If you're well versed in tech company language, you'll know that "we don't have any plans" usually means "we don't have any plans that we're willing to talk about right now" – so when a firm like Valve says it's not making a new Steam Deck, it's wise to take that with a pinch of salt. And whaddayaknow, it turns out that Valve does indeed appear to be making a new Steam Deck after all.
The news is actually from a few weeks ago, but it's only been verified: on 13 August, Valve put a new Steam Deck through FCC certification. The device, called Valve 1030, was previously certified by another regulator, the South Korean National Radio Research Agency. And the reason we're only learning about it now is because Valve was as sneaky as any video game protagonist: it played this particular game in stealth mode, disguising its identity to avoid setting off any alarms.
What do we know about the Steam Deck 2?
Very little. Valve put this particular device through regulation via its Wi-Fi and Bluetooth chip manufacturer, and it was filed in the name of Quectel rather than Valve. And that means details are extremely sketchy: the only thing we can be reasonably confident about is that this new Steam Deck has better Wi-Fi in the form of Wi-Fi 6E or better.
It's possible that that's the only difference, but that seems highly unlikely – and it might not even have better Wi-Fi, as according to The Verge it hasn't been certified in Korea for the 6GHz Wi-Fi 6E band. So the only thing we really know is that there's a device, and it exists. Beyond that your guess is currently as good as ours.
And while you're at it, here's another thing you can guess about: a next-generation Valve VR headset for PCs. The same person whose detective work has revealed the new Steam Deck, Brad Lynch, has also spotted multiple code snippets referring to a new VR headset. Given the timing, it seems likely that when these devices officially come out of stealth mode they'll do it at the same time.
