Source is KeplerL2, who is generally considered a reliable source for insider hardware info, particularly on AMD GPU hardware and AMD SoC for consoles.
Previously I would have personally estimated Steam Deck 2 to release mid 2026-early 2027, but the recent info about an upcoming Steam Machine made me think that maybe I should push back that estimate.
Of course even if we assume this is reliable insider info, a lot can change in couple years, so things can definitely change.
Hall effect everything, adaptive triggers, higher screen to body ratio, reduced weight, usb-c on top and bottom, enough performance to play spiderman 2 in particular on nice settings, 1080p, detachable siderail controllers, better haptics, better speakers. There’s honestly a lot wrong with the steam deck these things were all off the top of my head, if they fix everything on that list I won’t want any other gaming machine ever, though.
Adaptive triggers are fucking awesome
Hall effect joysticks would be great. The rest I don’t really count; obviously, better performance/bigger screen would be an incremental improvement, but I don’t need it. The OLED screen is plenty big enough.
I (personally) would never use detachable controllers and wouldn’t want more moving parts that could break. Haptics and adaptive triggers I don’t care about improving. For sound, I prefer headphones for when I want “good” sound, too, so that wouldn’t make a difference for me.
Even hall effect joysticks are only going to matter to me if my current joysticks break or develop play.
I really do think the current OLED is amazing.
You said you aren’t sure what isn’t perfect, I made a big list and you went “yeah but I’m fine with those imperfections” which is fine so stay with the original, but these are valid areas of improvement.
i’m not, especially the haptics and speakers suck, imo.
They aren’t going for detachable controllers, most likely. Theoretically they might make a future screen + SoC modular so you can swap a frame (it would kinda make sense from an engineering perspective to build the center similar to a tablet IF you can hit all required specs that way), but even for Valve that’s unlikely. They may prototype it but likely won’t release it.
Would OTOH be nice with a Steam Controller 2 which can fold flat to fit in the same case as the Steam Deck. Also not likely to happen 🤷