Valve has now launched all the devices it announced a year ago, including the Steam Machine and Steam Frame. The company is now focused on its next goal: launching the Steam Deck 2. Its APU may have already been revealed.
A user on the AnandTech forum has discovered new AMD hardware that was unknown until now thanks to the Adrenalin 26.9.2 driver. Under the codename “Gainsborough,” speculation has already started that it could be the chip used in Valve’s next handheld console.
Steam Deck 2 May Already Have Its APU
According to the records the user had access to, test systems with this chip were shipped to Asia at the end of July. These used an FF6 BGA package with 1,179 contacts, and everything seems to suggest that it is a custom part, as AMD’s Medusa partners have no knowledge of it.
But what does all this have to do with Steam Deck 2? The naming used by AMD. If you remember, the chips in the original Steam Deck used Final Fantasy VII codenames such as Aerith or Sephirot. In this case, “Gainsborough” is Aerith’s surname, so it could be another reference to the Square Enix franchise.
As for what can be expected from this APU, Moore’s Law Is Dead claims that it is a semi-custom APU built on TSMC N3P with Zen 6 and RDNA 5, with a launch planned for 2027 or 2028. However, there is conflicting information, as other sources suggest that the chips will be the Ryzen Z3 handheld chips.
For now, we can do nothing but wait, but the Final Fantasy VII reference is a good sign for thinking that this could be the Steam Deck 2 APU. Especially if we consider that our surname is what we leave to the next generation.
