Photo: Valve
If you thought Valve would release a new Steam Deck every year, we're sorry to disappoint you that this might not happen. In an interview with Reviews.org, Steam Deck designers Lawrence Yang and Yazan Aldehayyat talked about the game console's future.
Despite more competition in the space, they don't plan on releasing new versions of the Steam Deck with only incremental updates. Yang said the team is looking for a "generational leap in compute without sacrificing battery life" before they launch a proper Steam Deck 2.
Other Steam Deck team members have weighed on the subject, too. In September 2023, designer Pierre-Loup Griffais echoed the sentiment that Valve wants to upgrade but is waiting for that generational leap. Griffais estimated the earliest we could see a Deck 2 is 2025 and maybe even 2026.
The last upgrade to the Steam Deck was the Steam Deck OLED, a mid-gen release focused on upgrading the screen from LCD to OLED with slight battery improvements.