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AMD unveiled the Ryzen Z2 processor line today, intended to power a new wave of gaming handhelds. While early word from the manufacturer appeared to suggest that a Z2-powered Steam Deck was on the way, a Valve dev has logged on to tell the world that no such product is in development.
This all started when VideoCardz.com published a series of slides running down the capabilities of the Z2 series. One of those slides highlighted the "explosive growth" of the gaming handheld market, including products like the Lenovo Legion Go, Asus Rog Ally, and yes, Valve's own Steam Deck. A quick glance might suggest that AMD was saying the Z2 would in fact power the next iteration of each of these devices.
"There is and will be no Z2 Steam Deck," Valve coder Pierre-Loup Griffais quickly clarified on Bluesky. "Guessing the slide was meant to say the series is meant for products like that, not announcing anything specific."
A misinterpreted slide seems like a reasonable explanation for all this, but AMD has been weirdly cagey about the whole thing. According to The Verge, AMD directly told journalists in a briefing that there would be a Z2 Steam Deck, and when asked in a follow-up, said that the slide was "designed to highlight our current handheld design wins." As The Verge notes in its reporting, "that’s not a denial."
The Z2 series is poised to offer some notable performance gains in whichever handhelds it does end up powering, but it's unclear if those gains are going to make for a true generational leap. Valve has indicated that it intends to make a Steam Deck 2, but it'll take a "next-generation" power upgrade before that happens.
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