So after Nintendo innovated the Nintendo Switch console, the bestselling portable gaming console, there have been some copy cats in the market but hey who can blame them. The Nintendo Switch has sold over 100 million units, outselling the PS4 and XBOX by a long shot. Although the Nintendo Switch is not the most powerful gaming hardware out there on the market, people do love it because of its portability. You can play on the go and dock it when you get home and play on the big screen. Its a very satisfying innovation.
You have probably seen some mimics of the Nintendo Switch with more powerful hardware such as the Alienware UFO. There have also been some handheld PC gaming systems out there mainly sold from Chinese manufacture. They all copy the convenient design of the Nintendo Switch because it sells.
Nintendo is going to have so much competition, the same way that Apple Inc had competition when they innovated the personal computer (and Steve Jobs cursed Bill Gates over the phone). After Apple innovated the PC, then came a whole bunch of other computer companies. IMB, Microsoft, HP, Gateway, Samsung, Toshiba and a whole bunch of other ones.
Ever since May 2021, there have been rumors going around about Apple creating a Nintendo Switch like device for gaming. It started with a Korean Online forum. Keep in mind that this is not Apple’s first time to get into the gaming market.
Apple Inc did try to get into the gaming console business back in the 1990s.
Take a look at the image above. That was the Apple Bandai Pippin. By the way, its Pippin not “pimpin.”
As funny as the name is, this really did happened but unfortunately, the console was not popular and was beaten by Nintendo and Playstation, of course.
These rumors are not hard to believe and Apple does like to surprise people with their devices. Apple does not usually let the public know what they are making until its actually done. When Steven Jobs first announced the Apple Ipod it was at a conference. The world had never seen anything like it before. A device that could hold up to one thousand songs was unheard of. It was a big deal back then.
Whether if these are rumors or not, they are not hard to believe. Apple Inc already has a gaming subscription called Apple Arcade. If they are making a handheld device like the Nintendo Switch then the will definitely link it to their Arcade program.
Are you really surprise that Apple is making a handheld gaming device when every company and their grandmother is getting into the gaming industry. Think about it. Netflix is creating a gaming subscription service too.
As said before there are devices that are making the Nintendo Switch irrelevant such as the Valve Steam Deck. There is also the Alienware UFO that looks really cool. Both of those devices are handheld Gaming PC. So is it so surprising that Apple, one of the biggest tech companies in the world is creating their own handheld gaming device. Lets be realistic. We saw this coming.
We know that SONY had made the PS VITA handheld PlayStation device but it never became as popular as the Nintendo Gameboy. Nintendo really is the innovator of handheld gaming but they will have more and more competition in the future. Apple with their own gaming platform and looking at how big they are as a company, this will definitely happen.
While Microsoft and SONY are too busy pushing cloud gaming, Apple could be Nintendo’s greatest competitor. However, lets take this with a grain of salt because as possible as it is (since every company is investing into gaming) Apple themselves have not made an announcement.