One the most obvious and exciting improvements that Valve could make for the Steam Deck 2 is an OLED screen, but people shouldn’t be surprised if it ends up sticking with LCD. Pierre-Loup Griffais, one of Steam Deck’s designers, was recently asked by a publication whether Valve was planning an OLED model of the Steam Deck, and while Griffais didn’t go so far as to rule it out, he did suggest that the chances were on the slimmer side, explaining that it’d probably require a substantial overhaul in terms of how the system is designed. Nintendo released a new version of the Switch that features an OLED screen in 2021, but the Steam Deck, which launched in February 2022, features an IPS LCD. Images shared by Steam Deck users have suggested that some units have very noticeable backlight bleeding, a problem that won’t be found on OLED, although the technology suffers from its own issues, including image burn-in.
From a PC Gamer report:
The short, polite answer […] is that Valve “understands the limitations of the current tech that’s in the Deck, in terms of the screen.”
“I think people are looking at things like an incremental version and assume that it’s an easy drop-in,” Griffais says. “But in reality, the screen’s at the core of the device. Everything is anchored to it. Basically everything is architected around everything when you’re talking about a device that small. I think it would be a bigger amount of work than people are assuming it would be. […] I don’t think we’re discounting anything. But the idea that you could just swap in a new screen and be done—it would need more than that to be doable.”
“It’s just something you have to plan ahead. When we were working on this screen, we made sure these could be supported, even if the refresh rate switching wasn’t ready at release. It was really important to us that all that would be supported. So it’s something that you need to keep in mind when you’re evaluating and selecting possible options. But there’s nothing about LCD vs OLED, different screen technologies that makes that a dealbreaker. It’s about how you’re designing the whole system, and what’s in between the screen and the SOC (system-on-a-chip).”
“It’s just something you have to plan ahead. When we were working on this screen, we made sure these could be supported, even if the refresh rate switching wasn’t ready at release. It was really important to us that all that would be supported. So it’s something that you need to keep in mind when you’re evaluating and selecting possible options. But there’s nothing about LCD vs OLED, different screen technologies that makes that a dealbreaker. It’s about how you’re designing the whole system, and what’s in between the screen and the SOC (system-on-a-chip).”