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[64bitmodels]

I've seen a bit of debate regarding the Valve's future plans for the Steam Deck as a hardware brand.

More specifically, there are quite a few out there who think that the hardware is underpowered in comparison to the competition and that if Valve continues with their long release cycle, the Steam Deck will end up becoming more outdated and lag behind in games. This is a valid concern. Personally i feel like games are moreso struggling with battery life than performance on my end but those are still 2 sides of the same coin and the solution is ultimately a better battery and a more efficient processor.

But then there's also a great (if not vast) majority who think that Valve's current strategy of letting the system ride on for a whole console gen is fine as a yearly release devalues the impact of seeing a new one, makes the older ones obsolete (and in turn causes buyer remorse), and also helps more people buy in as they don't have to worry about a next system being around the corner.

So with this I want to gauge the site's general feelings toward Valve's release plans on the Steam Deck- should Valve continue with their plans of a new release every 5-7 years, or should they go full iphone and release a new Deck every year?

 

[bender]

I'd probably wait until they can have a meaningful APU upgrade.

 

[onnextflix5]

Yeh steam deck is all ready outdated, u can see why valve won’t release a new one anytime soon, it probably has not regrouped r and d costs yet, I’m sure they learned a lot from this, hopefully address some of the shortcomings for the next one in 3-4 years time.

 

[graywolf323]

console cycle is too long, I’d say every few years should be fine

I'd probably wait until they can have a meaningful APU upgrade.

basically this

 

[UltimaKilo]

Every 24-30 months is fine, but Valve next big product is likely Deckard before they revisit the Steam Deck.

 

[64bitmodels]

Every 24-30 months is fine, but Valve next big product is likely Deckard before they revisit the Steam Deck.

I can see that. 4-5 years is stretching it IMO but 2-3 before a new product seems like the perfect wait time. Of course they have their own plans

 

[jayj]

I think it should be closer to the tablet market, an upgrade every couple years.

 

[nial]

Well, it released last year and there isn't a new model coming anytime soon, so... I think every 5-7 years would be much better as it could give Valve enough time to create and polish a well worthy machine, rather than churning out these things each year.

 

[diffusionx]

they should update it when they can offer one with a high level of material improvements, at the same or similar price. I think VR is the closest analog here.

 

[Buggy Loop]

I'd probably wait until they can have a meaningful APU upgrade.

Yup, and it seems to be Valve’s idea too.

 

[nial]

Every 3-4 years can also work when, in comparison, you look at Sony's stationary hardware lineup in the last decade.
PS4 (2013-2014)
PS4 Pro (2016)
PS5 (2020)

 

[Topher]

Voted every two years, but I can definitely see the next Steam Deck not coming out until 2025 at the earliest.

 

[radewagon]

I just want an OLED screen upgrade. There's already a new aftemarket screen that offers higher resolution. An OLED screen is the only meaningful upgrade I would want from a new iteration as I don't really use mine for modern games anyway.

 

[S0ULZB0URNE]

The current is super dated so every other year or at least every 3 years.

 

[MarkMe2525]

Let's let our hardware breath a little.

 

[CrustyBritches]

I'd like a new iteration every 2yrs. It doesn't have to be a complete redesign. Just a new APU, faster RAM, better screen, etc.

 

[Comandr]

I think every 3 years. If we examine the current handhelds being churned out, the first one to make major waves recently was the 6800u. Then they were followed very closely by the 7800 series. While on paper, the 7840u might seem like a big leap over the 6800u, the actual benchmarks and gameplay results have been underwhelming. Now we are already hearing about the 8000 series coming sometime in 2024 and early documentation suggests it will not be that big of an improvement either on top of the 7000 series.

I suppose that's the nature of progress though, isn't it? At some point it just starts to crawl. We can only shrink dies so much, fine tune things to such a degree that until we achieve another breakthrough in the technology, it's all rather small improvements.

A lot can change in 5-7 years. 7 years ago today, the Nintendo 3DS with its darling 4.8 Gflops of performance was still the newest handheld from Nintendo. Comparing apples to oranges here, an enthusiast portable device like the GPD Win 1 was just released and 155 gflops. In 7 years we have seen explosive growth in mobile processors, and now have cell phones that are over 13 times stronger than that.

I really believe that before we hit PS6 and Xbox Series Y Bother we will have handheld PCs - Steamdeck, Aya Neo, GPD, etc - that will achieve current gen visuals and performance. With advances in processing, emerging technologies like FSR3 and frame generation getting better and better... Easy. This can already be done to an extent today, but virtually every game needs to be run at low settings and almost always sub-native resolution, at a low framerate.

