Switch 2 Continues to Dominate - Japan Hardware Estimates for April 2026 - Sales
by William D'Angelo , posted 2 days ago / 8,868 Views
The Nintendo Switch 2 was the best-selling console in Japan with 241,567 units sold for April 2026, according to VGChartz estimates. The Nintendo Switch 2 has now sold an estimated 5.39 million units lifetime.
The Nintendo Switch 1 sold an estimated 99,499 units to bring its lifetime sales to 36.86 million units. The PlayStation 5 sold an estimated 43,565 units to bring its lifetime sales to 7.54 million units. The Xbox Series X|S sold 1,607 units to bring their lifetime sales to 0.70 million units.
Switch 2 sales compared to the same month for the Switch 1 in 2018 are up by over 88,000 units as the Switch 1 sold 153,185 units in Japan in April 2018.
PS5 sales compared to the same month for the PS4 in 2019 are down by nearly 6,000 units, while the Xbox Series X|S compared to the same month for the Xbox One are up by over 1,000 units. PS4 sold 49,086 units for the month of April 2019 and Xbox One sales were at 337 units.
Nintendo Switch 1 sales compared to the same month a year ago are down by 7,223 units (-6.8%). PlayStation 5 sales are down by 6,974 (-19.1%) and Xbox Series X|S sales are down by 1,232 units (-43.4%).
Looking at sales month-on-month, Nintendo Switch 2 sales are down by nearly 207 units, Nintendo Switch 1 sales are up by over 1,000 units, PlayStation 5 sales are down by over 33,000 units, and Xbox Series X|S sales are down by under 1,000 units.
2026 year-to-date, the Nintendo Switch 2 has sold an estimated 1.29 million units, the Nintendo Switch 1 has sold 0.36 million units, the PlayStation 5 has sold 0.21 million units, and the Xbox Series X|S has sold 0.01 million units.
Monthly Sales:
Japan hardware estimates for April 2026 (Followed by lifetime sales):
- Switch 2 - 241,567 (5,391,837)
- Switch 1 - 99,499 (36,862,199)
- PlayStation 5 - 43,565 (7,543,566)
- Xbox Series X|S - 1,607 (699,868)
Weekly Sales:
Japan April 11, 2026 hardware estimates:
- Switch 2 - 54,141
- Switch 1 - 21,276
- PlayStation 5 - 8,684
- Xbox Series X|S - 689
Japan April 18, 2026 hardware estimates:
- Switch 2 - 46,051
- Switch 1 - 31,547
- PlayStation 5 - 10,748
- Xbox Series X|S - 459
Japan April 25, 2026 hardware estimates:
- Switch 2 - 47,707
- Switch 1 - 27,271
- PlayStation 5 - 12,995
- Xbox Series X|S - 247
Japan May 2, 2026 hardware estimates:
- Switch 2 - 93,668
- Switch 1 - 19,405
- PlayStation 5 - 11,138
- Xbox Series X|S - 212
VGChartz Methodology: Hardware estimates are based on retail sampling and trends in individual countries, which are then extrapolated to represent the wider region. This typically allows us to produce figures that end up being within 10% of the actual totals.
This data is regularly compared against official shipment figures released by the console manufacturers and figures estimated by regional trackers with greater market coverage than ourselves. We then update our own estimates to bring them into line with those figures. This can result in frequent changes often within a short space of time, but we feel it's important to prioritise accuracy over consistency.
Note that our estimates are based on sell-through data (units sold to consumers). In almost all cases the figures released by console manufacturers are based on shipment data (sell-in), where as soon as a device has left the factory and entered the supply chain for delivery it is considered a sale. This is why there is always a difference between the companies’ figures (sell-in) and VGChartz estimates (sell-through), even after we’ve made adjustments. The one exception to that is when a console has been discontinued and the remaining stock has finally sold out – at that point the figures will match.
A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012 and taking over the hardware estimates in 2017. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel. You can follow the author on Bluesky.
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The Switch 1 was a killer this month, thanks to Tomodachi Life Living the Dream
Switch 1 was made on a 20nm and 16nm chipset...
Just imagine if they shrunk that down to 5nm or 3nm and quadrupled the battery life on the Switch lite
Taking a look at the data I count more than 300 k for S2 and less than 80k for S1
My bad. I forgot to update the weekly figures in the article from the previous one. I'll fix it once I'm back on my PC.
Edit: Fixed
