The Steam Deck marked the beginning of a new era in gaming, letting you dive into top-tier titles right from the comfort of your bed with a handheld device. It’s no surprise that both gamers and tech enthusiasts are eagerly on the lookout for a hypothetical Steam Deck 2, especially considering the substantial advancements in the APU sector over the past several years. However, it seems we might have to hold off on getting too excited, as Valve has mentioned that a Steam Deck 2 won’t be available anytime soon. In a conversation with Reviews.org, they mentioned it’ll only come after a "generational leap in compute" occurs.
AMD’s transition from Vega to RDNA architecture was a game changer in terms of performance and driver support. Partnering up with AMD, Valve developed a custom chip, known as Van Gogh, for the Steam Deck, using the second iteration of RDNA, RDNA 2.
This APU on the Steam Deck boasts four Zen 2 cores and an RDNA 2 iGPU with eight Compute Units, based on technologies dating back to 2020. Even with last year’s OLED revision, performance upgrades were notably missing.
(Image credit: Valve)
AMD’s recent Strix Point APUs, which are part of the Ryzen AI 300 series, utilize Zen 5 and RDNA 3.5 technologies. When asked about potential upgrades, Steam Deck’s designer, Lawrence Yang, noted, "It’s important for us to be clear—we’re not sticking to an annual release cycle."
Valve’s strategy seems reminiscent of how giants like Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft proceed. Take the recent PS5 Pro—it too relies on the older Zen 2 architecture. Despite some progress in handheld tech, including Intel’s entry with its Lunar Lake (Core Ultra 200V) CPUs, these advancements aren’t enough to warrant a follow-up to the Steam Deck just yet. Lawrence Yang explained, "We’re waiting for substantial technological advancements without compromising battery life before launching a genuine second generation of the Steam Deck."
On the technical front, current APUs are not significantly faster at sub-15W levels compared to past models like the Rembrandt (Ryzen 6000 Mobile). Lunar Lake’s architectural decisions offer some promise, but if these don’t meet Valve’s standards, any future Steam Deck might represent a major leap in both performance and battery longevity. There’s also a buzz around Valve working on an ARM64 version of Proton, suggesting that opting for Arm cores paired with a GPU solution from Intel, AMD, or NVIDIA, similar to what’s seen in the Nintendo Switch, could be in the cards.
