Nintendo 3DS Just Got Its Newest Update After Nine Months

After seven months, the Nintendo 3DS has received a minor version 11.15.0-47 update that adds improvements to system stability, according to dataminer OatmealDome. The last time the Nintendo 3DS received an update was back in on November 16, 2020, which was another minor system stability improvement for the handheld console. OatmealDome added that the Internet browser may have also been slightly tweaked, possibly to fix an exploit on it.

March 2015 was the last time that the 3DS received a more substantial update, as that was when the Theme shop was tweaked, an Amiibo settings option was introduced on select 3DS models, and Home menu layouts could be saved.

Nintendo officially discontinued production of the 3DS in September 2020, and by March 2021, Nintendo Japan announced that it would no longer repair 3DS and 3DS XL units. You can't even use the 3DS or the Wii U for some streaming entertainment, as support for Netflix on those systems ceased on June 30.

While the console did good business for Nintendo in the wake of poor Wii U sales, the 75.77 million lifetime sales of the 3DS family of consoles have already been surpassed by the Switch, which sold 84.5 million units in the 49 months since it was first released. Almost a quarter of those sales came from Japan, the Switch's biggest market.

Those numbers will likely climb when the Nintendo Switch OLED Model is released on October 8, although it may face some competition from Valve's own PC handheld console in 2022, the Steam Deck.