Valve make no profit on the consoles themselves right? And if the steam deck profit model of making their money off of games applies to games bought on any handheld, then why not let the other companies have the higher end market and all the research and development costs that making a new console needs. Especially because each new generation would need a refresh to stay on top.(more r and d costs) So why wouldnt valve just keep making their current steam deck that runs stuff well enough for them to keep selling games.
Because power isn’t mature enough.
Look at the “Steam Deck Killers” - ROG Ally, Legion Go. What’s their biggest issue? Battery life.
So what do these people do when they actually want more than 45 minutes of portable play? They turn down all the options that they bought the “Deck Killer” for in the first place. Back to 720p … back to throttled power … You know … Like the Deck.
Valve knows what they are doing.
Tbh I never could understand why they don’t just put bigger battery in these things. Like 100 Wh, that would be enough for 4 hours of demanding games, or 10+ hours for lesser games.
Battery = weight. Cost. Heat considerations. The list goes on and on.