As per the recent rumors, Steam might launch its own handheld gaming console by the end of 2021. It was discovered today that the latest Steam beta includes a codename of “SteamPal,” which is referenced under Valve’s unreleased controller codenamed “Neptune.” The Neptune controller was discovered in Steam Client mode back in September 2020.
Moreover, the report from Ars Technica claims that SteamPal is actually Valve’s new gaming console and will be based on the Linux operating system. The website has made claims on the backing of its sources that are familiar with Valve’s plans. Reportedly, the device will arrive next year.
Although the SteamPal is still in the early prototype stage and the controller layout isn’t detachable but is allegedly quite similar to Nintendo Switch’s layout. Numerous designs with this layout have been seen previously. Normally, Windows used to power these systems, including Aya Neo or One X player, and were capable of running Steam games smoothly.
There are no more details available, but the website is confident that there is a good reason to believe its arrival this year but there is no guarantee on whether it will arrive in this form or not.
In addition to this, a new rumor has surfaced on Reddit, which claims that an AMD APU codenamed “Aerith” powers the device. Currently, it is not known if AMD is working on VanGogh APU and its successor DragonCrest. The Zen2 core architecture and Navi2 integrated graphics are said to power both the processors. These are low-power,(9W) APUs that will target handheld devices and will match the description.
The AMD Van Gogh/Aerith will feature a quad-core CPU with SMT. It is rumored to have Compute Units (512 Stream Processors) based on RDNA2 architecture. This tells that structure-wise, it is similar to Xbox Series S|X and PlayStation 5.
Via Reddit