Jacob Roach / Digital Trends
It ’s a matter of when we ’ll see the Steam Deck 2 , not if we ’ll see it . Valve has blab publicly multiple time about its plans for a next - gen Steam Deck , which should n’t come as a surprisal give that the original is easily thebest handheld gaming PCyou can buy .
Although the Steam Deck 2 is still a few years off , Valve has been dropping hints about the handheld for a while . Here ’s everything we bed about the Steam Deck 2 decent now , from the possible spill escort to details on specs and execution .
Jacob Roach / Digital Trends
Steam Deck 2: release date speculation
It ’s go to be a few years before we see the Steam Deck 2 . Inan interviewwith CNBC and The Verge , Valve ’s Pierre - Loup Griffais said , “ … changing the carrying out level is not something we are pack gently , and we only want to do so when there is a significant enough increase to be had . We also do n’t want more public presentation to make out at a substantial cost to power efficiency and battery lifetime . I do n’t anticipate such a leap to be potential in the next couplet of years . ”
Griffais said this in the context of performance mark . He impart that the society want to ensure that the gameplay experience is consistent across machine . In other tidings , Valve does n’t want to move the performance goalpost for developer and players for no reason . There would take to be a chip that ’s significantly more sinewy than what is available today for a Steam Deck 2 to come out , Griffais said .
Adding on to that , Valve ’s Lawrence Yangtold Rock Paper Shotgunthat “ a unfeigned next - gen Deck with a significant bump in H.P. would n’t be for a few twelvemonth . ”
It ’s clear Valve is thinking about the futurity of the Steam Deck . We recently saw theSteam Deck OLEDupgrade , for example , and these interviews show that the company is await for a more brawny bit to power a potential Steam Deck 2 .
At this point in time , I ’d guess that a Steam Deck 2 would arrive in 2026 . That ’s just a guess , so do n’t read into that date too much . That ’s far enough out that Valve would have access to a matured system - on - a - chip ( SoC ) that ’s far more potent than what we have today , and it lines up with the “ few more years ” claim we ’ve heard from Griffais and Yang .
More recently , Yang and Valve ’s Yazan Aldehayyatdoubled down on the release timeline , say that society is n’t “ lead to do a dump every year . ” Yang uphold , “ From our perspective , that ’s kind of not really fairish to your customers to come out with something so shortly that ’s only incrementally well … we ’re wait for a generational leap in compute without sacrifice bombardment life . ”
Steam Deck 2: pricing
I doubt the Steam Deck 2 will cost $ 400 like the original . Valve ’s Gabe Newall described hitting $ 400 for the original Steam Deck as “ unspeakable ” in aninterview with IGN . Given what we ’ve see from competitors like theROG AllyandLegion Go , the price bracket for a handheld gaming PC is much higher — typically between $ 600 and $ 800 .
Valve learned this lesson , too . Inspeaking to Edge clip , Newall enunciate : “ We thought the entry price was function to be the critical element [ for the Steam Deck ’s success ] , but it turns out that far and away the most popular SKU is the most expensive one . That ’s an example of us being a small surprised by what our customer are telling us … it helps frame our thinking for Steam Deck 2 . ”
We saw Valve ’s pivot on pricing in activeness with the sack of the Steam Deck OLED.Instead of a stripped - down budget version , Valve settled on a 512 GB poser for $ 550 and a 1 TB model for $ 650 . It maintained the $ 400 price full stop with an sr. LCD version , but for the new OLED models , Valve move the minimal cost up .
I suspect Valve will do something similar with the Steam Deck 2 . It will likely move one of the OLED framework down to maintain that $ 400 price point while sell the unexampled version between $ 500 and $ 700 .
Right now , however , that ’s just speculation . Pricing shape could change in a few years when the Steam Deck 2 is more potential to show up , so we ’ll just have to wait until Valve has more to portion out .
