Valve only just announced the Steam Deck OLED, but the company is already teasing a much more substantial upgrade to its popular handheld.
Valve product designer Lawrence Yang tells Bloomberg that, following the release of the OLED model, his team is set to start work on Steam Deck 2, which is expected to take at least two or three years to come to market. It will feature a "next-generation" power upgrade, though no specific details on what that means have been provided.
The new OLED model is set to launch on November 16, and while it promises a better screen and battery life, there don't appear to be any meaningful upgrades to the handheld's internal specifications. In other words, it won't offer any meaningful performance upgrade over current Steam Deck models. That'll be what Steam Deck 2 is for.
Valve recently said it doesn't think the Steam Deck 2 would be possible within the next couple of years - and I guess 'at least two or three' does technically take it outside the 'couple' range. In any case, Valve has one of the best gaming handhelds going right now, and it looks like they're continuing to develop it for the foreseeable future. As Yang tells Bloomberg, "A lot of folks at the company are excited about this product. We are very invested in the Steam Deck."
Check out the best PC games if you're looking for something to populate a Steam Deck with - or just dig into the Switch 2 reports and Nintendo's denials of them if you want to start planning out your next half-decade of handheld purchases.