I believe AMD's 2025 9000 series mobile processors will be ones to watch out for, and I suspect will be a base for Valve to jump off from for customization.

 

[Sleepwalker]

Every 2-3 years for sure, gimme a Z2 extreme variant with an OLED screen late next year or in 2025.

 

[coffinbirth]

 

[LavitzSlambert]

3 year cycle seems like a decent cadence. It’s kind of sad how outdated the Deck is so soon after release.

 

[ReBurn]

Annual update would probably work against it. There's always a better one coming out.

 

[Crayon]

4 years. If there are better performing ones and more affordable ones in the market, I think valve likes that. It's more of a reference device for the handheld pc market. The more pc players there are, the more steam customers. So spurring that market is in their interest in the long term.

Besides being an industry reference, it's also a stepping stone towards deckard.

And of course the hidden movement is steamos.

 

[StereoVsn]

Every 3-4 years can also work when, in comparison, you look at Sony's stationary hardware lineup in the last decade.
PS4 (2013-2014)
PS4 Pro (2016)
PS5 (2020)

It also makes sense considering that 7840u is only about 10-20% faster vs 6800u, next year AMD’s offerings aren’t offering all that hot so 2025 is likely the year with significantly updated Deck hardware.

Valve may release updated Deck with better screen, ergonomics and battery in 2024 but it won’t be true successor. Think Switch OLED vs Switch 2.

 

[Shakka43]

Every three years would be ideal.

Yearly would be terrible for game optimisations, and console like cycles would be disastrous as third party manufacturers will leave then in the dust hardware wise.

 

[Aces High]

Console cycle doesn't make sense because Steam Deck is just a low-end PC.

 

[PonyStation4]

I think every 3 years. If we examine the current handhelds being churned out, the first one to make major waves recently was the 6800u. Then they were followed very closely by the 7800 series. While on paper, the 7840u might seem like a big leap over the 6800u, the actual benchmarks and gameplay results have been underwhelming. Now we are already hearing about the 8000 series coming sometime in 2024 and early documentation suggests it will not be that big of an improvement either on top of the 7000 series.

I suppose that's the nature of progress though, isn't it? At some point it just starts to crawl. We can only shrink dies so much, fine tune things to such a degree that until we achieve another breakthrough in the technology, it's all rather small improvements.

A lot can change in 5-7 years. 7 years ago today, the Nintendo 3DS with its darling 4.8 Gflops of performance was still the newest handheld from Nintendo. Comparing apples to oranges here, an enthusiast portable device like the GPD Win 1 was just released and 155 gflops. In 7 years we have seen explosive growth in mobile processors, and now have cell phones that are over 13 times stronger than that.

I really believe that before we hit PS6 and Xbox Series Y Bother we will have handheld PCs - Steamdeck, Aya Neo, GPD, etc - that will achieve current gen visuals and performance. With advances in processing, emerging technologies like FSR3 and frame generation getting better and better... Easy. This can already be done to an extent today, but virtually every game needs to be run at low settings and almost always sub-native resolution, at a low framerate.

I believe AMD's 2025 9000 series mobile processors will be ones to watch out for, and I suspect will be a base for Valve to jump off from for customization.

There will be large jumps in power, but I don't see how heat generation and batteries can keep up

 

[Comandr]

There will be large jumps in power, but I don't see how heat generation and batteries can keep up

As mobile technology improves and they become more efficient and the dies get smaller heat will become less of an issue. Furthermore, with advances to AI technologies like upsampling and frame generation, newer APUs will be capable of things that some of today's processors just aren't. With these techniques, processors won't need to brute force everything, and will thereby use less power and generate less heat. Future APUs will be able to breeze through endeavors that would bring today's processors to their knees.

Then we have the advent of graphene batteries on the horizon. At some point in the not too distant future lithium ion will just be phased out for a newer, better technology. Graphene batteries charge fast, produce less heat, have higher capacities, and longer lifespans. The only challenge today is they are prohibitively expensive to mass produce, as with any new thing. Once upon a time a 30" 4K TV would cost you 6000+ dollars. Now you can get a 70" for under 500.

I'm not concerned with batteries as it stands because they can always be replaced. You can get external battery packs. There's a million ways to resolve the power issue.

 

[Xyphie]

It's a computer using commodity hardware. There's no reason not to update it yearly as there will be a new AMD mobile chip on a yearly cadence.

