A photo of the Nintendo Switch Lite was leaked on Twitter back in April, but at the time, none of us believed it was real.
Despite no official word from Nintendo, we all knew for a while that an announcement was coming in regard to what was next for the Switch, which entailed that the console would be getting a new sibling or two. The rumors indicated that there would be two models released in the not-so-distant future, including a smaller Switch and a more powerful one.
It turns out that the rumors of the smaller Switch were indeed true. Nintendo has revealed that the Switch Lite will be released later this year, alongside the release of the upcoming Pokémon titles Sword and Shield. The console will be smaller than the original and will only be portable, unlike its older counterpart. That sort of eliminates the original conception of the Switch enabling players to switch between handheld and console gameplay, but the Lite is an interesting concept, nonetheless.
One of the reasons gamers knew the Switch Lite was coming ahead of time was the insistence of some sites to sell its accessories before Nintendo had confirmed its existence. There was also a photo of the console leaked online in April. Twitter user Piranha Plant Capital tweeted the picture along with the Switch Lite's dimensions, and none of us believed them.
As you can see from the comments beneath the tweet above, most people were incredibly skeptical about the validity of the photo. However, as you can see from the image, it seems as if we were actually given a sneak peek of the console that wasn't officially announced for another three months. Had there not been as many instances of false claims on social media, onlookers may have been more willing to believe the images.
When Nintendo saw that a photo of its then-upcoming Switch Lite had found its way onto social media, the company's collective heart must have skipped a beat. Yet, their fear was ill-founded because few people were quick to believe in the credibility of the images. Perhaps next time someone leaks something online, more will be open to the prospect that the one presenting the leak might well be telling the truth.