Valve's Steam Deck 2 may not arrive until 2028, leak suggests

Valve may not release a successor to its Steam Deck until 2028, according to a prominent hardware leaker, a timetable that would extend the handheld's gap between generations to six years and leaves consumers weighing whether to buy now or wait. KeplerL2 posted on the NeoGAF forum late last week that the Steam Deck 2 is expected in 2028. Valve has not confirmed the timing or any technical details.

The 2028 projection aligns with comments Valve executives have made about the company seeking a "generational leap" in performance for any sequel without sacrificing the original Deck's battery life. Lawrence Yang of Valve said in 2024 that the company would not pursue a follow up until it could deliver a meaningful upgrade on both speed and endurance. That stance helps explain why observers and industry insiders see the follow up arriving later rather than sooner.

Leakers and industry chatter have sketched possible technical drivers for a delayed release. Some analysts point to AMD's roadmap, with next generation chip architectures becoming available in the mid 2020s, as the likely enabler of a substantial performance jump. One leaker, Moore's Law Is Dead, has separately suggested a...