Dbrand, a manufacturer known for producing cases for all sorts of electronic devices, has shown off a 360-degree render of a case for the Nintendo Switch 2—with what looks to be a render of the new console inside.
While pre-release renders from third-party manufacturers should be taken with a pinch of salt, Dbrand's CEO has spoken about the potential dimensions for Nintendo's upcoming handheld—and it's looking like a chonky boi, at least compared to the previous model.
Speaking to The Verge, Dbrand head honcho Adam Ijaz said that the Switch 2 measures 270 mm wide, 116 mm tall, and 14 mm thick, with the console portion taking up 200 mm of that width, based on a "3D scan of the real hardware". That'd make it significantly larger overall than the Switch OLED, which measures in at 242 mm x 102 mm x 13.9 mm.
That's still 28 mm smaller width-wise than the Steam Deck, and 29 mm less than the substantial Lenovo Legion Go with controllers attached. That being said, I'd wager that Nintendo's engineers may have taken a look at the ever-growing handheld gaming PC market (both in available models and unit size) and seen that big handhelds seem to be of little issue to buyers, and decided to take advantage of that fact.
And that's not all Ijaz has to reveal on the Switch 2. It's his "understanding" that the Joy-Cons are magnetically attached with an ejection button for release, and that there's now a second square button with a "C" printed on it underneath the traditional Home button, although he doesn't know what its function is. Capture? Clamp? Coffee? It's all conjecture at this point.
The diagonal measurement of the cover glass is said to support the rumour that the Switch 2 will have an eight-inch screen, slightly larger than the Steam Deck OLED's 7.4-inch model. It's not yet known if the Switch 2 will have a traditional IPS or OLED display, although it seems likely to me that it'll be a more standard display with the option for an OLED refresh later in its lifespan.
Still, with the Legion Go boasting an 8.8-inch display, if these rumoured dimensions play out it'll still be behind that particularly hefty handheld in terms of screen real estate.
YouTube channel SwitchUp has recently released a video on what it purports to be a "3D printed non-functional device" from a Switch 2 case manufacturer in China, which seems to line up with the dimensions given by Dbrand here. Everything seems to be a bit larger, with bigger Joy-Cons, a more substantial chassis size overall, and what looks to be a second USB Type-C port on the top of the device.
One of the biggest bugbears with the OG Switch was the positioning of the charging cable at the bottom of the device, which meant resting the cable awkwardly on table tops, airplane tray tables and more when charging under usage.
However, even with all this extra unconfirmed info, the exact release date remains a mystery. Nintendo President Shuntaro Furukawa has previously said that the console is planned to be released "within this fiscal year", which would put the deadline on March 31, 2025.
Manufacturers have been experimenting with the formula for handheld gaming PC chassis sizes over the past few years, and if these rumoured dimensions are any indication, it looks like Nintendo may have followed the "bigger is better" route to match.
Personally, I wasn't all the enamoured with the hardware inside the original Switch, so hopefully this new console's beefed-up internals will deliver performance to match its heftier frame, although reports say that Nvidia's DLSS will likely be providing a major helping hand. One can hope, ey?
