The valve may have already launched “the best handheld around” since we made it in our Steam Deck review, though the company has already started putting a lot of effort into putting together Steam Deck 2.
This doesn’t come as a surprise considering a lot of people out there evidently curious about the Deck, with the number of bookings already pressing the anticipated accessibility of the device over the course to ‘after Q2’ of 2022.
Although, it is all up to the time on how much of an improvement will be offered by it and if it would be able to contend with its competitors such as the Ayaneo Next.
In an interview with Edge magazine, the co-founder and president of Valve, Gabe Newell, impassively revealed the progress of Steam Deck 2, calling that the launch of the handheld gaming PC of the company would “help frame our thinking for Deck 2.”
It was explained by Newell that the new Deck’s design would involve putting into action “the capabilities that mobile gives us, above and beyond what you would get in a traditional desk or laptop gaming environment.”
Sadly, most details have been concealed by the company regarding what is going on in its Washington offices inside strict cover. Although, we have gotten some information about what we can anticipate from the specs of Steam Deck 2 in comparison to the present portable powerhouse of the company.
Here’s everything you should about Steam Deck 2:
Steam Deck 2 Release Date
Taking into consideration that Valve just released the first Steam Deck, we cannot anticipate the release date of the Steam Deck 2 anytime soon.
Although, this obviously does not indicate that we could not see improved editions of the current Deck in the coming times, just like how Nintendo upgraded its Switch line-up using the OLED model.
Steam Deck 2 Price
Earlier, Valve’s co-founder explained reaching the $399 USD / £349 MSRP of the base model of Steam Deck as “painful”, so it may be probable that Steam Deck 2 could be even more high priced, particularly taking into consideration the materials costing that are required in order to develop PC components is rising continuously.
The valve may put efforts in order to neutralize the lower profit margins of introductory Steam Deck 2 devices with the production of more high-spec variants.
While talking to Edge magazine, it was stated by Newell that the Deck’s “most popular SKU is the most expensive one”.
He states that the company is going through this strong demand with customers saying, “we would like an even more expensive version of this, in terms of horsepower capabilities or whatever.” Hence, we may even see a premium edition of Steam Deck 2 exceeding the current GBP ceiling of $649 USD / £569.
Steam Deck 2 Specs
No official confirmation has been made yet or any considerable leaks about Steam Deck 2 specs, but some educated speculations can be made on the basis of the makeup of the current Deck.
As compared to the current Deck, we can expect a better Battery life by improving the battery capacity over 40Whr, which would aid in addressing one of the major complaints regarding it.
It may offer greater color accuracy in comparison to the present IPS LCD panel by an OLED or QD-OLED show, whilst also enabling Valve to considerably decrease the borders encompassing the screen.
They could improve the APU of the device to a Zen 3 based Ryzen 6000 CPU for raising the processing power, shifting up from the custom Zen 2 based it presently utilizes for its portable PCs.
Steam Deck 2 Performance
Till the time we catch up on its release date, there would not be any sort of confirmed or spilled Steam Deck 2 performance criteria to spill over. Therefore, we think of the very least to see Valve making upgrades to battery life as well as overall gaming performance in comparison to the present deck.
In whatever way, enjoying video games over a Steam Deck 2 must need fewer speculations since more Steam games’ compatibility levels should be identified.
We will keep you updated with all the latest information until then stay tuned.