Embark on a Gaming Odyssey: Zotac’s Zone Handheld Aims to Dethrone Steam Deck OLED

The handheld gaming PC market is about to get a whole lot more interesting. Zotac, a well-known manufacturer, is gearing up to take on Valve’s Steam Deck OLED with its own Zone handheld. And if the leaked specs are anything to go by, this device is shaping up to be a serious contender.

Zotac’s Zone handheld: a Steam Deck OLED rival?

As I wrote in my Steam Deck OLED review, the display is head and shoulders above the backlit panels used by rivals, including ROG Ally and Legion Go. In fact, it’s the main reason I find it difficult to entertain swapping from Steam Deck OLED to another handheld, despite the promise of more performance elsewhere. Zotac clearly understands this, and the inclusion of OLED tech in Zone may make it a more tantalizing alternative than ROG Ally X and other devices with backlit screens.

Steam Deck OLED: the current king of handheld gaming PCs

Zone’s leaked specs sheet reveals a device that could boast significant advantages over Steam Deck OLED. For starters, its AMOLED panel features a higher 1080p resolution and 120Hz refresh rate, compared to Steam Deck OLED’s combo of 800p and 90Hz. Naturally, more pixels demand more performance, and AMD’s Ryzen 7 8840U appears to be the APU of choice for Zotac. The company hasn’t skimped on memory or storage either, apparently, with 16GB of LPDDR5X RAM and a 512GB PCIe 4.0 SSD.

“The inclusion of OLED tech in Zone may make it a more tantalizing alternative than ROG Ally X and other devices with backlit screens.”

While any assessment of Zone’s ergonomics compared to Steam Deck OLED naturally have to wait until a proper review, we’re pleased to see Zotac is targeting a weight of less than 700g. The device will sport hall effect joysticks and two-stage adjustable triggers, though, so it’s looking positive from a playing perspective. That is, of course, unless Windows 11 spoils the party for Zone with its so-far middling support for handhelds.

Zone’s leaked specs sheet reveals a device that could boast significant advantages over Steam Deck OLED

The leak alleges that Zone will be available in Q3 2024, and Zotac will hopefully confirm this during Computex 2024, alongside the specs described above. There’s sadly no word on price, but we imagine it will sadly cost more than Steam Deck OLED given its more-modern APU among other uplifts. We’re sadly still no closer to knowing what plans Valve has for Steam Deck 2 specs, but Zotac’s Zone should serve as a fine stand-in (if not outright replacement).