Valve announces new Steam Deck OLED with better battery

Lighter, faster, cooler

Valve announced a new Steam Deck out of the blue, the Steam Deck OLED model, with a handful of improvements and a limited launch. The Steam Deck OLED will release as an experimental launch in a small number of locations on Nov. 16, 2023, with two storage options, an OLED display (of course), and faster download speeds.

The big draw here is the HDR OLED screen, which is a significant step above the original Deck’s screen. It’s 0.4 inches bigger and supports up to 90Hz, which means you’re more likely to get a stable image at higher framerates. It boasts a 1,000 nits rating with HDR on and 600 in standard, which is still 200 nits more than the original Steam Deck. What that translates to is a brighter, more vivid display. 

The resolution is still 1200x800, though, so don't expect full 1920x1080 like the Asus Ally offers.

Valve says it’s “designed from the ground up for gaming,” with more colors and better motion rendering, the kind of thing you typically get in a monitor rather than on a handheld.

The Steam Deck OLED promises a more vibrant visual experience / Valve

The CPU, GPU, and screen size are all the same, though instead of the original Deck’s 6 nm AMD APU, the OLED uses a 7 nm AMD APU. It also features WiFi 6E, which Valve says will allow for nearly triple the download speeds of the original Deck and more stable online play. The fan is bigger in this model, so it should run cooler, and Valve promises the battery life will last between 30 percent and 50 percent longer.

The original Steam Deck’s battery can last up to two hours or so, depending on how demanding the game you’re playing is, so you’re looking at maybe an extra 30-60 minutes of battery life here.

You can get a Steam Deck OLED with 512GB SSD storage for $549 or one with 1TB SSD storage for $649. The original Steam Deck model with 512GB of storage goes for $449.99, but Valve is phasing it and the 64GB model out.

All your Steam Deck accessories will work with the OLED model – good news if you use the Deck dock – and those who buy the Steam Deck OLED will also get an “exclusive opening movie” and virtual keyboard theme.

It looks like pre-orders haven’t opened yet on the Steam Deck page, and Valve didn’t provide a list of countries where it plans to sell the Steam Deck OLED. Like the original handheld PC’s launch, you can sign up for a reservation list if you don’t manage to grab a Steam Deck OLED when orders go live.