I'm under the impression most people are expecting (or maybe 'want' is a better word) a Switch Pro with powerful specs/features.
I've heard both Mini and Pro, thats the general theme of the two biggest camps on the forum
A lot of people are expecting slight upgrade in 2019, mainly in terms of display, battery life, slightly better optimization thus graphics, better wi-fi.
Personally I wouldn't be surprised if we also get better optimized JoyCons in terms of technology, grip and ergonomic design that are compatible with OG Switch.
I think the OG model will continue to be sold but receive a price cut probably to ¥ 25,000/$250/€250, while the new revision Switch will be $300 or $350 if they do upgrade the JoyCons.
If I was to speculate about the mythical Pro
At most, I think OG Switch will remain the main platform for new games for 2-3 more years after which it will continue to be sold and Nintendo titles would be released on it with downgraded graphics but major 3rd Party games won't be on the system. "The Pro" some people are talking about will replace as the main platform Nintendo advertises after Next Gen has started by the competition. While the OG will be sold for like $150-200 and only get indies and 1st/2nd party titles on the system. Nintendo is currently designing it's games to scale so they are probably thinking about how they could scale down games when targeting a higher spec platform. The Pro will mainly be targeting specs that allows big 3rd parties to bring their flagship games on the Switch ecosystem.
Launch
Better to leave that for an year after Sony and Microsoft have released their next consoles. We know that the flagship 3rd party AAA games being designed around next gen wouldn't run on the Switch without major sacrifices. In some cases these games are completely incapable of running on the current system. So the Pro needs to target specs that would at the very least allow games to be ported easily to the system without such big sacrifices in resolution, frame rate, ai, etc. Secondary the Pro needs to help solve some of the problems cartridges bring for 3rd party publishers.
What could the Pro it be
Personally I think this upgrade will be focused around the dock and utilizing it as a supplemental computing device. The patent cleared a while ago but I don't think Nintendo need to rush out and actually release something based on it. The tablet will be "shinier" but I don't think it would be able to run the titles on their max settings without the dock being turned on. The dock would also need to be able to allow for the game data to be partially saved there, so a disc drive of something like 250GB. This would resolve some issues 3rd parties have with the Switch cartridges. The technology of mass manufacturing such a dock is probably too costly at the moment, and it would bring the price of the Switch up considerably. So they need for technology to catch up - which shouldn't be a long wait. If lets say the Switch with Pro Dock launches at $399 an year following the release of the next gen systems - and has
Brining OG Switch to <$200
Right now Switch has great capabilities for what it is, Nintendo got a great deal from Nvidia. Two years of production probably means their manufacturing costs have dropped because of economies of scale. They are shipping at least
20M units this and next year year, which has probably brought down the cost of the
>30M JoyCons they are likely also ordering each year down. I think that's one of the greatest areas of savings for them, with the Tablet being second. We don't know how much it costs to manufacture right now but with 2 years of manufacturing with projected strong growth into year 3, I think that by the time
"Pro" is released we'd see OG Switch sell for under
$200.
OG Switch and compatibility with the Dock
One thing I do wonder about is if the current OG Switch could also be compatible with such a device for docked play. Even if Nintendo is designing their games around being scalable to the resolution and frame rate they are targeting with the next iteration of the Switch - we know the limitation of the Shield and it's entirely possible that the Pro Dock would need a newest version of the Tablet or the current rumored revision to function. But lets say that the Dock is entirely designed around the OG Switch being compatible and allowing OG owners to buy the Dock without the new tablet for
$250-299. With hard-disk being available it would suddenly allow 3rd parties to in some form release their games to both Pro and OG users. Overall comparability would be the most interesting area Nintendo needs to think about.
So overall I'm team:
2019: Slight upgrade & new JoyCon's
After Next Gen launches: Pro Dock