Mini release date would be in between April 1, 2019 and March 31, 2020. This would be an interesting addition to the line-up as the company tends to release newer variants of its existing consoles with features not present in older ones such as improved 3D and the C-stick on the New Nintendo 3DS and 3DS XL which the original release of the handheld did not have.

Omitting features is usually unheard of, unless it tends to be towards the end of a console's lifespan, such as certain Wii variants not shipping with GameCube support.

The report from Nikkei (translated by blog Japanese Nintendo) states that Nintendo hasn't replied to a request for comment. No surprise considering how tightlipped it tends to be.

Back in April 2017, Bloomberg reported that a newer, smaller Switch was on the way.

"Although the Nintendo Switch can be used as a handheld device, we think smaller children could struggle to use it comfortably in that format due to its size and weight," analysts Minami Munakata, Kota Ezawa, and Alicia Yap wrote in a April 13 report. "Accordingly, we think Nintendo will launch a lighter, dedicated handheld version of the Switch, possibly to be called the Switch Mini."

That said, we'd speculate that the reason for a smaller Nintendo Switch is for the company to have a cheaper version that fills in the gap between the current Nintendo Switch and 3DS.

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