Rumors about Lenovo handheld with SteamOS

Three weeks before the CES trade fair in Las Vegas, the first images of a typical gaming handheld with PC technology in the style of the Steam Deck have emerged, which are said to show an upcoming device from Lenovo. The special feature: the Steam logo can also be seen on one of the buttons on the top. If the images are genuine, this indicates – – support from Valve, which has so far only fully released its own Steam Deck for SteamOS.

The images were published by the well-known leaker and blogger Evan Blass, who attracted attention over ten years ago with a number of accurate pre-releases, particularly on smartphones. Blass first posted the images on his X account, which has "protected" status and therefore cannot be viewed directly by anyone. However, The Verge has reproduced the images in a separate post.

Even there, there is no more information about the technical specifications of the supposed new Lenovo device. However, it is likely that the successor to the first Legion Go will be equipped with AMD's expected Z2 Extreme CPU/GPU combo. According to unconfirmed information, AMD has been preparing its market launch for months. Above all, it is expected to provide longer battery life for gaming handhelds, a point that many users criticize about the devices.

New logo "Powered by SteamOS"

However, it has long been officially known that Valve wants to support other devices with its Linux derivative SteamOS in addition to its successful Steam Deck. A first partner is Asus with its "Ally" series handhelds. A fully functional version of SteamOS for the Allys has not yet been seen, but things have been moving forward for a few weeks now: Valve has updated its PDF on the correct use of its trademarks without any major announcement.

It now also includes a logo that could be used for device stickers and contains the text "Powered by SteamOS". Valve also describes in the PDF that this is intended for devices with SteamOS for which the "implementation was carried out in close cooperation with Valve". This is important, as hardly any devices have worked fully with the public build of SteamOS to date. There is often a lack of drivers or functions for switching the performance states for CPU and GPU in order to extend battery life. The fact that all of this, and the integration of the Steam interface on the Steam Deck, works quite smoothly is considered a secret to the success of Valve's handheld.

(nie)