Valve’s Next Handheld Takes Shape
Valve is preparing a Steam Deck follow-up built on “off the shelf” processors rather than a bespoke AMD APU, according to a new report—and it’s aiming for 2028. That’s a sizable shift from the original handheld’s custom silicon and a sign Valve wants to move faster and stay closer to where mainstream laptop and handheld chips are headed.
TechPowerUp reports that Valve is actively developing the next Steam Deck and “wants to put it on the market sometime in 2028.” Nothing is official yet, but the outlet says Valve does not plan to contract AMD for a semi-custom processor this time. Instead, the company would build the device—and SteamOS—around a readily available chip platform.
The change appears driven by logistics as much as design. Valve’s hardware group has also been working to bring the Steam Machine, Steam Controller, and the Steam Frame to consumers by the end of this year. Per TechPowerUp, global supply chain snags have already “significantly delayed” those launches, and the outlook for the already-announced hardware is “dubious” if bottlenecks continue.
Since 2022, the Steam Deck has been credited as one of the best mobile gaming devices and has nudged Linux’s market share upward thanks to SteamOS. But a semi-custom APU ages like a console: software evolves, game demands rise, and fixed specs eventually feel tight. By 2028, the original chip’s limitations will be even more obvious.
Why Off-the-Shelf Silicon Matters
Switching to standard silicon changes the cadence. Rather than spend time and resources on a one-off APU, Valve can select a widely produced processor, then optimize SteamOS, drivers, and power management around it. As TechPowerUp explains, this should keep Valve “much more up-to-date with competitors” and “reduce the time necessary to develop and ship the device.”