Nintendo May Be Working on a Dual-Screen Switch

With the Nintendo Switch now being almost seven years old, speculation is running wild about what the handheld console's successor will be. A recently surfaced patent now has fans wondering if the Switch 2 will draw inspiration from the Nintendo DS and 3DS portables.

When it first debuted at E3 in May of 2004, the Nintendo DS raised eyebrows with an unorthodox clamshell design that opened to reveal games played across two separate screens. Many assumed the more powerful Sony PSP, which arrived later the same year, would win over more gamers. But the Nintendo DS would go on to sell over 154 million units, putting it behind only the PS2 as the best-selling console of all time.

Several iterations of the Nintendo DS would be released over the years, including the 3DS, which could display games in 3D without the need for special glasses. The last dual-screen screen Nintendo handheld, the 2DS XL, debuted in 2017, but six years later, some are wondering if Nintendo isn't quite done tinkering with the dual-screen formula.

In November of 2022, Nintendo filed a patent in Japan for an "electronic apparatus." Last week, the patent was published on the United Nation's World Intellectual Property Organization's website. Based solely on the technical illustrations included in the patent, the device looks like the Nintendo DS, the Nintendo Wii U and the Nintendo Switch, but with some additional functionality.

If you're a fan of tongue-twisting technical jargon, this is how the device is described in the patent's abstract:

This electronic apparatus comprises a first device and a second device. The first device and the second device can be detachably attached to each other. The first device has a first surface, and a first display and a first connection unit which are positioned on the first surface. The second device has a second surface, a second display that is positioned on the second surface, a second rear surface that is on the reverse side from the second surface, and a second connection unit that is positioned on the second rear surface. The second connection unit can be connected to the first connection unit in a first orientation or in a second orientation that is the reverse from the first orientation. When in a first connection state in which the second connection part has been connected to the first connection part in the first orientation, the second rear surface is positioned so as to cover the first display. When in a second connection state in which the second connection part has been connected to the first connection part in the second orientation, the second rear surface is positioned so as not to cover the first display.

Based on the included technical illustrations, the patented device looks like it can fold and unfold in a similar manner to the Nintendo DS, but with the top and bottom halves also being able to separate. Separated screens would then communicate wirelessly, to facilitate multiple gamers using the same device. When the Nintendo Switch first debuted, Nintendo heavily marketed its ability to accommodate multiple gamers, as its included Joy-Con controllers can be turned sideways and used as miniature gamepads.

The patented device also appears to have an additional touchscreen on the outside when folded shut, similar to folding screen smartphones. What exactly that external screen would be used for remains to be seen, but in reality, this device may not be a sneak peek at the Switch 2 at all. Companies will patent as many ideas as they can, including concept devices they never plan to actually make.

Unless the developers who got a demo of the Switch 2 earlier this Summer are willing to break their NDA agreements with Nintendo and spend years in court, we'll have to wait until next year to see if this patent is really the route Nintendo is taking.