Nintendo Switch Lite: Pre-orders begin for small version of handheld console

New console gets rid of some of the features of its bigger sibling in exchange for a lower price

Nintendo has finally opened pre-orders for the long-rumoured Nintendo Switch Lite.

The new handheld console – which strips out some of its bigger siblings features in exchange for a lower price – can now be bought across the UK and US.

Interest in the smaller and cheaper device appears to be very strong. It is going in and out of stock in a variety of different online stores, despite it being many weeks until it actually arrives.

The console is available for $199 or £199, or similar prices across the world. It is in stock at a variety of stores, including the local versions of Amazon.

Nintendo is selling the Switch Lite in a variety of different colours: yellow, grey and turqoise. Each of those individual versions were going in and out of stock as pre-orders opened.

Though the console is available to pre-order now, they won't actually start to arrive until 20 September. But the significant amount of interest could mean that the consoles will be out of stock when they actually go on sale.

The Nintendo Switch Lite had been long rumoured in advance of its release. Leaks had suggested that Nintendo was working hard on a new and small version of the console.

When it arrived, Nintendo said that it would come without many of the big Switch's features: it can't be connected to a television like the original Switch, and its controllers don't pop out which could pose a problem for many of the games made for the platform.

But, in exchange for those removed features, Nintendo is offering a lower price console that is also smaller and lighter.

Those rumours also suggested that a more powerful version of the normal Switch would be on its way, too. That appeared to arrive in the form of a quiet update to the console, which did not bring a new version number but added extra battery life.