Nintendo Switch 2 rumor tips potential $499 starting price for next-gen handheld

The upcoming Nintendo Switch 2 seems to be incapable of staying out of the rumour mill, with recent news of the gaming handheld suggesting it will rival the Valve Steam Deck in performance and launch with support for several AAA games. A new rumour, however, stems from Hideki Yasuda, a Japanese analyst posting on Minkabu.

While reporting on the recent Nintendo financial results, Yasuda cites sources suggesting that the Nintendo Switch 2 will launch early in 2025 with an MSRP of “$499 or less.” The way it is written in the report suggests that the price is unsure, but that pricing would put the Switch 2 directly in the firing lines of the likes of the cheaper Steam Deck and much more powerful Asus ROG Ally.

At the time of writing, the Steam Deck LCD starts at an incredible $399, while the Asus ROG Ally has been — and frequently is — discounted to $499.99. The $499 price will also be a significant increase over the existing top-end Nintendo Switch OLED, which comes in at $348 on Amazon.

The $499 proposed price of the Nintendo Switch 2 would make it compare rather unfavourably when put up against the competition. While recent leaks purport Steam Deck-like performance from the Switch 2, The Asus ROG Ally handily outperforms the Steam Deck in all areas except battery life. In our review of the Steam Deck OLED, it fell behind the likes of the Asus ROG Ally's AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme by an average of 30% in gaming workloads.

Other Switch 2 leaks also claim that it will be a fanless console, which would likely mean very low power consumption and, in turn, superb battery life — that alone could be the winning feature Nintendo would need to sell the Switch 2 at a higher price.

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