 

[Dazraell]

I think the cycle should be shorter than console cycle, but not annual. 3-4 years cycles would be more than fine

 

[Soodanim]

What I don't think people are thinking about is the R&D and branding/marketing of it. Valve will need to make sure everything is in working order for each design iteration, including not just APU changes but any design changes. It's not the same as someone deciding to change their APU every year.

There's also the "Runs on Steam Deck" branding they need to consider. If and when that needs to be modified, how exactly are they going to implement that? The moment you get into "Runs on this Steam Deck but not this Steam Deck" is the moment it all becomes a lot more complex than it currently is for those customers that don't spend their time on gaming forums.

No doubt Valve are considering all of this for the inevitable SD2, but until that's done they aren't going to start following the advice of the more retarded comments that think it should be a weekly iteration to keep up with the bleeding edge of processing tech

 

[March Climber]

Anything below 4 years (and 3-4 years is honestly short too at this point) and you’re killing sales. As the 4th console, I prefer it follow a console life cycle.

Soodanim nailed the correct points as to why.

 

[Brigandier]

I think every 3 years is about right for these handhelds now.

 

[GHG]

Because it's a handheld PC, every other year please.

 

[acm2000]

5-7 years with that hardware? haha, this aint nintendo.

every 2 years would probably be the sweet spot

 

[SmokedMeat]

I feel 4-5yrs is good. Valve isn’t Apple. They can’t crank out new hardware every year or every other year. The console makers don’t even do that.

Plus I want to see a meaningful upgrade. Not some puny hop.

 

[Mowcno]

It's a PC. It should be updated regularly. I voted every other year. I loved my steam deck but was already hungry for an upgrade a year ago. Now I've sold it.

The performance just wasn't cutting it for me. Should have a Zen4 RDNA3 version already.

 

[Heisenberg007]

4-5 years would be a good cycle.

Any smaller than that, and it'd be hell for developers. Steam Deck users will also be getting poor ports and the short-end of the stick.

 

[rofif]

Annual is shit as proven by smartphones.
They jus treat us to smallest updates and 1000€ each year.
Apple goes over their head each year to think of something new. New wallpapers!! While the phone is the same for last 4-5 years. It’s embarrassing.
For the same reasons I am against pro consoles but it’s a bit different story

 

[ChoosableOne]

Valve's statements regarding power usage and battery concerns convinced me. The biggest limitation of these devices is in this area, and it should be addressed first. If it doesn't offer a significant technological leap, I prefer it to come every 4-5 years. I'm ok with screen or storage upgrades though.

 

[Thick Thighs Save Lives]

Every 3 years seems to be the most sensible choice. Besides having a meaningful bump in perf due to APU advancement, this will also allow them the necessary R&D time to further improve upon the original Deck design (e.g. better screen, size, battery, ergonomics, etc.)

 

[winjer]

They should have a new Steam Deck with new hardware generation.
So a Steam Deck with RDNA2 + Zen2 APU. Steam Deck 2 with RDNA3 and Zen3 or Zen4. And so on.

 

[Killjoy-NL]

Console cycle and have Valve replace Xbox.

 

[rofif]

Annual is shit as proven by smartphones.
They jus treat us to smallest updates and 1000€ each year.
Apple goes over their head each year to think of something new. New wallpapers!! While the phone is the same for last 4-5 years. It’s embarrassing.
For the same reasons I am against pro consoles but it’s a bit different story

 

[AV]

In between.

 

[8BiTw0LF]

2-3 years. And that should go for all pc hardware.

 

[Unknown Soldier]

When Valve feels there is sufficient advancement to warrant a new model is the right "timing" instead of sticking to strict year counts

 

[old-parts]

Steam Deck should have a long life cycle.

The strategic purpose of the Steam Deck is to civilize Linux/SteamOS for PC gaming so Valve is free from Windows, for that Valve needs a stable target hence the console like life cycle of the Steam Deck.

Third parties can provide faster hardware but they are not licensing SteamOS or Valve doesn't feel it's suitable for third parties yet, so we are getting faster handhelds but saddled with Windows. It's possible at some point third parties may start to use SteamOS in which case they provide the option for hardware that goes beyond what Valve offer.

 

[balls of snow]

3 year cycle should be ok. And valve can just update steamdeck verified to be steamdeck verified for deck 2 only and so on.

 

[Holammer]

Lots of people suggesting a 3 year cycle and I agree. It would cause MAXIMUM disruption in the console space with a new Deck or a console form factor device while being completely normal for PC.

 

[Dr.Morris79]

Personally, I just want more of the Steam library to work properly on the one we've got