Before I get started I just want to make sure that we are on the same page.
I am not in any way, shape, or form saying to suggesting that this IS what Nintendo IS going to do. This is just a hypothesis based on available information and history.
My motto for Nintendo has always been the same. To quote two famous professional wrestlers, as the Icon, Sting once said, "The only thing for sure, is that nothing's for sure," and what the late Rowdy Roddy Piper used to say, "Just when you think you have all the answers, they change the questions."
The point is that Nintendo is liable to pull virtually (pun intended) ANYTHING out of their hat. However, I think I have some ideas that make pretty good sense.
The first idea as you can see above is that the Switch 2 may literally be a Switch "2." Meaning a dual-screen version of the Switch. It's something no one else is doing right now to my knowledge to have a hybrid-system with dual screens and even if they are, it is not making a lot of noise to be sure. Now, why would Nintendo give us a dual-screen Switch? Well, let me explain.
While the Switch has been the most successful "home console" they have ever released, the most success Nintendo has ever had was in the portable market which is why they made their home console portable. More to the point, the Nintendo DS is the most successful piece of hardware Nintendo has produced (as of NOW) selling 154 million units worldwide. Nintendo followed that up with the 3DS which sold about half that at 75 million. Not as successful by itself, but between the two devices Nintendo sold over 230 million devices. That is a lot of people. There were many people that were disappointed that they had to give up that dual screen experience, but with the Switch, Nintendo couldn't afford to get too cute with the gimmicks. They needed something that had clear and concise messaging, and was affordable in order to recoup the losses from the Wii U.
I think Nintendo wants to bring that dual-screen experience back, and here are a few images of filed patents by Nintendo that support that...
Now, these are crude examples, but often with patent-filings they just want to get the gist of it across. There are many people that would love to have the dual-screen feature back. No 3D, just a dual-screen. So, that is one idea. Here is another idea.
Nintendo has filed numerous patents for at least the past 3 years if not longer for something in the VR space. They refer to it as a "Virtual Camera." They don't just talk about it like it is a proof-of-concept. They talk about it like it is matter-of-fact. In many patents they mention it just as casually as they would the CPU, or DRAM, or flash memory, or accelerometer along with those things. The image I want to share with you now is this one.
That is pretty straight-forward if you ask me. Now someone is saying, "Well if you put the Switch in a VR-type headset, you still need a unit to process the actual game itself that the headset is connected to." I agree. This is where the second-screen comes into play. It is POSSIBLE............that the second-screen can "detach" from the Switch 2. One screen you would place inside the Virtual Camera headset, and the other screen will go in the dock and this would be done wirelessly.
You also have the option of placing one of the screens in the dock, slapping the Joy-Cons on the other, and now you have the ability to stream games to your Switch similar to what the PlayStation Portal does, and what the Wii U was SUPPOSED to do. Instead of having the drop off in performance and frame-rate going to portal-mode, not you can retain most of the graphical-fidelity that you get when it is docked. Speaking of the dock.
It is interesting that in patent-filings they do not refer to it as a "dock." They refer to it as a "cradle" which is intriguing. Here are a few more pictures.
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