Image: Dbrand
Nintendo is inching ever closer to its promised deadline to reveal the Switch’s successor before April 2025. But new leaks from case manufacturers appear to reveal exactly what the Nintendo’s next console could look like, and a few notable upgrades it might have over the original Switch.
We were inspired to write this article in the first place because of Dbrand’s just-announced “Killswitch 2” case. The website for the product features an in-motion render of the case and, inside, a mockup of hardware that has some key differences from the Switch and Switch OLED: the new console appears to be larger, and it has a mysterious new second button on the right Joy-Con under the Home button. Accessory leaks over the past several days have shown a similar potential design for the hardware.
It seems Dbrand is reasonably confident in its case, but we asked CEO Adam Ijaz to be sure. He says Dbrand has “actual dimensions” — not an educated guess — based on a “3D scan of the real hardware.” (When we asked how he knows that, Ijaz only said “Nice try, Nintendo.”)
Video: Dbrand
Here’s a GIF we cut of the new case from Dbrand’s video.
Based on Dbrand’s measurements, the next Switch (which we’ll call the Switch 2) will both be larger and taller than Nintendo’s Switch OLED, but roughly the same thickness. Nintendo’s spec sheet shows its previous handheld is 242mm wide, 102mm tall and 13.9mm thick, where Ijaz says the Switch 2 should measure 270mm wide, 116mm tall, and 14mm thick, with the console portion taking up 200mm worth of that width.
Ijaz also says the kickstand will still measure around half the console’s height at around 55mm; a diagonal measurement of the cover glass supports previous rumors that it’ll have an 8-inch screen.
Ijaz says it’s his “understanding” that Joy-Cons are “magnetically attached” with an “an ejection button” that’s on the back of the Joy-Cons near the top, and his new case takes advantage of the detachable controllers — he says the controller portions of Dbrand’s case can detach with them inside.
He doesn’t know what the second square button is under the Home button, which he says has a “C” printed on it. The left Joy-Con in Dbrand’s mockup still has a button on the left Joy-Con, which is where you’ll find the capture button on the original Switch, so it’s unclear if this “C” button now means capture or if both buttons work differently. (Nintendo originally introduced C-buttons on the Nintendo 64 controller in 1996 as a way to control a game’s camera, before gamepads introduced a second stick to let you shift perspective.)
Ijaz says the joysticks stand 6.27mm tall, and the D-pad and ABXY buttons protrude by 1.57mm, with a 180mm wide kickstand, and back triggers that extend 14.1mm.
While Dbrand does seem to know a lot about the console, Ijaz is “genuinely unsure” about its potential release date. He says that Dbrand is working toward a late March or early April release for its case, though. Ijaz also doesn’t know about Nintendo’s possible TV dock for the Switch 2, but says that Dbrand’s assumption is that “the form factor will be similar to the previous gen.” He doesn’t know if the screen will be LCD or OLED.
While it’s highly unusual for an accessory maker to publicly reveal this much about a product from a powerful, litigious company like Nintendo, it’s not surprising that Dbrand’s the one stepping up to the plate. Having beef with console makers is an intentional (and often fun!) part of its marketing strategy, and Nintendo is a frequent target — like that Zelda skin that was a middle finger to Nintendo’s lawyers, or 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 case manufacturer. That mockup is clearly larger than today’s existing Switch OLED, and the new Joy-Cons are clearly bigger than the old Joy-Cons. You can also see the second square button under the home button there, the larger button under the triggers that presumably ejects them from the console, and a wide kickstand similar to the one on the Switch OLED.
One other nice addition? A second USB-C port on the top of the mockup, which theoretically means you’ll be able to plug in a charging cable while you’re using it in tabletop mode; with the current Switch, the charging port on the bottom is blocked when you’re standing it up on a table.
While we’re still waiting for Nintendo to actually announce concrete details about the Switch 2, the company has shared that the console will be able to play current Switch games and it will have Nintendo Switch Online as well.