New Steam Deck 2 Details Leaked

A new leak appears to have revealed new details about the upcoming Steam Deck 2’s specs, giving an idea of how much more powerful it could be than its predecessor. With the original Steam Deck now over four years old, fans have wanted to know how the work on its follow-up has been proceeding.

Valve developer Pierre-Loup Griffais previously confirmed earlier in 2026 that work on development of the Steam Deck 2 is still underway, but the timing of its arrival remains unknown. The same developer also noted that Valve wants its follow-up to provide a substantial boost in performance, and considered a 20%-50% gain to be “insufficient.” Providing that its plans haven’t changed, the Steam Deck 2 should be a considerable step forward from its predecessor.

Potential Steam Deck 2 Chip Leaks

A new leak may have unintentionally revealed a chip that could be powering the Steam Deck 2. The leak comes by way of an Adrenalin 26.9.2 driver, which makes reference to an AMD chip called Gainsborough. Previously, the Steam Deck used chips codenamed as Aerith and Sephiroth, and with this new one carrying Aerith’s last name, it’s possible that it may be the follow-up. This new Accelerated Processing Unit (APU) has now had its details leaked as well, which indicated that it has six cores and twelve threads, which would be a 50% boost over the original Steam Deck APU. The Gainsborough APU also has 24GB of LPDDR5 RAM, up from the original’s 16, memory runs at 9600 MT/s versus the original’s 6400 MT/s, and it has a base clock speed of 2.4 GHz. However, it’s not guaranteed that the APU will be utilized in the long-awaited Steam Deck 2, so fans should take the information with a grain of salt.

While the Steam Deck was quite impressive when it originally launched, other companies have since entered the handheld market, giving it some steep competition. Given that Valve is also focusing on its recent releases of the new Steam Machine, Steam Controller, and the brand-new Steam Frame, it’s likely that the Steam Deck won’t be arriving in the immediate future. Many fans are still waiting in both the reservation queue and the waitlist for their chance to purchase the aforementioned machines, and adding one more to the list before as many of those orders are fulfilled as possible could lead to dissatisfied Steam users.

While Valve’s plans for the Steam Deck 2 are reportedly unchanged, its arrival could be further off in the future than some fans would like. The ongoing RAM crisis propelled by the AI craze has made acquiring required parts for assembling consoles and other technology difficult, and when manufacturers can get them, the parts are far more expensive than they were previously. The Steam Deck 2 needs to deliver in its capabilities while also carrying a cost that gamers can actually afford, which could mean waiting in hopes that the market stabilizes.

The same RAM crisis also led to a significantly higher price for the Steam Frame than Valve had hoped for, which it would likely want to avoid with a less-niche product like the Steam Deck. While the Steam Deck 2 is still in development, it may still be a considerable amount of time before it actually manifests.