My Steam Deck 2 dreams just got crushed, now I have to crush yours too

(Image credit: Future)

Since its launch in 2022, Valve's Steam Deck has racked up a considerable audience and left a lasting impression on the gaming scene. However, three years later, its aging hardware is starting to show, with several manufacturers already on their second iterations of PC gaming handhelds. So, can we expect a Steam Deck 2 to follow? I, like you, dared to dream, but recent speculation may have set us both up for disappointment.

My latest beacon of hope came in the form of a "Plus" version of the custom Aerith APU that powers the Steam Deck, spotted within a shipping manifest by X user Olrak29_.

It's not the hardware leap many of us were hoping for, but the Aerith Plus APU does boast higher clock speeds and faster LPDDR5X memory support. It's not much, but it's something. And for those eagerly awaiting a Steam Deck successor, something is enough to spark speculation.

Sadly, while the internet picked up this ball and ran with it, fueling speculation of a Steam Deck 2 reveal on the soon-approaching horizon, a Valve employee has thrown a wet blanket over these embers of excitement. Aerith Plus isn't set for the Steam Deck 2, after all.

So, what is it for?

Enter that one Valve employee who keeps dashing my Steam Deck 2 dreams

How do we know the Aerith Plus APU isn't Steam Deck 2-bound? Enter Pierre-Loup Griffais: Valve coder, Steam Deck project member, and a man seemingly hired to ensure there's always a penny placed on the track, ready to derail my own personal hype train at every turn.

Posting to his Bluesky account, Graffais wasted no time shutting down speculation over the APU ahead of the weekend with a clear and unmistaken two-word message: "Not happening."

This isn't the first time Griffais has publicly set the record straight. They previously took to Bluesky to smother suggestions that freshly revealed Ryzen Z2 APUs could power a Steam Deck follow-up in January, once again clearly stating: "There is and will be no Z2 Steam Deck." This definitively suggests that AMD's new APUs are not the "Generational leap in compute" that Valve designer Lawrence Yang claimed would trigger the company to consider developing a second-generation Steam Deck in an October 11 interview with Reviews.org.

With AMD having provided the horsepower that propelled both the Asus ROG Ally and Lenovo Legion Go with its Ryzen Z1 APUs, it felt as if this new generation of Z2 chips would provide Valve with the perfect opportunity to play catch-up with its contemporaries. However, part of me wonders: If not now, when? And will it happen at all?

There are other options, this is one of many

Yes, the Steam Deck 2 may be further afield than we'd have hoped for by now, but that's not to say we don't have options in the meantime. Perhaps the closest thing to a Steam Deck 2 alternative is the Lenovo Legion Go S.

Lenovo's follow-up to the Legion Go makes use of an AMD Z2 Go APU, features an 8-inch, full-HD touchscreen display with a 120Hz refresh rate, up to 32GB of RAM and 1TB of storage, with an improved 12-Core RDNA 2 GPU and expanded 55.5Whr battery.

Better still, while the version currently available to purchase is a Windows gaming handheld PC like its predecessor, the Legion Go S is set to become to first third-party handheld licensed to run Valve's impressive Linux-based SteamOS later this year — offering the "feel" and experience of the Steam Deck with several hardware refreshes.

If not the Steam Deck 2, what is Aerith Plus for?

Still, the question remains: If the Aerith Plus APU isn't destined for the Steam Deck 2, what is it for?

Honestly, we can't say for certain. However, it doesn't seem powerful enough to power Valve's other rumored hardware, a standalone Deckard PCVR headset, and a revival of its Steam Machine.

My best guess is that the Aerith Plus APU is destined for third-party SteamOS handhelds. It could provide them with a serviceable performance boost to differentiate them from the Steam Deck without causing Valve any immediate headaches over how best to handle its Steam Deck verified badge as hardware sporting different and more powerful processors comes into play.

While the Aerith Plus SPU won't power a second-generation Steam Deck, I wouldn't entirely rule out the possibility that it could be part of a future hardware refresh for the handheld. But that suggestion only leaves me open to more pellets of disappointment as Pierre-Loup Griffais readies his blunderbuss to once again pick off my prayers on their way to heaven.

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Rael Hornby, potentially influenced by far too many LucasArts titles at an early age, once thought he’d grow up to be a mighty pirate. However, after several interventions with close friends and family members, you’re now much more likely to see his name attached to the bylines of tech articles. While not maintaining a double life as an aspiring writer by day and indie game dev by night, you’ll find him sat in a corner somewhere muttering to himself about microtransactions or hunting down promising indie games on Twitter.