Nintendo has announced the Nintendo Switch Lite, a variant to their already successful hybrid console that is designed to be lighter, cheaper and intended solely for handheld gameplay, scheduled to be released on September 20, 2019, for just $199.

Only for mobile play

Compared to its base counterpart, the Nintendo Switch Lite is designed to function completely like a conventional handheld.

It comes without detachable Joy-Con controllers as these are completely attached to the device instead. That means there are no motion controls are rumble support. Therefore, certain Switch games that require these functionalities will require additional components taken from the base model in order to be experienced.

The Nintendo Switch Lite also lacks a dock and HDMI cable, meaning it can't be connected to a TV for console play. What's also M.I.A. is the kickstand for table gameplay. In terms of scale, the new model comes with a 5.5-inch 720p touch display compared to the 6.2-inch screen on the base model.

It will also launch with three colors.

Pokemon Bundle without games

Within the same announcement, Nintendo also revealed a "Pokemon Sword and Shield" Nintendo Switch Lite bundle that will include legendary Pokemon Zacian and Zamazenta for the same price as the regular Switch Lite SKU and is scheduled for release on November 8, 2019. However, the bundle comes with a catch: it will not include either "Pokemon Sword or Shield" copies. It's a decision on Nintendo's part that will strike consumers as dumb and off-putting but may have been done so in order to keep the price where it's at.

WSJ was right for now

Existence of smaller model to the Nintendo Switch was cited by the Wall Street Journal prior to the announcement.

Back in March, the WSJ released a report that suggested Nintendo was currently developing two newer versions to the console alongside the original. These included a more powerful model aimed at avid gamers and a smaller, dockless model aimed at casual gamers. As word spread, many would come to call these two models the "Switch Pro" and the "Switch Mini" respectively.

The WSJ also claimed that these two models would arrive in markets across the globe as early as late 2019 and so far, the publication was right about the latter. Now many are undoubtedly anticipating the announcement of a more powerful Nintendo Switch model later this year due to the accuracy of the WSJ report.

However, it might still be a little ways off before such an announcement is made given the nature of a more powerful Nintendo Switch.

This model might require a slightly if not outright noticeable boost in performance that will require more processing power from its Nvidia Tegra X1 chip. This means the developers of this model could either increase the clock speed of the regular Switch's chip or they could replace it with a beefier one in the form of the Tegra X2.