Nintendo wanted to make the Switch Lite really affordable.
Apparently, the company geared the recently launched handheld toward the "low end" market, and to make it appealing to its target demographic, it tried to reduce its cost as much as possible.
Switch Lite Price
The report comes from Takashi Mochizuki of The Wall Street Journal. According to it, suppliers said that Nintendo "aggressively" attempted to cut the costs of the console, aiming for a price tag below $200.
On top of that, an executive of one of the many parts suppliers even said that the company "battled" for months over the pricing of one certain key component.
Citing a "person involved in the deal," the report also says that Nintendo inked a deal with a new battery supplier, Murata Manufacturing Co. The source also says that the company hopes to lower costs of the batteries by having the new battery supplier compete with its existing one, TDK Corp.
The New Handheld
The new Switch Lite hit the shelves on Sept. 20, and it's priced at $199.99.
A recent teardown of the handheld, conducted by Jonathan Downey of the YouTube channel Spawn Wave, revealed that its analog stick design is similar to that of the standard Switch's Joy-Cons. This opened up fears of the Lite model being prone to the same drifting issue that the original Joy-Cons are suffering from.
It also found that the device didn't have the hardware to output to a bigger screen, which doesn't come as much of a surprise. That does mean that those who are waiting for a hack of sorts to do just that down the line shouldn't hold their breath.
The WSJ report also mentions that Nintendo hopes to fill the void the 3DS is leaving behind with the new Switch Lite. The 3DS has proven to be a popular console among younger users, which is likely the main audience of the Switch Lite.
