Handheld gaming consoles are about to see a wave of exciting developments, with the imminent arrival of the Switch 2 in June and rumors of the Steam Deck 2 coming in 2026.

Right now, chip giant AMD is considered the pack leader, with its graphics chips used in handhelds from the ASUS ROG Ally to the Steam Deck and the Lenovo Legion Go.

Nvidia, on the other hand, dominates the cloud gaming market, with Nvidia GeForce Now available on handhelds like the Razer Edge and Logitech G Cloud. PC players also tend to gravitate towards Nvidia, and it’s ahead in aspects like neutral rendering.

With Nvidia’s T239 chip expected to appear in the Nintendo Switch 2, could AMD’s hold on the market falter?

Nintendo Switch 2: Tech Specs and Nvidia’s T239 Chip

Nintendo has always played its cards close to its chest when it comes to its tech specs, but we do know a bit about the hardware for the upcoming Switch 2:

• The handheld will feature an Nvidia SoC, with hardware-accelerated ray tracing and machine learning capabilities (DLSS).
• That chip is the T239, according to reputable PC leaker kopite7kimi (h/t Eurogamer) and may share the same GPU architecture as the T234 processor used in Nintendo’s Nanodev kit — the Ampere architecture in RTX 30-series cards.
• We can also expect a 128-bit memory interface, 1536 CUDA CoreGPU, and the processor to measure 200mm² — though that’s still bigger than the Steam Deck SoC.

Nvidia claims the T239 chip provides “up to 10x the graphics performance of the Nintendo Switch”.

That means 3.9 teraflops of performance in docked mode and 1.5 teraflops in handheld mode, compared to 4 teraflops in the Xbox Series X and 1.6 teraflops in the Steam Deck.

Teraflops (TFLOPs) are a unit of one trillion floating-point operations per second, and are a critical measurement in graphics rendering for games. Generally speaking, more teraflops mean faster performance and improved graphics.

The T239 chip is built on Samsung 8nm technology, compared to the Steam Deck’s 162mm² processor’s 7nm process, also used in PS5 and Xbox Series consoles dating back to 2020.

It will pack RT cores for real-time ray tracing, a variable 120Hz refresh rate via Nvidia G-Sync, and Tensor cores to power DLSS, Nvidia’s AI-based frame generation and resolution scaling.

These are nothing new to PC gamers, but seeing them appear in the Switch 2 is still thrilling.

AAA titles like Cyberpunk 2077: Ultimate Edition, Street Fighter 6, and Elden Ring have already been confirmed for the Switch 2.

Tom’s Guide says the handheld’s “gameplay response times are snappy and tearing is non-existent,” with only the smallest signs of ghosting visible around characters and objects.

The Switch 2 will also run at a higher power level, delivering up to 4K resolution when docked, thanks to the dock’s built-in fan. In contrast, the Steam Deck is limited to its maximum wattage in handheld mode, though there are workarounds.

AMD Boosts Visuals and Performance with FSR 4

While Nvidia focuses on raw performance claims, AMD prioritizes visual enhancement and performance optimization with its FSR 4 technology.

Launched on March 6, 2025, FSR 4 is an upscaling technology that improves frame rate for smoother gameplay on less powerful hardware or at higher resolutions.

Perfect for handhelds, then.

According to Digital Foundry, AMD’s FSR 4 is a major improvement over FSR 3 on the OG Steam Deck and Nvidia’s DLSS 4. The problem is, you can only get it on RDNA 4 desktop GPUs. However, if rumors are true, we could soon see it on the Steam Deck 2.

The rumored AMD Ryzen AI Z2 chip could bring better frame generation with its NPU through its AI capabilities.

According to leaker Hoang Anh Phu on X, the chip will reportedly use RDNA 3.5. If FSR 4 is ported to RDNA 3.5, that could lay the grounds for better image quality and performance on the Steam Deck 2.

Valve has confirmed there will be no Z2 Steam Deck, and the company isn’t thinking about new hardware until 2026 at least.

Is Nvidia on the Road to its Own Handheld?

AMD rivalry aside, Nvidia’s sidestep into handhelds could pave the way for the graphics giant to launch its own portable gaming device

A 2024 leak from YouTuber Moore’s Law is Dead (h/t Gamesradar) revealed that the company was “getting serious about making more handheld gaming devices with their graphics IP”.

We’ve heard rumors that Nvidia could partner with Intel to make a premium gaming handheld.

We could even see a streaming device linked to GeForce Now, or Nvidia could make a version of the T239 for inclusion in PC handhelds.

As for whether Nvidia has the goods to go head to head with AMD, we’ll need to wait and see what Valve has in store when the Steam Deck 2 lands next year.