Valve unveils what it needs for the next-generation Steam Deck

Valve has commented on a next-generation Steam Deck, saying it has an idea of what it will be but can't make it just yet due to hardware constraints.

Valve unveils what it needs for the next-generation Steam Deck
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Tech and Science Editor
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2 minutes & 15 seconds read time
TL;DR: Valve plans a significant upgrade for the next Steam Deck but will delay release until advanced system-on-chip (SOC) hardware becomes available, likely after 2027. The company seeks a major performance leap rather than incremental improvements, awaiting new silicon innovations to create a truly next-generation handheld gaming device.

Valve recently announced the Steam Machine, and on the heels of that announcement, we have caught some news about the Steam Deck 2, or rather, what Valve needs to release one.

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The Steam Deck was released in February 2022, and then we got the Steam Deck OLED in November 2023. Since then, Valve has been quiet on when it plans on releasing the Steam Deck 2, but recently Valve revealed in a conversation with IGN that it intends the next Steam Deck to be a big step up from the original, and that it won't be releasing the second iteration of the console until hardware becomes available that makes it possible to enable a massive upgrade.

On the back of the announcement of the Steam Machine, Valve has said that it's "really interested" in what is next for the Steam Deck, but it won't be releasing an iterative model that is simply more powerful and has more battery life, as Valve wants something that truly differentiates it from the original handheld. Additionally, Valve said that it has been scanning the System-On-Chip (SoC) market for hardware that will enable it to create the new handheld it has in mind, but right now "there's no offering in that landscape".

So, right now Valve knows what the next-generation Steam Deck is going to be, but there isn't any hardware available on the market that will facilitate its creation. Since that is the case, it's likely we won't see a new Steam Deck until at least 2027, which will give Valve time to wait around for new offerings from SoC makers, particularly AMD, which is dominating the space.

"Obviously the Steam Deck's not our focus today, but the same things we've said in the past where we're really interested to work on what's next for Steam Deck... the thing we're making sure of is that it's a worthwhile enough performance upgrade to make sense as a standalone product. We're not interested in getting to a point where it's 20 or 30 or even 50% more performance at the same battery life.

We want something a little bit more demarcated than that. So we've been working back from silicon advancements and architectural improvements, and I think we have a pretty good idea of what the next version of Steam Deck is going to be, but right now there's no offerings in that landscape, in the SoC landscape, that we think would truly be a next-gen performance Steam Deck," explains Valve