The rest of the original story follows.

Bloomberg, and reporter Takashi Mochizuki in particular, the author of today’s article (and previously with the Wall Street Journal), has been behind a number of early reports on Nintendo’s Switch plans going back to shortly after the console’s launch. This included early rumblings around the eventual Switch Lite, and then a report that Nintendo was working on an upgraded model as well. The first time 4K was mentioned was in August 2020.

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“The specifications of the new machine have yet to be finalized, though the Kyoto-based company has looked into including more computing power and 4K high-definition graphics,” he wrote at the time.

Things solidified further in March of this year, when Mochizuki reported, according to his sources, that, “The latest model will also come with 4K ultra-high definition graphics when paired with TVs.” The main focus of the article was a new OLED screen upgraded Switches would be using, but the promise of 4K is what most in the gaming community were hoping for and thus latched onto.

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So when 4K was missing from Nintendo’s new hardware announcement over the summer, people were not only crestfallen, they were confused. Some even felt bamboozled by the seemingly false reports.

Product changes, even last minute ones, are not unheard of in tech. That’s especially true in a year as tumultuous and full of supply chain disruptions as the last one. In today’s report, which is co-bylined by technology writer Olga Kharif and includes contributions from two additional reporters, a source told Bloomberg the global component shortage may have delayed Nintendo’s eventual 4K plans. Or it might not be in cards at all. But it certainly sounds like it was in the cards at some point.

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“Developers declined to speculate on Nintendo’s plans for another console but said they expect to release their 4K Switch games during or after the second half of next year,” Bloomberg noted in today’s report.

Of course, by 2022 the Switch will be five years old, and the Nvidia Tegra chip architecture it was originally built on will be even older. Whether it ends up having 4K or not, we’ll likely get a true successor to the Switch eventually—and whether it’s a continuation of the already successful hardware or something new altogether remains to be seen.