Valve revealed that the Steam Deck 2 is in development, but when will it be released? While we don't know an exact date, a recent interview revealed, that we might have to wait for a long time.
So, the Steam Deck is a roaring success, even though it got competition in the Rog Ally and the Legion Go. As far as hardware goes... this is a first for Valve. Sure, they strike gold with almost everything they touch, but hardware... nah. So when the Steam Deck hit big, Valve themselves were surprised, and it looks like it didn't take long until they started considering the Steam Deck 2.
Steam Deck 2 Not "In The Next Couple Of Years"
The Steam Deck 2 was first mentioned when Valve released a 50-page booklet about the Steam Deck. In said booklet, Valve revealed that they're thinking about more Steam Decks and more SteamOS stuff:
In the future, Valve will follow up on this product with improvements and iterations to hardware and software, bringing new versions of Steam Deck to market.
Of course, even though it's a roaring success, the Steam Deck has not been without faults. Naturally, with a product as popular and in high demand, feedback is ample, andValve has promised that they're listening to the feedback and are planning to incorporate it into the new model.
This is a multi-generational product line. Valve will support Steam Deck and SteamOS well into the foreseeable future. We will learn from the Steam community about new uses for our hardware that we haven’t thought of yet, and we will build new versions to be even more open and capable than the first version of Steam Deck has been.
So yes, there will be a Steam Deck 2 or at least some kind of improved, faster version, however, this might still take a while. In a recent interview with The Verge Valve's Pierre-Loup Griffais said:
I don’t anticipate such a leap to be possible in the next couple of years
He further explained that Valve wants to offer a fixed performance target for developers and make sure that every Steam Deck can play the same games. Before changing the performance, they want to wait until there is a significant enough increase to be had. For this to happen it, will probably still take a couple of years.
So far, that's all we know, though none of it should really come as a surprise, as, even when the Steam Deck was just launched, Gabe Newell revealed that just the high demand before release already had Valve considering future options for the Steam Deck.