Steam Deck 2: release date speculation, specs, pricing

Valve revolutionized the handheld gaming market with the release of their Steam Deck in 2022.

It’s currently regarded as the industry leader over rivals Nintendo, Asus, and Ayaneo and their gaming handhelds.

So it’s little wonder there is increasing talk of Steam Deck 2, which Valve has confirmed is in the works, albeit without giving anything away in terms of features and when to expect it to hit the shelves.

Right now, all we’ve got to go on are rumors, leaks and comments from Valve to go by when it comes to speculating on how Steam Deck 2 will stack up against Valve’s current products and its competitors.

Here’s what we know so far…

Steam Deck 2: What we know so far and rumors

It’s worth pointing out that Valve has hinted that Steam Deck 2 rests on a breakthrough in what’s possible when taking handheld gaming to the next level. Speaking at the release of Steam Deck OLED in November 2023, Valve designer Lawrence Yang told Bloomberg that “we’re thinking about Steam Deck 2 at all times” but that a “big leap” in technology is required first.

That points towards Valve waiting for a more powerful and advanced chip to be announced before they feel an upgrade is worth it. At the moment, the Asus ROG Ally and Lenovo Legion Go use newer and faster chips than the Steam Deck, so it certainly makes sense for Valve to wait for something bigger and better before launching, instead of hitting the market with something similar in performance to the competition.

While we don’t yet know for sure what a new, improved and more powerful chip looks like, there are some rumors and hints from Valve about Steam Deck 2 to keep us all interested in the meantime.

Bear in mind, though, it’s still very early days. So not everything we want to know is currently available.

Display

The Steam Deck OLED’s display has a refresh rate of 90Hz, which is currently dwarfed by Asus’ ROG Ally and MSI Claw A1M, which both come in at 120Hz. That means Valve may be looking to make significant upgrades in this area, although 90Hz is still very good.

From a resolution point of view, a user on the Chiphell forums claims Steam Deck is set for a serious upgrade to 900p, with a 16:10 aspect ratio and 1440 x 900 dimensions.

Hardware & Performance

The above Chiphell user also claims the APU will be based on AMD’s Zen 4 Hawk Point processors, with a a 16CU GPU. That’s double 8CU currently found in the existing Steam Deck.

Dexerto suspect it could be AMD’s RDNA 4 architecture powering the chip. If so, it could give Steam Deck 2 a similar competitive advantage when it was given early access to RDNA 2 when it launched.

Transfer speeds are also included in the leak, with it being alleged that Steam Deck 2 will use a LPDDR5X RAM running at 8533 MT/s.

Design

Valve’s official comments on Steam Deck 2 so far suggest they’re more concerned about what’s under the hood and ensuring the upgrades made to overall power and performance.

That doesn’t mean a slight change in overall design is entirely out of the question but given the design of the original Steam Deck impressed a number of critics, there’s clearly far less need or urgency to make any serious upgrades in that respect.

What is the Steam Deck 2 release date?

There isn’t a confirmed Steam Deck 2 release date just yet and, going by what Valve have already said about it, we shouldn’t expect anything this year. It may not be until 2026 that we’re able to see it in the flesh.

Lang told Rock Paper Shotgun last year that “a true next-gen Deck with a significant bump in horsepower wouldn’t be for a few years” while another Valve employee, Pierre-Loup Griffais, has previously told The Verge Steam Deck 2 won’t happen until performance can be improved without a “significant cost to power efficiency and battery life” before going on to admit he doesn’t anticipate that happening “in the next couple of years.”

That adds further credence to a possible 2026 release at the very earliest.

How much will the Steam Deck 2 cost?

The Steam Deck OLED launched at the starting price of $549, so we should expect to see a much more powerful and upgraded follow-up to be more expensive, especially when you consider the increasing costs of PC components and materials.

However, the President of Valve, Gabe Newell, previously confirmed to Edge Magazine that the most expensive version of Steam Deck is also the most popular. He admitted that this is telling Valve that gaming fans are looking for a more expensive version with more power and capabilities.

With this in mind, we could be seeing a premium version of Steam Deck 2 nearing the $700 mark, or beyond.

Images: Steam Deck