Nintendo has confirmed that rumor about replaceable batteries.
As we reported last March, because of new EU regulations, Nintendo will have to provide replaceable batteries for all their products in the region.
Today, Nintendo UK made this announcement on their website:
Starting summer 2026, in preparation for upcoming changes in European battery regulations coming into effect in mid-February 2027, selected Nintendo products in Europe will begin to be replaced on a rolling basis by revisions that contain a user-replaceable battery.
There is no difference in functionality between current products and revised products containing user-replaceable batteries.
While they will function the same, there will be notable differences in these products because of the replaceable batteries.
The Switch 2 will be slightly heavier, from 401g to 411g. Subsequently, the battery will have slightly smaller capacity, from 5220mAh to 5172mAh.
The Switch 2 Joy-Cons, and Switch Online Nintendo 64 and GameCube controllers will also be slightly heavier and lose battery capacities to varying degrees.
Nintendo fans may find that some of these changes will be preferable, and others won’t, and some won’t feel it’s substantial. We do wonder if they become popular enough that Nintendo sells them outside the EU too.