Japan's Nintendo Fans Test Switch 2 ahead of Launch amid Tariff Worries

An attendee plays Mario Kart World by Nintendo Switch 2 during the Nintendo Switch 2 Experience at the ExCeL London international exhibition and convention center in London, Britain, April 11, 2025. REUTERS/Isabel Infantes
An attendee plays Mario Kart World by Nintendo Switch 2 during the Nintendo Switch 2 Experience at the ExCeL London international exhibition and convention center in London, Britain, April 11, 2025. REUTERS/Isabel Infantes
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Japan's Nintendo Fans Test Switch 2 ahead of Launch amid Tariff Worries

An attendee plays Mario Kart World by Nintendo Switch 2 during the Nintendo Switch 2 Experience at the ExCeL London international exhibition and convention center in London, Britain, April 11, 2025. REUTERS/Isabel Infantes
An attendee plays Mario Kart World by Nintendo Switch 2 during the Nintendo Switch 2 Experience at the ExCeL London international exhibition and convention center in London, Britain, April 11, 2025. REUTERS/Isabel Infantes

Nintendo fans were given a chance to try out the company's new Switch 2 gaming device at an event near Tokyo on Saturday, ahead of a release that some worry could be overshadowed by tariffs driving up prices.
"Since Mr. Trump became president tariffs have gone up so I am concerned about a price hike not just for the game console but for accessories too," said Hidenori Tanaka, 55, a real estate company employee, who attended the event.
Consumers around the world could face higher prices for electronic devices as tariffs imposed by the US President Donald Trump's administration on trading partners including China raise costs for companies operating global supply chains. While Trump has rolled back some tariffs, the threat of a damaging trade war still looms, Reuters said.
Gamers at the pre-launch event began lining up outside the Makuhari Messe convention center near Tokyo from mid-morning to play Mario Kart World, Donkey Kong Bonanza, and other titles on the Switch 2.
Despite the possibility of higher prices, there are early indicators of robust consumer demand for the successor to the Switch, which has sold more than 150 million units since 2017 and transformed Nintendo's fortunes.
The Kyoto-based gaming company said on Wednesday it had received 2.2 million applications in the lottery for Switch 2 in Japan and could not fulfil all the demand.
"Honestly, I didn't think I had a shot. Everyone on social media was saying they missed out, so I figured I would too," said Hyuma Hashiguchi, 28, who won the lottery to be among the first to buy the Switch 2.
Nintendo is holding hands-on events around the world including in New York, Berlin and Hong Kong.
The Switch 2 will sell for 49,980 yen ($350) for a Japanese-language-only version. In the United States, Nintendo initially paused pre-orders due to tariff concerns but later said it would maintain pricing at $449.99.



Huawei Launches 1st Laptops Using Home-grown Harmony Operating System

Huawei Atlas 800 inference server is displayed at InnoEX Fair, in Hong Kong, China April 15, 2025. REUTERS/Tyrone Siu/File Photo
Huawei Atlas 800 inference server is displayed at InnoEX Fair, in Hong Kong, China April 15, 2025. REUTERS/Tyrone Siu/File Photo
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Huawei Launches 1st Laptops Using Home-grown Harmony Operating System

Huawei Atlas 800 inference server is displayed at InnoEX Fair, in Hong Kong, China April 15, 2025. REUTERS/Tyrone Siu/File Photo
Huawei Atlas 800 inference server is displayed at InnoEX Fair, in Hong Kong, China April 15, 2025. REUTERS/Tyrone Siu/File Photo

Huawei launched two new laptop models on Monday, the first sold with its own Harmony operating system, in a bid to take on well-established Western Big Tech rivals even as the United States seeks to limit its access to crucial chips.

Despite its emergence as the world's leading producer of tech hardware, China's development of computer operating systems has lagged behind Microsoft (MSFT.O), and Apple (AAPL.O), whose Windows and macOS have cornered the global market for decades.

The new MateBook Fold and MateBook Pro both run on HarmonyOS 5, the latest version of an operating system Huawei Technologies began developing in 2015 and introduced five years later on its Mate series smartphones, Reuters reported.

It began developing the laptop prototypes in 2021.

"The Harmony laptop gives the world a new choice," Yu Chengdong, head of Huawei's consumer business group, said during a livestreamed launch event. "We kept on doing the hard things but the right things."

The base model of the MateBook Fold, which does not have a physical keyboard and offers an 18-inch OLED double screen when fully extended, will sell for 23,999 yuan ($3,328).

The MateBook Pro model, which uses a conventional laptop keyboard, is priced from 7,999 yuan.

Washington began restricting Huawei's access to U.S. technology in 2019 over national security concerns, pushing the company to build its own capacity to develop and produce chips and operating systems.

Huawei said the HarmonyOS for computers currently offers over 150 applications, including WPS Office from Kingsoft (3888.HK), - an alternative to Microsoft's Office - and photo editing app Meitu (1357.HK), Xiu Xiu.

By the end of 2024, over 7.2 million individual developers were developing apps for HarmonyOS, which was installed on over a billion devices, including smartphones and TVs, according to Huawei's latest annual report.

Huawei did not disclose which processing chip it had used to power the newly-launched laptops. But it said the computers' relatively high prices were the result of the cost of new manufacturing technology for the chipset.