How to buy the Steam Deck OLED in Australia

The Steam Deck still hasn't come to Australia, but Valve's venture into the world of handheld has been a smash hit overseas. Now, the developer behind Steam is gearing up to launch a mid-cycle update in the form of the new Steam Deck OLED.

As with the first-generation Steam Deck though, the big picture appeal here is an on-the-go gaming experience with fewer compromises than Nintendo Switch has, plus a much bigger and better catalogue of playable titles.

As the name might suggest, the most important upgrade here is an OLED display. At 7.4 inches, that display is slightly larger than the one found in its predecessor. It's also got HDR support and a 90Hz refresh rate, which round out the ambient benefits that come with using an OLED display instead of an LCD one.

Under the hood, the Steam Deck OLED isn't a huge departure from the previous model, however. It starts at a larger 512GB of storage. Otherwise, it's powered by the same custom AMD Zen 2 processor plus 16 GB of LPDDR5 memory.

Other differences here include support for Bluetooth 5.3, WiFi 6E and a larger battery. 

Like the first Steam Deck, the new Steam Deck OLED can be found through several online Australian resellers like Kogan and Dick Smith. If you're waiting for it to turn up in JB HiFi or EB Games anytime soon, I wouldn't hold your breath.

Local availability for Valve products in Australia has been notoriously unpredictable in the past. For example, Valve’s Index VR headset didn’t arrive in Australia until two years after it launched elsewhere and the original Steam Deck still isn't officially available here.

If you don't want to wait though, your best option is to simply purchase it through a site like Kogan. If you want the best price that this particular reseller has to offer,  you will need to be signed up to Kogan First. Fortunately, there's a 14-day free trial if you only need it for purchasing the Steam Deck.

The Valve Steam Deck OLED is officially on-sale as of this week when it comes to overseas markets. As mentioned above, there's no timeline on when it will officially come to Australia yet.

When it comes to the specs involved, the Steam Deck OLED has a number of technical advantages over both the original Valve-made handheld and the Nintendo Switch OLED.

Check out the table below for a breakdown of how the display and processing specs on the new Steam Deck OLED compare to those of the original Steam Deck and the three Nintendo Switch handhelds currently on the market.