New alleged pictures of the Switch 2’s Joy-Cons have leaked, and it seems to have picked a side when it comes to earlier leaks.
As shared on ResetEra by user Antonio, the pictures emerged from Chinese forum Baidu Tieba. There were also shared on Reddit by user SwordfishAgile3472, but you can also view the pics on imgur.
And here’s where things get interesting. If these pictures are real, and they are of the final Joy-Cons, then they corroborate claims made by NextHandheld.
On Christmas Day, NextHandheld shared a picture of what he claimed was a Switch 2, which sent the internet in a frenzy. Many assumed the picture was fake after finding it may have been AI generated. But even that has come into dispute, as NextHandheld shared evidence on Twitter that someone else added AI to the picture, partly to help hide NextHandheld’s location and identity.
One image shows the inside of a Joy-Con, and this is where things already get interesting. The inside of the Joy-Con is colored teal, and the outside seems to be all black. This is the inverse of how the colors are found in the Joy-Cons available in the market now. And coincidentally, this matches NextHandheld’s description of the new Joy-Cons when they had their informal Reddit AMA.
The SL and SR buttons are conspicuously larger and fill out more of the inside of the Joy-Con, and there’s still a small inset button that may also be a pair button. But then, in the center is a rectangular opening, which was definitely not in the original Joy-Cons. And it happens to make a perfect opening for the long cylindrical metal piece in NextHandheld’s Switch 2.
There’s another hole next to it, but if you zoom in on the image, you can see two small cylindrical lenses. There’s currently speculation that these are laser sensors for the Joy-Con to work like a laser mouse, similar to the Lenovo Legion Go’s FPS Mode.
On the top end of the inside there is a small circular button with another oval surrounding it. If we look back at NextHandheld’s Christmas picture, it’s positioned to attach to the cross shape inside the Switch 2. We did point out that cross was clearly not related to the Switch’s start button, and this hints at some other functional use for it.
The second picture shows what looks like the back of the Joy-Con, where we can see the Nintendo logo, as well as other logos and language showing things like its production code and industry standards. For example, we can casually identify the NOM and CE labels, which confirm these products are certified for Mexico and Europe, respectively.
As NecroFelipe shared on Twitter, msj54540 checked the serial number at the back on Nintendo’s online warranty page. They found that Nintendo confirmed the serial number is valid, but could not determine the warranty status.
Finally, the back view also seems to show us a redesigned release button. It’s now bigger and positioned so that you wouldn’t accidentally touch them while holding the console to play.
If we were to warrant a guess here, the details that we’ve been getting from the Hosiden shipping data all the way back in September, including the CAD images and the suspicious leaks that came afterwards, all of that was obsolete and/or incomplete.
NextHandheld’s images has now been corroborated by a completely different source, and while that doesn’t make their rumor correct, it does bolster their credibility. Nothing is certain, of course, until Nintendo finally decides to go forward with their announcement. Even past the prototype stage, Nintendo can still make changes on the device we finally get with our hands when it launches.
