Topic: What would make for a good 3DS/2DS successor?

Nintendo may want keep its portable line around. A lot of people think this is a mistake. But, mistake or not, what would it look like? What would make for a good 3DS/2DS successor?

I did some imagineering today, and here's what I came up with:

I'd love to hear your ideas for how they could make a proper successor while also accounting for the Switch.

This is NOT about IF it's a good idea to make a successor. We all know why it may be a bad or good idea. This thread is about what would make a good successor if they were to make one. So, please: ideas, not gripes.

Nintendo Switch mini. Same Tegra hardware, same catalog as original Switch, 4' screen or less.
A totally new handheld would be a gigantic mistake after the Switch.
I could see 3DS VC being a thing.

A Nintendo Switch revision with a much better battery life...I don't know what else to add, because I expect everything Nintendo to be coming out on the Switch for the next 4-5 years unless it's a mobile game release on smart phone devices.

Yeah. No way Nintendo will make a 3DS successor unless the Switch tanks.

With a single platform, they can push a lot more content.

I'll miss the 3D.

I understand Nintendo's reluctance to kill of the 3DS line at this moment in time, but eventually I think they will have no choice but to. Nintendo need all their software teams working on one platform and not two, after all what was the point of merging the home and portable divisions together if they are not going to do this. The Wii U and 3DS both proved that Nintendo just hasn't got the man power to develop for two different platforms.
To this end a 3DS successor will either be the Switch not bundled with the dock or as others are saying a Switch mini with the same architecture as the current Switch but in a smaller form factor. I would expect this to hit around late 2018.

I think a blend on 2ds and switch idea one screen that can go to two screens when in DS/3DS mode and backwards compatable.

@andrew20 that's kind of what my design in the OP was getting at. A vertical screen is the best configuration for porting DS games, and all of Nintendo's (and the Pokemon Company's) games have been vertical.

@jjwilbourne That is what my idea looks like just a bit bigger

I agree with others on here the successor to the 3DS needs to be a variant on the Switch. It would be absolutely moronic for Nintendo to create another platform that requires its own unique software library and (once again) split their development talent.

As for what it will look like, I am hoping that it will be a clamshell design with a nice 720p screen on the top and two joy-cons attached to the bottom half. The joy-cons would probably need to be slightly smaller than the standard Switch versions but not too small or they will be too hard to use. When the joy-cons are removed the bottom half can bend backward to become a stand for the screen. That is what I would hope to see. I would expect a smaller screen and longer battery life and it would not be compatible with the dock (therefore no TV out) but would play 100% of all Switch games.

I am sure that Nintendo is already talking to third parties about what their long term strategy is for the Switch and they already have a timeline for when a smaller variant would be rolled out to fill the market niche currently occupied by the 3DS. My guess is that the next Pokemon generation will be released at the same time in order to entice parents to pick up the Switch mini for their kids. By then hopefully the Switch would be about $200 to $250 and the Switch mini would hit the market at under $200.