Valve Steam Deck 2 has been a highly anticipated release and has taken the handheld PC community by storm since Steam Deck was first released in February 2022. Rumors of a Steam Deck 2 have been circulating, and it’s been widely confirmed that it’s finally coming to fruition.

Valve CEO and co-founder Gabe Newell has confirmed that Steam Deck 2 is in development in early 2022. Since then, the company has been looking for ways to bring the performance and specs of its successful first-generation handheld PC to its multi-generation series. However, the handheld gaming PC that did all the work on the circuit board may not be released earlier this year.

Until further news comes from Valve, it’s difficult to predict DECK 2’s performance. Classic Steam decks ran on AMD APUs with 4-15W power. A Zen 2 CPU combined with a powerful RDNA 2 GPU provides enough power to run big names like Elden Ring, RDR 2, and more.

Steam Deck 2 should at least be consistent, if not improving on the base model that combined RDNA 3 and Zen 3+. AYANEO Next II will opt for a discrete GPU, so Valve may decide to step up the game as well, but there are no such rumors.

Expected upgrade

When it comes to enhancing existing Steam decks, Valve’s intentions are very clear with the upgrade. Their main focus right now seems to be improving the handheld console’s display and battery life.

Of course, OLED screens are in the crosshairs, and Valve is looking forward to implementing them in its second-generation decks and larger batteries. A high display may be found soon.

Pricing

Steam Deck was launched by Valve at a very aggressive price in hopes of attracting buyers and regaining the subsidy price with the new version. It was half, so Valve accomplished the same thing.

Therefore, Steam Deck 2 may be priced higher as component prices increase. The valve may also decide to overhaul the Gen 1 release and release it at a slightly higher price to keep prices competitive on Steam Deck 2.

Rumors and leaks

There weren’t any notable leaks about Steam Deck 2. But there’s little speculation as to what direction the company is headed with its next-gen release.

In a recent interview, Valve mentioned its intention to upgrade the display to its OLED technology. Currently, he says IPS LCDs are cost-effective, but the company wants to upgrade the same. With the release of Deck 2, we may soon see high-end displays with variable refresh rates.

Aside from the need for a larger battery, Valve is also looking at ways to tweak the internal architecture, which seems a bit overwhelming for their liking. I’m also trying to address the audio delay issue.

Valve is looking to work with third-party hardware vendors and is waiting to work with AMD’s new hardware. Given the slow release rate of the PC market, it’s safe to assume that Steam Deck 2 will come out in late 2023. There may be some updated versions of the classic version of Valve as seen on the Nintendo Switch handheld gaming PC.