It's not whether they can pass the 3DS in lifetime Switch sales, it's "did they pass the GBA?".
http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/news/56129/nintendo-releases-third-quarter-fiscal-2020-results
Nintendo released their financial results for the third quarter of the 2020-21 fiscal year overnight. All figures are based on the reporting period of October 1 - December 31, the key holiday shopping season.
All monetary figures reported in yen, with comparisons to the US dollar based on a market rate of $1 = ¥104.933 provided for comparison only.
Financial Results
Hardware Shipments
The Switch shipped 11.47 million units in the quarter for a new LTD total of 79.87m, which launches the Switch past the 3DS into fifth place all time for Nintendo's dedicated hardware. The next hardware milestone for the Switch is the GBA, which finished with total hardware sales of 81.51m. The breakdown was 8.34m Switches, 3.16m Switch Lites.
New Software Movement
A total of 75.85m units of Switch software were moved in the third quarter. Of those, Nintendo reported the following sales units for new titles in the holiday quarter:
Software Catalogue Highlights
New Software Information
No new software information was provided: the latest announced date is for New Pokemon Snap and Bayonetta 3 / Metroid Prime 4 / the sequel to Breath of the Wild are still TBA.
Projections Increase
Nintendo having already met their hardware shipment, software shipment, and financial goals, have revised all of them upward: the company is now projecting 26.5m hardware shipments (previously 24m, the fiscal year total is 24.1m so far), 205m software units (previously 170m, current total 176.1m), and all financial projections (PDF link) have also been revised.
I was sad that 3DS never outsold GBA. It got close, but not close anough.
People judge Nintendo for their unique take on all age games. But during the last year, Nintendo's bright colors and simple hopeful storytelling and games was just what the world needed.
I truly hope Nintendo never changes because they really are one of the few companies that understands the value of this kinda of media.