Do you think the Switch should count as a console or a handheld?

[Captain Goomba]

Well?

 

[Ray Trace]

Don't see why it has to be mutually exclusive, it is set up to be played on a TV and you can carry it around as well.

 

[Captain Goomba]

The wiki classifies it as a console. That's what made me think of this.

 

[YoshiFlutterJump]

Nintendo originally stated that the Switch was a "home console first", but then they released the Switch Lite, which is a "dedicated handheld". So it really belongs to both categories, as it can be used as either a fully functioning home console that never leaves the dock, or a fully functioning handheld that never touches the dock.

 

[Goombuigi]

Seeing as the Switch replaced the Wii U and the Switch Lite replaced the 3DS, it took over both console and handheld territories. So in that sense, I would count it as both.

 

[Princess Viola]

Based on some other communities I've seen, the Switch should be classified as a home console when you're negatively comparing it to the other home consoles and a handheld when you want to praise devs for 'getting something like THIS running on a handheld' :P

Nah but serious, I'd just classify it as both, cause that's what it is, ya know? (Switch Lite excluded, obviously, that's just a handheld)

 

[SpriteBro]

It's primarily a handheld which is now even more obvious thanks to one of the models being exclusively handheld. I mean, nobody would argue that a phone is a home console but you could set it up to a TV it you really wanted to.

 

[Jackie Frost]

yeah i agree with other people that it counts as both

 

[Toka Hebizuka]

The Switch is a handheld that you can plug into a box to make it display on the TV instead.

 

[Chair]

you know, I most often play it on the tv, but like of course, I bring it while I'm gone, AKA handheld mode, so i can't really say that it's one or another so it's honestly both

 

[Trab]

I'll say that it's a hybrid, even through I rarely use it on the TV.

 

[Princess Viola]

The Switch is a handheld that you can plug into a box to make it display on the TV instead.

This post is a few days old but like, thinking about it, it's totally right? Like even if you leave your Switch in the dock 100% of the time, it doesn't change the fact that all the actual hardware that runs the games is in the part of the unit that you can remove to play on the go.

All the dock does is keep it charged, let it display on your TV, and allows the GPU to run at its max clock speed without needing to worry about like heat or battery life (or whatever the reason for the lower GPU clock speed in handheld mode, I actually don't own a Switch yet and I don't remember if they've given an actual reason why).