Hardware Sharp to Supply New Console Displays as Nintendo Switch Awaited

[Yachtmaster]

(Bloomberg) -- Sharp Corp. on Thursday revealed it was supplying liquid crystal displays to an “upcoming” gaming console, potentially spurring speculation that Nintendo Co. is getting ready to update its popular but aging Switch.

Sharp Chief Executive Officer Robert Wu said the Japanese firm, which is owned by Taiwan’s Foxconn Technology Group, has been working closely with an unnamed company on developing a gaming console since it was in the R&D phase. Sharp plans to launch pilot LCD-panel production lines this fiscal year for the new device, he said.

“I can’t comment on any details regarding specific customers. But as to a new gaming console, we’ve been involved in its R&D stage,” Wu told analysts on a call after releasing quarterly earnings.

Wu was careful to avoid identifying the company or its impending product. After the analyst call, Sharp deleted from its online presentation slides a mention of a new game device it is a supplier for.

Sharp has worked with Nintendo before. Investors have anticipated that Nintendo will update its six-year-old marquee device next fiscal year, which could catalyze a flagging stock price.

The Japanese company this month said it expects to sell 15 million units of its Switch console this fiscal year, down sharply as it loses momentum to relatively newer rivals such as Sony Group Corp.’s PS5. Analysts including UBS Securities analyst Kenji Fukuyama have said a new Switch is at least 12 months out.

 

[rcpd]

Turns out Sony is making a Vita 2. /s

 

[Yachtmaster]

Turns out Sony is making a Vita 2. /s

this would be great news too!

 

[InsaneNutter]

Could also be for the Rog Ally?

 

[rcpd]

this would be great news too!

It really would. I was only being half sarcastic when I posted that. More hopeful than sarcastic I guess.

 

[Yachtmaster]

miracles sometimes happen, and please ... a Vita hybrid (withTV mode)

 

[Bladexdsl]

this is prob for sonys new handheld i mentioned a while back. .

the new device will require constant connectivity to the internet.

 

[ChibiMofo]

Sorry guys. The 3DS so completely killed the ill-fated Vita that Sony has exited that business permanently. Just like how the Wii was the last-ever successful Nintendo console and Nintendo no longer makes consoles. Sony and Nintendo know who they are and Sony's management would be fired instantly by their shareholders if they brought out another dismal handheld.

"as it loses momentum to relatively newer rivals such as Sony Group Corp.’s PS5."
But it is hilarious to characterize it as if after selling over 100 million Switches, which are portable and have completely saturated that market, that it is a non-portable console that it is losing momentum to, as if Switch sales didn't INCREASE after the release of the new MSFT and Sony consoles! The good news is that the company that makes the best handheld gaming unit will soon be releasing the next generation of such a device, and that is FAR better news than watching Sony bring out another device no one asked for or wanted.

 

[Marc_LFD]

As great as the Vita is, the Vita is effectively dead for Sony, so they'd make a new one instead.

Now, would it be successful against whatever Nintendo releases? Kinda, but Nintendo would remain king.

 

[MikaDubbz]

I know it's not in the cards, but I would love if the Switch 2 had the glasses-free 3D of the 3DS in handheld mode. Would be a neat way to encourage more portable play from players who like the feature.

 

[subcon959]

I highly doubt it's related to a new Switch (plus surely it would be OLED again rather than a downgrade to LCD). Probably something else or even the Q Lite for PS5 remote play.

 

[ciaomao]

I highly doubt it's related to a new Switch (plus surely it would be OLED again rather than a downgrade to LCD). Probably something else or even the Q Lite for PS5 remote play.

good argument, even if i would not call it a downgrade.

 

[MikaDubbz]

I highly doubt it's related to a new Switch (plus surely it would be OLED again rather than a downgrade to LCD). Probably something else or even the Q Lite for PS5 remote play.

Alternatively, they could launch the successor system with 2 models, one with an OLED screen, and one with an LCD screen. I mean if OLED screens are going to drive the price up $50, then I'd personally just opt for the LCD version, as it's still a beautiful and vibrant experience on the OG Switch and Lite. However, that's assuming both supposed models launch with the same size screen too. Cuz honestly, that's the largest reason why I'd want an OLED version of the Switch 1, it's not the actual OLED aspect of the screen, it's the larger screen. Heck the ethernet port is a bigger draw to me than the actual fact that it's OLED.

 

[Bladexdsl]

Alternatively, they could launch the successor system with 2 models, one with an OLED screen, and one with an LCD screen

or they could do neither and make a proper console this time

 

[MikaDubbz]

or they could do neither and make a proper console this time

Sounds like a bad idea given who we know Nintendo to be. We all know that Nintendo will never go for the highest-end specs to directly compete with Sony and Microsoft. So they might as well continue to lean into the biggest gimmick they've embraced that ceases to lose its appeal: a device that can be played at home on the TV or on the go.

I'll take a hybrid Nintendo system over some run of the mill underpowered traditional console any day, especially at this point where the biggest draw to more power beyond what a Switch 2 should feasibly be, is faster (or essentially no) load times.

 

[ciaomao]

We all know that Nintendo will never go for the highest-end specs to directly compete with Sony and Microsoft.

…but we all know that they did. n64 beat ps1 and gamecube beat ps2 hw wise…

 

[MikaDubbz]

…but we all know that they did. n64 beat ps1 and gamecube beat ps2 hw wise…

Yet they had huge shortcomings for the time. N64 games couldn't even be 100MB big while PS1 games could fit 700MB on a single disc, or be even bigger across multiple discs. And then the GameCube chose mini discs which immediately took away any possibility of DVD video playback which was a huge selling point at that time.

Nintendo always skimps on the hardware in some dumb way or another, even if they did manage to have the higher power at the time (which we know will never happen again at this point even if Nintendo returned to traditional consoles, as a huge part of their culture now is having their systems available at reasonable affordable prices on day one).

 

[ciaomao]

never

never say never

 

[MikaDubbz]

never say never

My man, I think we'd all have to be pretty naive to think that Nintendo's next system will be anything but the Switch 2 (even if that isn't the name they necessarily give it).

 

[ciaomao]

My man, I think we'd all have to be pretty naive to think that Nintendo's next system will be anything but the Switch 2 (even if that isn't the name they necessarily give it).

if you now limit your general statements to the next hw generation, you change your statement. which is already much more realistic than saying that N will NEVER have stronger hw than the competition. they have done it in the past and no one can say that they won't do it again, even if the next generation is rather unlikely. my problem with your statement was rather that you generalize and imply that everyone is of your opinion and that the circumstances can't change as well. have a nice day.