Nintendo has one of the best-kept secrets in the video gaming industry: the fabled NX. Although the company hasn't officially announced details about its next console, there is already a lot of speculation about what it will entail.

But what if that console isn't really a console? What if it's entirely something else? After all, Satoru Iwata, the company's chief executive swears that the NX isn't exactly a replacement for the Wii U or the 3DS.

"Since we are always thinking about how to create a new platform that will be accepted by as many people around the world as possible, we would like to offer to them 'a dedicated video game platform with a brand new concept' by taking into consideration various factors, including the playing environments that differ by country," Iwata said last year during a third quarter earnings call. "This is all that I can confirm today."

Although that was a year ago, details are still sketchy about the NX and what it really is. If it's not a replacement for the Wii U or 3DS, could it possibly be a hybrid of the two device concepts: part console and part handheld?

These remarks led many to believe that the NX is actually a hybrid console and handheld device. And this theory is now more likely, thanks to a patent application that Nintendo filed at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on Dec. 3 last year, and which was published on June 30.

The device referred to in the patent filing is a "handheld information processing apparatus" that has a touchscreen interface, along with built-in speakers and vibration that gives gamers more "immersion."

Here are the general sketches of this mysterious device as depicted in the patent application filing:

This patent could refer to a rumored stand-alone handheld device, but is likely more directly related to the NX.

Meanwhile, Nintendo refuses to give up details about the NX, including completely leaving it out of its E3 presentation with the excuse that the company feared copycats. The company has also withheld information about the console with developers, who don't know much more about the NX than the general public.

The NX is a real thing, though, and Nintendo hopes to release it in March 2017. Creative fans who want to get an NX for free can win one by submitting the best T-shirt design in Uniqlo's latest contest.