Nintendo announced quite a few new games at E3 this week, but a reveal of new Switch models was missing (Nintendo did warn us!). Even so, new models are thought to be coming soon and there's a good chance they won't be manufactured in China.
As The Verge reports, sources within Nintendo's supply chain have revealed that Switch production is being moved, at least in part, out of China and to Southeast Asia. As you'd expect, the reason for this decision is the growing threat of even more trade tariffs being introduced by the Trump Administration for products produced in China.
We are expecting both a cheaper, more portable Switch model and a higher-end model to appear at some point in the near future. It's these two new models that are thought to be entering production outside of China, which also means it won't be long before Nintendo starts talking about them.
Nintendo's official line is that most existing Switch production occurs within China, but the Japanese company admits other manufacturing locations are being explored. It's clearly in Nintendo's interests to carry out such exploration considering it could soon be hit by a double-digit percentage trade tariff on any Switch manufactured in China.
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If production of other Switch models has already begun, we could see them appear for sale before the end of 2019 and in time for the fall. I'm sure Nintendo would love to boost its sales for the holiday season this year through new hardware, and if the portable model appears, it would certainly quiet any talk of a 3DS successor.
This article originally appeared on PCMag.com.
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