Valve Introduces Steam Deck OLED For November 16th Launch

Jakob Aylesbury / 6 months ago

The Steam Deck has room for improvement especially compared to its growing competition and today Valve has answered the calls with the new Steam Deck OLED ringing similarly to Nintendo’s OLED Switch.

Steam Deck OLED

Valve has officially announced a new OLED model of the Steam Deck due to Launch November 16th with pricing starting at £479 with a 512GB model and a 1TB model. This new model will, as the name suggests, feature an OLED HDR display which will offer vibrant colours, striking contrast and deep blacks with an overall better visual experience.

Battery Improvements, WiFi 6E, Improved Thermals

On top of the OLED upgrade, the battery life has been increased by 30-50% giving you more time to enjoy the games you love, this comes from the reduced power requirements of the OLED display and more efficient AMD APU. WiFi 6E has also been introduced to bring in faster download speeds, a great pair with the increased 1TB storage option. The thermals have also been improved and the model is overall 5% lighter than the LCD Steam Deck.

Better Touchscreen, Bluetooth, Improved Case

Some other internal updates have been made including the touchscreen which is now more responsive and the haptics are much more consistent. A dedicated Bluetooth antenna has also been introduced to improve the connection with multiple controllers. The carrying case that comes with the 1TB models has been improved with the inclusion of a removable liner. This is great for those who don’t want the bulk or need the protection of the full hard case.

Easier Disassembly

Finally for those that would like to take their Deck apart, all of the rear case scews are now Torx which screws into metal threads. This makes disassembly and reassembly possible without impacting the overall structural integrity, plus internal components are now easy to access. Replacement parts for the OLED Deck will come to iFixit soon as well.