TECH NEWS – Valve’s Steam Deck 2 could be on the way, and the latest rumours suggest it will feature an OLED screen as well as a major GPU upgrade!

Steam Deck is one of Valve’s biggest hardware successes, and it looks like a successor is in the works. Until now, Steam Deck 2 was thought to be a long way off. However, a user over at the Chiphell forums (via NoteBookCheck ) claims to know what’s powering Valve’s next-gen handheld.

Any rumour should be treated cautiously because while this spec leak looks significant, things are still subject to change, and the hardware may not be final yet.

The rumour claims that the APU will be based on AMD’s Zen 4 Hawk Point processors and will use a 16CU GPU. This would double the current Steam Deck’s eight compute units. All this can mean a significant increase in performance for the handheld console. We suspect AMD’s RDNA 4 architecture could be powering the chip. This is similar to how the Steam Deck also got access to RDNA 2 a little earlier when it debuted.

This gave Steam Deck an edge over competitors like Ayaneo. Because there were no ready-made solutions that could compete with Valve’s unique chip.

The rumour does not specify the RAM capacity. However, it does give some indication of transfer speed. Because the SD2 is said to use LPDDR5X RAM running at a speed of 8533 MT/s. There is currently no information about the next-generation handheld console storage capacity specified in the rumour.

A serious display update is coming?!

Steam Deck 2 is expected to get a high-resolution upgrade to 900p. Since the rumour only mentions 900p, we assume that the handheld will keep the 16:10 aspect ratio and will be 1440 x 900. An OLED screen is also expected. As well as a tasty 90Hz refresh rate. Valve may simply be testing the current Deck OLED. To find a way to optimize the system for the inevitable Steam Deck 2.

Given that the Steam Deck OLED was recently released, it would be reasonable to assume that Valve wouldn’t want to release a new handheld so soon.

Taking into account these alleged specifications, we would estimate that the SD2 could not go on sale until the end of 2025 at the earliest. But 2026 is more likely. According to rumours, the device will be released in the third quarter of 2026.

Can the price of Steam Deck 2 be steep?!

The poster notes that given the all-in-one turbocharged specs, the SD2 could cost much more than the original handheld. But that remains to be seen. Zen 4 will be older as AMD prepares Zen 5 for 2024. However, the unique nature of the chip and all the upgrades under the hood can drive up prices.

Remember, this is still a rumour! Which means it might not be accurate. However, if these speculated specs are true, the Steam Deck 2 will be a serious handheld gamer.

Source: Chiphell, NoteBookCheck