I've seen an article about Nintendo looking at smartphone integration for a possible console.
Here's something I wrote back on June 14th 2018:
Back when Animal Crossing Pocket Camp came out I joked that perhaps one of Nintendo’s next endeavors would be a phone. Is it really that far fetched?
Nintendo, especially with the Pokémon series has always wanted to have a device that you would take with you on the go. Usually these devices would count steps and have little Pokémon mini games. Recently they announced Pokémon Let’s Go Pikachu / Eevee which works in tandem with the Pokémon go app.
The farthest back I can think of that’s a good example of Nintendo wanting you to have a product to take with you places is the DS. Certain stores would receive demo carts that you could download upcoming game demos and special content from. Then with the 3DS you have street pass, where even just passing someone else with a 3DS their mii would show up in your mii plaza and depending on which games you own, also receive content for those games as well.
Now with the Switch being a hybrid on-the-go and home console I really do believe it’s the next logical step. Everyone has a cellphone. With them venturing out into mobile app games and with this constant pushing for on-the-go gaming it just feels like it’s the direction they’re heading.
Nintendo also wants “every single person” to own a switch making it more logical that they would look into the phone market.
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What do you guys think? Is it possible that Nintendo would look into making a Smartphone? Or am I pulling this out of thin air?
I don’t see it happening as there are a bunch of issues.
*1. The smartphone market is pretty saturated, although Nintendo has the brand power to make a splash, it would need a differentiator. Biggest one would be game software, obviously.
*2. In order to make phone calls, it would need a cellular modem. They would have two options: add a modem and get it working with their favored chipset (like the Nvidia Tegra they’re using now) or switch to an all-in-one solution like the Snapdragon series used in existing Android phones. The first option is expensive, development intensive, and potentially more power consuming. The second would require switching to another chip which could break backwards compatibility and cause other issues (not necessarily anything impossible to overcome, though).
*3. They would need (or rather feel the need) to have it locked down so that only Nintendo-approved apps were available. People like having apps for all kinds of things and I think they aren’t wanting to police something the size of the App Store or Play Store. Piracy and emulation would be be concerns for them as well.
*4. Controls- touchscreen controls aren’t great, so they’d need to have physical buttons and sticks which add bulk. If the stick wasn’t compact enough (even a flat stick like the DS), it could get caught on pockets, clothing, bags, etc. and could wear out more often.
There are other details I hadn’t considered, I’m sure, but overall, I think it’s not a road Nintendo wants to go down.
Yeah, it probably isn't the direction they're headed anymore. I think the switch is the closest we will see to this sort of thing from Nintendo.
Their walled garden is sacrosanct to them, so any 'apps' would have to be through them. I know Nintendo isn't thrilled by the idea of their systems or games ever getting out of their sphere. They'd have a tough time controlling that sort of thing with a device like I have theorized.
I think a Switch 2 would probably be like the OLED switch that they eventually released this generation. I believe fans made it pretty clear that they wouldn't mind something more powerful and with higher resolution, at a bigger price from Nintendo.
If they focus some attention on upgrading their servers for online content, I'm sure they'd have a nice leg to stand on going forward.