While Valve has been quite adamant about not working on a new version of the Steam Deck, a new report has indicated that the company might be eyeing a 2028 launch window for the next generation of its Linux-based handheld gaming PC. Reputable leaker KeplerL2 mentioned this on the NeoGAF forums, where they also posited that the ongoing memory shortages could end up delaying the same. On the other hand, a delay could also potentially give Valve the room to go with better hardware, since the handheld’s chip isn’t expected to be a semi-custom one.
“They were targeting 2028 [as far as I know], but the whole RAM/NAND situation could delay it,” wrote KeplerL2. “Also, since they don’t have a semi-custom SoC, unlike the PS6/Xbox, if it gets delayed, it could end up with better specs.”
Since its launch in February 2022, the Steam Deck has proven to be quite successful for Valve, and recent trends in memory prices have even left the company to deal with greater demand than it can supply.
The handheld features a quad-core AMD CPU running on Zen 2 architecture with 8 threads, a clock speed of between 2.4 GHz and 3.5 GHz, depending on the software. It’s paired with an RDNA 2-based GPU with eight compute units clocked between 1 and 1.6 GHz, and 16 GB of unified LPDDR5 memory either clocked at 5500 MT/s or 6400 MT/s, depending on whether you have the LCD or OLED version of the Steam Deck.
Valve’s thoughts on making a new version of the Steam Deck have largely revolved around the company waiting for a major generational jump for hardware, not just in terms of raw specs but also energy efficiency. In October 2024, Valve designer Lawrence Yang said there was no reason to work on yearly iterations of the handheld.
“It is important to us, and we’ve tried to be really clear, we are not doing the yearly cadence. We’re not going to do a bump every year. There’s no reason to do that. And, honestly, from our perspective, that’s kind of not really fair to your customers to come out with something so soon that’s only incrementally better. 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. But it is something that we’re excited about, and we’re working on.”
In more recent times, the company has had its hands full with trying to launch the Steam Machine, Steam Frame, and new Steam Controller, which were unveiled back in November 2025. While there hasn’t yet been any solid launch window announced for the three products, the company is still trying to release them in 2026, and that “More updates will be shared as we finalize our plans.” Hardware delays have largely been blamed on memory and storage shortages.
