These leaked Switch 2 renders are boring enough to be believable

Has the Chinese supply chain given us a real early look at the Switch 2, or are these CAD renders just boring enough to be believable?

Renders of what claim to be the Nintendo Switch successor have surfaced online, showcasing a design that features an 8-inch screen and magnetic Joy-Con.

These pictures first popped up on a now deleted Chinese social media post, and in addition to giving us a sense of what Nintendo's follow-up hybrid may just look like, potential specs for the upcoming device have also been shared. This unverified post suggests that the Nintendo Switch 2 will have USB-C ports on both the top and bottom of the portable (yes please), will ship with 256GB of internal storage (a big bump over the lousy 32GB found on the current Switch), support for HDMI 2.1, and an impressive 12GB of RAM (the original Switch has just 4GB).

Since being shared online, various news outlets have picked up the story — including well-sourced VGC, who noted that these images "match what the company [Nintendo] has told partners to expect from its design".

The behemoth that is the Chinese supply chain is often a weak link in the halting of leaks (just ask Apple), and although there is some reservations about whether these images are in fact legitimate, for me they are about as safe as you can get to at least pass as real.

Whether these CAD images are in fact genuine or not is to be determined, but with a Nintendo event of some sort expected rather soon, the proximity of this leak is somewhat telling.

Quite often when a 'leak' occurs, it can be pretty quickly discounted on its sheer absurdity alone. Take just one look at the odd-oval shaped images that circulated during the 'NX' pre-Switch days and it's obviously a non starter. The bizarre Revolution mock-ups that got the pre-Twitter internet ablaze with speculation were even less plausible.

As a result, when images such as those shared today pop up — offering nothing too drastic or dramatic in terms of the industrial design — they instantly gain more merit and credibility. If it looks somewhat believable, then sure enough, I'm more inclined to somewhat believe it. Funny that.

These CAD designs represent something that would very much be an evolution of the base Switch model, with only minor differences over the original hardware. All of the buttons seem to be in the same spot. Such a safe upgrade seems to be the course that many are expecting Nintendo to take here.

Whether Nintendo tell us, or someone else beats them too it, we shall find out for sure soon enough it seems.