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Nintendo has confirmed that it is preparing a new version of the Switch 2 to abide by new European regulations requiring replaceable batteries in electronic devices, while also announcing that the original generation of Switch models will be discontinued in Europe from 2027.
The Switch, Switch Lite and Switch OLED models will not be produced for Europe from mid-February 2027, but Nintendo promises they will be "widely available" for the remainder of 2026. That would give the consoles around a decade of active production.
The battery news is interesting too, as it sees the Switch 2 gain a user-replaceable battery by this autumn, with new Joy-Con models available from this summer. Nintendo says the swap to the new revision will be made on a "rolling basis" and that there will be no difference in functionality between models. However, it did show that the new models would have fractionally smaller battery sizes and/or heavier weights than their predecessors as the result of the new attachment methods needed to allow the batteries to be easily removed.
For the Switch 2 console itself, those changes see the console grow from 401g to 411g, while battery capacity drops from 5220mAh to 5172mAh. That's a one percent reduction in total capacity and a 2.5 percent increase in weight. With the new Joy-Con controllers attached, which of course now require replaceable batteries of their own, the entire system moves from 534g to 548g, a three percent increase.
The Switch 2 Pro Controller sees the biggest percentage decrease in terms of battery capacity, moving from 1070mAh to 897mAh - a 16 percent reduction. However, getting 7g lighter is no bad thing.
Nintendo promises that "more information will be shared shortly before each revised product becomes available", while "battery replacement kits for each product will be available to purchase from Nintendo Store in Europe" sometime in the future.
What do you make of the changes - are you willing to trade a weight of capacity and weight in exchange for easier repairability? Let me know in the comments below.
[source nintendo.com]
Comments 6
It takes me a few seconds of unscrewing to change the battery of my GBA SP, DS, and 3DS. Phones used to be able to just snap the back off and swap batteries, same with laptops. Unless its a special rugged focused phone I don't think waterproofing is as big a deal, and I don't think many people notice a couple millimeters of thickness for removeable batteries.
16% smaller battery in the Pro controller? Hell no that's not good news. Frankly I'll take my chances with the battery dying, it's not happened on any controller i've owned yet.
I set my Switch 2 to charge to max of 80-90% capacity. That does miracles for the lifespan of a battery.
@themightyant I mean, the Pro Controller lasts longer than the average marriage. Losing 16% ain't too bad in the long term.
@themightyant The main problem is e-waste. It's very difficult to extract the battery and properly dispose of it on the current models of consoles and controllers. In practice, many end up in landfills because of this (despite it being against the rules/laws to dispose of them this way).
Your Nintendo controller isn't going to run out of battery--those things last ages. My original PS5 DualSense however, I ended up replacing the battery and both of its analog sticks.
Every company manufacturing devices that primarily run on battery should be required to make these changes, throwing away a perfectly good product because the battery has degraded is wasteful and anti consumer.
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