AMD will power Valve's unannounced Steam Deck refresh with Ryzen Z2 APU

At CES 2025, AMD announced its next-generation Ryzen Z2 Series processors for PC gaming handhelds. Featuring upgraded RDNA 3 Radeon graphics, the new APU series is designed to deliver "console-class gaming in a handheld" with vastly superior efficiency for improved battery life. It also supports FSR technologies like Super Resolution, Frame Generation, and driver-based Fluid Motion Frames.

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Interestingly, AMD confirmed that the Ryzen Z2 Series is set to arrive this year in several handhelds, from the Lenovo Legion Go series to ASUS's ROG Ally handheld and even Valve's Steam Deck.

Even though Valve has made it clear that we won't be seeing a Steam Deck 2 anytime soon because it's waiting for a massive generational leap in performance, efficiency, and affordability, we might end up seeing a mid-generation refresh ala the PlayStation 5 Pro.

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So, what would a Steam Deck Pro look like? A more advanced Ryzen Z2 APU can run many AAA games like Cyberpunk 2077 at a higher frame rate or with improved visual fidelity. We predict that this Ryzen Z2-powered Steam Deck will be priced higher than the current models and retain the high-refresh-rate OLED display from the current OLED model with a possible resolution increase from 800p to 1080p. The current Steam Deck features a custom AMD APU with RDNA 2 graphics, a notable improvement that could deliver a 30% performance bump.

AMD confirmed that more PC gaming handhelds from other brands are on the way and that it sees the market as one that will continue to grow in the coming years. It didn't provide official APU variant details, specs, or performance data for the new Z2 Series, so stay tuned.