According to Japanese outlet, Nikkei, Nintendo is going to be changing the Switch 2 in Europe to better align the device with the new EU Battery Regulations.
This is great news for the right-to-repair movement and an important first step in making batteries replaceable in more electronic devices - which used to be normal. One could trivially purchase a new battery for their 3DS and with a simple philips screw, be back to full capacity.
One can only hope that this move will lead to replaceable batteries for the Nintendo Switch 2 worldwide on newer units. Fewer requests for costly replacements at Nintendo's repair centers could open up the way for faster joy-con replacements since we all know how long it takes to get your stick drift fixed - if they even respond.
It is not known how the internals of the console will change yet or what the back will look like since the device will definitely need to have a user replaceable back. One interesting thing about this though is it could open things up to interesting third party back shell designs, such as transparent plastic or designs featuring fun art that isn't just slapping some stickers on your device.
Plenty of Nintendo consoles of the before times have awesome shell swaps, GameCube pictured above as an example. For people who don't care about docking their Switch 2, you could have thicker batteries potentially by using a slightly thicker rear shell - provided the Switch 2 would recognize it of course.
We'll let you know when Nintendo starts shipping new units in Europe. If you're in the EU and don't have a Switch 2 yet, would a replaceable battery help you make the choice to switch?
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