Steam Deck 2: specs
At this point , it ’s hard to say what the spectacles of the Steam Deck 2 will be . There ’s a good probability Valve itself does n’t know yet . Rumors steer to an updated Steam Deck using another custom APU from AMD , similar to the original version . on-line speculation says this scrap will use AMD ’s RDNA 4 graphics architecture — an as of yet unreleased GPU architecture that will power next - gen AMD desktop GPUs — and the Zen 4 processor architecture .
This is , well , conjecture , and mostly work up on the back of avague post on the Chiphell forums . Previously , a lot of the focus was on Valve ’s Sephiroth APU , which is a follow - up to the Aerith APU have in the original Steam Deck . The Sephiroth APU turned out to be the silicon chip inside the Steam Deck OLED . It practice a more efficient manufacturing process and comes with surplus goodies like Wi - Fi 6E , but it ’s not a generational leap .
We ’ll belike have a good idea of what the APU will look like prior to the Steam Deck 2 ’s release . Valve does n’t manufacture a lot of chip , after all , and the dedicated mineworker prod through Linux updates and driver commits will likely ascertain something when Valve is nearing the launch of the Steam Deck 2 .
For my part , I mistrust Valve will dumbfound with AMD for a next - gen Steam Deck , as AMD has a full-bodied base for semi - custom-made splintering in gambling gadget — just look at the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X. However , Intel has late jump building its own chips for devices like theMSI Claw , and rumor has it thatNvidia is eyeing the market , as well . Valve could go with a different chip count on what ’s available when the Steam Deck 2 gets close .
Steam Deck 2: performance
Without any substantial specs to go on , it ’s a fool ’s errand trying to adjudicate and nail down how the Steam Deck 2 will execute . I ’m sure-footed in say it will be importantly firm than the original Steam Deck . That ’s because Valve has run on the record saying that ’s a target for Steam Deck 2 .
The Steam Deck 2 will be much faster , but heyday carrying out probably is n’t the elementary concern . The Steam Deck does n’t have the battery life of a Nintendo Switch , but it ’s leagues ahead of something like the Asus ROG Ally , so that and tycoon effeiciency are clearly a nidus for Valve .
Assuming Valve goes with an APU that uses the RDNA 4 graphics architecture and Zen 4 CPU computer architecture , there would be a big boost toray tracing . AMD ’s RDNA 2 architecture , which is in the current Steam Deck , is notoriously frail when it total to hardware - accelerate beam trace . Even then , the Steam Deck still supports some light-colored ray tracing in games likeDoom Eternal . A next - gen version would likely have far greater ray tracing prowess .
The more exciting developments will likely happen on the software front , however . As unchanging as the Steam Deck is today , the software is still very much a work in progress withtranslation bed like DXVK . By the time the Steam Deck 2 hustle around , I suspect a substantial development will be just how far run Windows games on Linux has progressed .
In addition , we have some exciting performance - boosting features now that were n’t available to the original Steam Deck . AMD ’s FSR 3comes to mind , and it has Brobdingnagian implication for a machine like the Steam Deck with its frame multiplication capabilities . A machine - level frame of reference insertion feature could be a plot changer for the Steam Deck 2 .
Steam Deck 2: display
We saw with the Steam Deck OLED just how important the display is for a handheld gaming PC . Valve will belike focus a lot of attention on the screen for a next - gen Steam Deck , but it ’s still not clear how the final product will look .
The aforementioned Chiphell hearsay says that Valve will go with a 900p OLED display with a refresh charge per unit of 90Hz . That ’s very similar to what the Steam Deck OLED has , though with a minor bump to resolution . I would hope that Valve is a little more ambitious with the display on a next - gen Steam Deck .
What could that look like ? Well , it will most certainly be OLED . The screen on the Steam Deck OLED is truly a transformative component , and I ca n’t reckon Valve will ditch the technical school for its next - gen version . We ’ll likely see a gibbousness in firmness and refresh rate as well , depending on what the gadget is subject of .
It ’s that last morsel that ’s most crucial . With both the Steam Deck and Steam Deck OLED , Valve proved that it want to equalise the show to the capabilities of the gadget . I do n’t suspect some absurd resolution or refresh rate like we see on the Lenovo Legion Go .
