A new patent has suggested Nintendo may be looking into fixing one of the Nintendo Switch‘s biggest dock problems. The current dock has some limitations when it comes to connecting its wires, namely that all of them face to the left, meaning that those with a TV with ports on the right-hand side have to then loop the wires around or reposition their dock to sort the issue, which can cause some strain on the ports over time if the positioning pulls on the wires.
Fortunately, a recent patent from Nintendo was shared in a now-removed post on the r/GamingLeaksAndRumours subreddit (via. NintendoLife) and showed a design for a rotating I/O (input/output) panel that could fix this issue entirely. This would give players the option to position the dock’s ports on either the left or right-hand side to best suit their gaming setup, with a gap in both sides of the dock to then feed these wires through.
It’s worth noting that most patents Nintendo has filed over the years haven’t made it to the actual product stage, such as several new Joy-Con designs that could fix its infamous stick drift. Therefore, it’s possible that the rotating I/O panel may sadly never be released to the public at all.
If Nintendo were to implement such a feature, however, it most likely wouldn’t be in the current Nintendo Switch generation. The original Nintendo Switch was released in March 2017, making it seven years old as of last month, around the same as most console generations. Despite not being officially announced, there have been many reports that the more powerful Nintendo Switch 2 – or whatever Nintendo’s next console is ultimately called – is on the horizon, although it may have been delayed into 2025 despite initially targeting a 2024 release.
If Nintendo does look to release a new dock with better cable management, it will most likely be as part of the Nintendo Switch 2 setup, with the new console rumored to be a more powerful version of its predecessor, and likely sharing many of the same core features. Either way, the design shown in Nintendo’s recent pattern is certainly an elegant solution and would be a welcome one that allows players more freedom with their setups than the current Nintendo Switch provides.
Sources: Nintendo, GamingLeaksAndRumours/Reddit (via. NintendoLife)