It’s been a heck of a start to the week for Nintendo fans. A combination of the start of a new year and the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) has resulted in an absolute flood of Nintendo Switch 2 rumors, predictions, and seeming leaks. Most interesting of all of them is a mockup of a supposed Switch 2 from accessories maker Genki that’s being shown off at the convention that seems to be based on real knowledge of the real system. We were curious, so IGN met up with Genki to see what we could learn.
For some context, the Switch 2 mockup from Genki is allegedly based on a real Switch 2 system that Genki has seen and used as the basis for its accessories. A report from French publication Numerama offered some potential details shared by Genki, which included verifying rumors of an optical sensor on the Joy-Con and showing off the magnetic clips that attach those Joy-Cons to the system. Genki even posted a video to its own website showing off a render of the system. The company claims it’s releasing in April.
IGN visited Genki’s booth at CES today and spoke with a Genki representative while examining their Switch mock-up. The representative expressed surprise at all the fervor over their mock-up, saying they felt that all the information about the Switch 2 had already leaked and Genki wasn’t saying anything new. “I didn’t expect this much media attention, to be honest,” they said. While Genki’s mock-up does appear to add significant weight to a growing pool of past leaks on what the Switch 2 will be, it’s worth noting that Nintendo still has not officially revealed anything about the system. A formal announcement is expected in the first quarter of this year, per Nintendo.
While the Genki representative did not know the technical specs of the Switch 2 or anything about the motherboard, they did say they could attest to “physically what’s there, what’s pressable and what’s not.”
They again confirmed the Joy-Cons attaching to the system via magnets on the system side and metallic SL/SR buttons on the Joy-Cons that can be released via a button on the back of each Joy-Con.
The Genki representative stated that the new console looks like it can physically fit in an old Nintendo Switch dock, but certain indentations prevent it from actually being usable in the dock itself. Additionally, while current Joy-Cons won’t physically attach to the sides of the new Switch, the Genki spokesperson said the company is “assuming” they will still work as wireless controllers, stating that other accessories manufacturers are banking on that capability.
Unfortunately, the representative said they didn’t have any information on a new “C” button present on their mock-up of the right Joy-Con. They said there had been some rumors among accessories manufacturers about it being camera-related, but could not verify the actual function and did not know if the Switch 2 possessed a camera at all.
Finally, the representative confirmed there is an extra USB port at the top of the Switch 2, which could be used for handheld charging “at minimum.” They could not verify if the Switch was dockable upside down.
We brought a tape measure to the meeting, so we were able to check out the dimensions of Genki’s mockup. Per our measurements, the Switch 2 is 10.5″ wide, 4.5″ tall, .5″ thick and has an 8″ screen. Compare that to the current Nintendo Switch OLED model, which is 9.5″ wide, 4″ tall, .5″ thick, and has a 7″ screen.
Genki’s mock-up seems to jive with most of the recent rumors and allegedly leaks about Nintendo’s upcoming new system, all of which seem to be converging on the notion of it being a bigger, more powerful Nintendo Switch system with some slight differences in shape. Along with Genki’s information, we’ve also seen leaked images of a supposed new Joy-Con from Chinese social media that match up with the mock-up we saw, and a leaked image of alleged internal components. Given the rapid pace of increasingly believable leaks and rumors, it’s possible an official Switch 2 announcement is imminent – but we won’t know until Nintendo emerges from behind the curtain and makes it a reality.
In the meantime, you can catch up with everything we saw at CES 2025 right here.
Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. You can find her posting on BlueSky @duckvalentine.bsky.social. Got a story tip? Send it to [email protected].
