It’s official: Valve has announced the release of Steam Deck OLED, the long-awaited revision of its famous Steam Deck. Among its improvements are a larger OLED screen, more battery, and better ergonomics.
Steam Deck OLED updates
One of the most striking aspects of the console is already hinted at by its name. To begin with, the new Steam Deck OLED replaces the LCD with a larger OLED panel (7.4 inches compared to the original Steam Deck’s 7 inches). Thanks to this improvement, users will experience much more vibrant and contrasted colors, as well as pure blacks.
In addition to the new screen, there is also an upgraded battery. As stated on the official Steam website, the Steam Deck OLED will provide between 30% and 50% more usage time. This is made possible by the new panel, the inclusion of a higher-capacity battery (50Wh), and a new 6nm AMD APU.
Steam Deck OLED will also be capable of faster game downloads thanks to the upgrade to Wi-Fi 6E (with higher bandwidth and lower latency). In practice, this translates to downloads up to 3 times faster and more stable online gameplay.
Another issue that the original Steam Deck faced was overheating, especially when running certain demanding games. To address this, Valve has replaced the fan with a much larger and more efficient one.
As if that weren’t enough, the Steam Deck OLED has also shed some weight. Now, the console weighs 30 grams less, making it 5% lighter than the previous model.
You can purchase the new Steam Deck OLED starting from November 16 in two versions: the 512 GB and the 1 TB storage options. Valve has taken advantage of this release to make changes to the store and has also discontinued two models: the Steam Deck versions with a 64 GB and 512 GB LCD screen. Instead, the entry-level model will now be the 256 GB with an LCD screen.
As expected, these changes have also affected the prices. For now, here’s how things stand:
- Steam Deck with LCD and 256 GB: 419 euros (399 dollars)
- Steam Deck with OLED and 512 GB: 569 euros (549 dollars)
- Steam Deck with OLED and 1 TB: 679 euros (649 dollars)
