3DS successor after Wii U successor with New 3DS coming out?

I really thought the 3DS would be replaced by a new gen handheld in 2016, starting nintendo's "unified platform" initiative where their handheld and console use the same OS/Dev Tools, just the console being more powerful. With the news of the new 3DS (which I'm buying ASAP here in the US, just have to decide between White or Black) I wonder how this effects the 3DS successor and when it will come out.

Personally I'm fine with a GBC/DSi like upgrade in hardware. I could live another 2-3 years with great 3DS games and a few N3DS exclusives. But it would seem that the HDS/4DS would'nt happen as soon as I thought it would now.

The DSi was out 2 years before the 3DS came out, the GBC was out 3 years before the GBA came out. We know the new 3DS is somewhere in between new console and stop-gap redesigned ol' 3DS. (Heck, its still 240P!) so my guess is that the 3DS successor doesn't come out until 2017 now with maybe a 2016 announcement.

How would this effect the Wii U successor? I wouldn't be surprised if Splatoon, Zelda, etc are the system's last big first party push in 2015, leading to a N7 (what I like to call their next console) announcement in early 2016 for a late 2016 release or possibly a 2017 release.

I imagine they're next devices will be cross compatible for the most part. Nintendo 4DS rocks decent ARM powered chipset (possibly via AMD) in 2017 and plays DS/3DS games while the new console runs all 4DS games plus its own games, or something like that.

Anyway, what do you think? No 3DS successor until 2017 then?

I would think 2017 would be right. The 3DS came out in 2011, and they're releasing a midway upgrade soon. I would think an announcement at (or around) E3 2016. That would give it a "normal" life span of 6 years.

On the other hand, my understanding of the "unified" Nintendo platform is that there will no longer be a console and a handheld game. All games would be one in the same, and playable on any Nintendo device (again, console or portable). If that's the case, the next handheld may come out at the same time as the next Nintendo console, which I think is more likely to be in 2018.

It would be eternally smart for Nintendo to make handheld projection onto televisions a standard. iPods and Androids still can't do that with ease as of yet.

If there was one more thing I would ask from the New 3DS it would be to arm it with a 5G WiFi to allow for its image to be displayed through a Wii U or dedicated stream box if you don't own a Wii U.

I would love to play SSB4 on the big screen even though it will be there shortly anyways.

It's a symbiotic relationship with the Wii U that Nintendo is not tapping into. Reward gamers that have both a Wii U and 3DS. It incentivises 3DS owners to have a Wii U. It gives 3DS owners who do not want to look down on a screen all the time to use their nice televisions.

I don't think Nintendo will release a hybrid device at all. Iwata has already said their next devices will be like iOS, one portable and one bigger with more power but both run the same games with the more powerful device getting exclusives. iPhone/iPod Touch and iPad, for example.

For example: HDS with Quad-Core ARM CPU/GPU, 1GB RAM, etc. Then Nintendo Console with 16-Core ARM CPU/GPU, 4-8GB RAM, plays all HDS games.