Valve has revealed a new OLED version of its Steam Deck. Like with the Nintendo Switch, the new device is an upgraded model to its nearly two-year-old handheld, but with improvements in key areas such as battery life and Wi-Fi.
Regarding those two areas, the OLED’s battery is now expected to run for 3-12 hours (depending on how the device is being used) compared to the 2-8 of the original model. Similarly, it’ll run on 6E wi-fi over the Wi-Fi 5 of its predecessor.
New iterations of consoles and handhelds are nothing new, as the upcoming PlayStation 5 Slim shows. Valve has previously said it wouldn’t release a fully new Steam Deck until it worked on improving the handheld’s battery life, which makes this new model a testing ground for future generations.
The Steam Deck OLED will come in two models of 512 GB and 1 TB, priced respectively at $549 and $649. Valve will begin taking orders for them on Thursday, November 16 at 10 AM PT alongside a second limited edition 1TB handheld that will be in “very limited supply.”
Both OLEDs will replace the 64 and 512 GB versions of the original Deck. Valve is currently offering the latter two iterations at discounted prices of $349 and $449 respectively, and that price will remain until they are fully out of stock. The main 256GB model will continue to exist, now priced at $400.
Alongside these new Steam Decks, the docking station for the device is now discounted at $80.
More information on the Steam Deck OLED can be read here. Again, orders for it will start being taken next Thursday, November 16 at 10 AM PT.