New figures show Valve's Steam Deck is still by far the biggest selling handheld gaming PC but the form factor isn't really taking off

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Forecast for gaming handheld sales in 2025 still far lower than 2023 peak.

Steam Deck with menu screen
(Image credit: Future)

New figures from research outfit IDC show that Valve's Steam Deck is likely still the most popular handheld gaming PC by far. However, the market for handhelds fell by 50% in 2024 versus 2023 and overall volumes are still very small compared to desktop and laptop gaming PCs, and consoles to boot.

IDC was commissioned by the Verge to break out the best data the research outfit had on handheld gaming PCs. That data covers the biggest players in the handheld market, namely the Steam Deck, Asus ROG Ally, Lenovo Legion Go, and MSI Claw.

More on the Steam Deck

Steam Deck set up as a PC

(Image credit: Future)

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Steam Deck OLED review: Our verdict on Valve's handheld.
Best Steam Deck accessories: Get decked out.
Steam Deck battery life: What's the real battery life?

As for the future, IDC is forecasting 1,926,000 handheld sales for 2025. Again, that's just for the Steam Deck, Asus ROG Ally, Lenovo Legion Go, and MSI Claw and not including smaller players.

That's better than 2024 but still well, well down on the 2.9 million units of 2023. So, it's hard to argue that the handheld gaming PC market is exploding. Where it goes from here is hard to predict.

However, if there's one lesson here, The Verge probably has it right. These handhelds probably work best with truly custom silicon like the Aerith and Sephiroth AMD-based chips in the original Steam Deck and the Steam Deck OLED as opposed to using the generic APUs with which all the other systems make do.

Jeremy Laird
Jeremy Laird
Hardware writer

Jeremy has been writing about technology and PCs since the 90nm Netburst era (Google it!) and enjoys nothing more than a serious dissertation on the finer points of monitor input lag and overshoot followed by a forensic examination of advanced lithography. Or maybe he just likes machines that go “ping!” He also has a thing for tennis and cars.

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