Valve reveals the Steam Deck OLED: $549 buys better screen, battery, and more
By Sean Hollister, a senior editor and founding member of The Verge who covers gadgets, games, and toys. He spent 15 years editing the likes of CNET, Gizmodo, and Engadget.
On October 5th, we saw the first proof a refreshed Steam Deck was nigh. Now, Valve is officially revealing the $549 and up Steam Deck OLED, which starts shipping on November 16th.
It’s an overhauled version of Valve’s handheld gaming PC but not one that’s focused on performance — the company is sticking with its plan not to produce a faster handheld for the next couple of years.
Instead, the new Steam Deck OLED is designed to be the ultimate version of the original Steam Deck, the device that Valve would have liked to originally ship. Valve is promising the “first handheld with HDR OLED” with a larger 7.4-inch, 90Hz, 1,000-nit screen and up to 50 percent longer battery life.
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As you might read in my just-published Steam Deck OLEDreview, it goes way beyond a new screen. It feels like a nearly no-compromise upgrade in many ways, especially battery, cooling, and that new screen.
But say you don’t have the time to read a full review right now and just want the specs and some FAQs. That’s what this post is for. Here’s a monster list of what’s new, what’s the same, and a few other things I learned at Valve’s HQ.
“The hardware is good enough on its own to not have any sort of substantial intervention on our part,” says Valve hardware engineer Yazan Aldehayyat. “We picked OLED because we were able to prove to ourselves that the longevity in the device was there.” Valve says the company also does “accelerated testing at max brightness for weeks or months on end.”
“Our hardware warranty covers issues with all Steam Deck components, including the
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