The very first moments of the Nintendo Switch 2 announcement trailer reveal that the new console is bigger than its predecessor. As the old Joy-Con unhook themselves from the original Switch, we see the tablet section grow and morph into its upgraded form. It’s a substantial size increase – one that suggests Nintendo is moving even further away from the pocket-friendly handhelds of its past and embracing the era of big portable devices such as the Steam Deck and iPad.
But how much bigger is the Switch 2 than its predecessor? While no exact size dimensions have been provided by Nintendo officially, we can work out a rough estimate based on what we see in the trailer… with a little help from a recent leak. At CES 2025, the consumer electronics convention held earlier this month, we were able to go hands-on with a Switch 2 mock-up created by peripheral designer Genki. At the time we had no way to verify how accurate the design was, but Nintendo’s new trailer showcases a console that’s near enough the exact same system down to the smallest details. And so the measurements we took at CES are likely very close to the final dimensions of the Switch 2.
So how big is the Switch 2? Let us be your (rough, estimated) guide.
Nintendo Switch 2 Screen Size
By our estimations, the Switch 2 features an 8-inch screen. That’s the diagonal measurement of the actual display section of the tablet (excluding the bezels) from corner to corner, the universal standard used for screen sizes. This size matches a previous rumour reported early in 2024. Based on this, we expect the display to be around 177mm wide and 99mm tall.
If proven accurate, this would mean the Switch 2 features a screen that is almost 30% larger across the diagonal than the original console’s 6.2-inch LCD display, and 66% larger in overall area. That’s a substantial increase. While bigger isn’t always better, the Switch 2 could be a lovely-looking console to play on, provided the display technology is of a good standard.
But how does the Switch 2’s display compare to other handhelds? The Switch Lite has a smaller 5.5-inch LCD touchscreen, and so the new console’s display will be 45% larger across the diagonal, and 111% larger in surface area. The Switch OLED, meanwhile, has a 7-inch display, and so the Switch 2 will be 14% larger diagonally and 30% larger in total area.
When the Switch launched in 2017 it faced little-to-no competition, but in the era of portable PCs there’s now the Steam Deck to contend with. The original Steam Deck features a screen similar in size to the Switch OLED; it also uses a 7-inch panel, however it has a slightly taller 16:10 aspect ratio when compared to the Switch’s 16:9. That means that the original Steam Deck and the Steam Deck OLED, with its 7.4-inch display, both have larger screens than any Switch console to date. However, the Switch 2 will still prove bigger than even the biggest Steam Deck screen – it’s 8% larger on the diagonal and 11% larger in overall area than Valve’s OLED display.
Nintendo Switch 2 Overall Console Size
The screen is a lot bigger than what we’ve seen from Nintendo before, then. As a result, the console itself is larger. You need pretty roomy pockets to fit the original Switch into your jeans, and so it seems pretty much guaranteed that the Switch 2 is only going in either a good-sized cargo pants pocket or a bag.
When we put a tape against Genki’s mock-up at CES, we measured just over 10.5 inches from edge to edge, Joy-Cons included, and 4.5 inches from top to bottom. Based on a lot of very professional-grade analysis (see: scaling images from the trailer to match our photos of the mock-up, adjusting them to actual size, and then measuring them with a tape) we think the Genki mock-up is likely true to Nintendo’s final design – and so the Switch 2 seems to be approximately 265mm long and 115mm tall.
For comparison, the original Switch is 239mm long and 102mm tall. And so if our figures do prove to be correct, then the Switch 2 is approximately 25% larger than its predecessor.
These measurements would also make the Switch 2 around 61% larger than the Switch Lite (208mm x 91mm), and roughly 12% smaller than the much larger Steam Deck (298mm x 117mm).
It should be noted that we were not able to get precise measurements of the depth of the Genki mock-up, but all signs point to the Switch 2 being comparable to the half-inch thickness of the original Switch. So while the overall footprint of the console seems likely to be significantly larger, the thickness appears to be very similar to its predecessor.
Nintendo Switch 2 Joy-Con Size
The transformation animation in the Switch 2 reveal trailer suggests that the Joy-Con controllers will remain of a very similar width to those on the original Switch, however they’ve grown a little taller. Using that as a starting point, and applying our kinda-sorta-scientific methodology using scaled images, we believe that the new Switch 2 Joy-Cons are likely to be around 32mm wide and 115mm tall – the same width as the original controllers (excluding the slot system), and 13mm taller to match the size of the new console. If these figures prove right, the new Joy-Con are approximately 13% larger than their predecessors.
Nintendo Switch 2 Screen Unit Size
With the size of each Joy-Con worked out, we can now subtract that from the overall console size to approximate how big the screen unit is. We estimate that the Switch 2 screen unit is 200mm long and 115mm tall. That’s around 31% larger than the original Switch version.
This unit size is large enough to fit the 8-inch 16:9 screen, and will likely mean an approximate 11mm bezel along either side and an 8mm bezel along the top and bottom of the display. That’s slimmer along the sides than the original Switch, and similar to the existing console’s top and bottom bezels.
As a reminder, these measurements are all estimations based on our best efforts, and so may prove incorrect when Nintendo finally publishes the console’s official dimensions. However, based on our experience with the Genki mock-up, we’re fairly confident that we’re in the right ballpark, and expect to see a console that’s roughly 25% larger than the original Switch when we finally go hands-on with it later this year.
For more, check out the 30 details from the Switch 2 announcement trailer, and our theories on the console’s mouse-like capabilities and what its extra USB-C port means.
Matt Purslow is IGN's Senior Features Editor.
