The Steam Deck has undeniably transformed the gaming landscape, bringing the thrill of AAA games right to the comfort of your bed through a handheld device. Many in the gaming community are buzzing with excitement over the prospect of a Steam Deck 2, especially considering the considerable advancements in APU technology over the last few years. Yet, according to a chat with Reviews.org, Valve has made it clear that a follow-up to the Steam Deck won’t be hitting stores until there’s a “generational leap in compute.”
AMD’s RDNA architecture has made significant strides from its earlier Vega models, particularly in performance and driver support. With its second iteration, RDNA 2, Valve collaborated with AMD to create the custom chip known as Van Gogh for the Steam Deck.
This device is powered by an APU that boasts four Zen 2 cores alongside an RDNA 2 iGPU with eight Compute Units, both rooted in 2020 tech. Even when Valve rolled out an OLED update last year, it didn’t bring the performance enhancements that many had hoped for.
Moving on, AMD’s cutting-edge Strix Point APUs, leveraging Zen 5 and RDNA 3.5, emerged. In response to questions about a potential new model, Steam Deck designer Lawrence Yang emphasized that they aren’t rushing out annual updates. “It is important to us, and we’ve tried to be really clear, we are not doing the yearly cadence,” Yang stated.
Valve seems to be adopting a strategy similar to that of industry giants like Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft. Even the latest PS5 Pro continues to make use of the older Zen 2 architecture. While there have been noticeable advancements within the handheld gaming arena, with Intel’s entry using its Lunar Lake (Core Ultra 200V) CPUs, they’re not quite enough to greenlight a Steam Deck 2. Yang highlighted the importance of waiting for major improvements: “So we really do want to wait for a generational leap in compute without sacrificing battery life before we ship the real second generation of Steam Deck.”
On a technical note, today’s APUs aren’t dramatically outperforming their predecessors at sub-15W levels. Even though Lunar Lake marks a progressive step due to its architectural innovations, it still doesn’t meet Valve’s standards for launching a new generation. However, if Valve manages to develop a Steam Deck that significantly enhances performance and battery life, it would mark a substantial progression. There’s also a possibility of an ARM64 version of Proton, potentially paving the way for an ARM-based core paired with a GPU solution from Intel, AMD, or NVIDIA—similar to the Nintendo Switch’s architecture.
So while the gaming community eagerly waits, Valve remains committed to innovation—aiming not just for incremental updates but for leaps that truly redefine portable gaming.
