Nintendo 2DS

[Kitsu]

I don't understand why they couldn't have given it the thicker hinge that a number of children's products already use? The Leapfrog games spring to mind.

This might be why. While they could simply make them stronger, you completely remove the possibility of the hinge breaking just by getting rid of the hinge in the first place.

The other reason is that, with the tablet form, they have one large screen partitioned by software rather than two separate screens. That may be a decent portion of the price drop of $40.