Just touching on a point here, before I answer, competition isn't meant as in people on the internet fighting over which is better, competition is meant between companies trying to out-do one another, and is extremely important in the marketing world, and for us as consumers. Without competition we would see prices skyrocket with little innovation and nothing would be able to be done to change it. Competition lowers prices and forces companies to offer something new to attract buyers to their product. For example, Intel has been sitting without competition for far too long, and the prices of their processors is huge, with little new developments to make the latest gen of processors more appealing, besides a little fine-tuning here and there.
Now on the to point about the Switch vs other consoles, and to be honest, I feel like many people are looking at the Switch the wrong way. People are seeing it as it stands right now, and overlook some points that can really change where it stands. As it is, the arguments currently are that it is a console that can become a handheld on the fly, with decent graphics to back that up and versatile control options. But people overlook things like it's ability to recognise hand-shapes and the hd vibration. Sure, these seem useless in gaming, and Nintendo is surely aware than in most games produced today, hd vibration and shape identification is pretty much useless. But the question begs then, where is it useful, and why put it in the Switch in the first place? Well the answer lies with Virtual Reality. In the 3DS we have seen Nintendo dabble in experimental Augmented Reality stuff, showing their interest in moving down this line of hardware, and the Switch, I feel, is the next step. The Switch has everything it needs to utilise VR already, besides the software and headset. But should Nintendo see an opening, the Switch could become a household VR system, which many people already have in their homes and is currently cheaper than many if not all VR systems out there. Nintendo, if they are indeed looking at a VR system, would dominate the market in an instant, with the console also double up as a general console and handheld, it would be the ultimate gaming system, and at it's current price tag, would undercut all competitors by miles.
As it is I don't feel the Switch competes well at all with existing consoles nor with existing handhelds, instead sitting in a middle ground as a jack-of-all-trades for its price tag. But if VR is included as part of its line up, suddenly the Switch becomes a dominant player in this competition, and many companies would have a hard time out-doing it in any time soon at all. Only time will tell, but I'm very convinced Nintendo has ulterior motives for the Switch, and I would be very excited to see that come to fruition as an affordable VR system with use as a regular console and handheld to boot.
