The Steam Deck OLED’s etched screen upgrade has one huge drawback

Now that the kinda-sorta mid-generation refresh of the Steam Deck is officially announced, fans and tech YouTubers have begun poring over its specifications. However, one feature of the Steam Deck OLED that’s raised some eyebrows is its matte screen finish.

Though Valve’s effectively refreshing its entire lineup of Steam Deck handhelds on November 16, some features of the original lineup are being carried over to newer models. One of them, specifically, is the anti-glare screen coating that’s present on the 1TB Steam Deck model. In most respects, the Steam Deck OLED is a substantial upgrade to the original, but tech reviewer Dave2D has raised concerns that the etched glass isn’t doing any favors to the new OLED display.

Is Steam Deck OLED’s matte screen coating an improvement?

While there wasn’t a huge difference between etched and non-etched display finishes on the baseline LCD version of the Steam Deck, this is no longer the case with the OLED version, according to Dave2D. As Dave2D puts it, “With the anti-glare [glass finish], you lose a lot of that OLED goodness,” referencing the display’s rendition of deep black tones and vivid colors.

It’s not hard to spot the differences between the two displays, but there are some caveats to keep in mind. Without the matte etching, the display is essentially a mirror, reflecting anything and everything back at the user. The matte etching diffuses the light and the reflections, making them far less prominent at the cost of losing some contrast and blackness.

These issues shouldn’t be hugely prominent unless you’re using the OLED Deck under extremely bright lights or if you’re looking at it from an odd angle. Ultimately, choosing between the mid-tier reflective OLED display and the top-tier matte finish will boil down to how big of an issue reflections are for you. If losing some black depth isn’t a huge deal, this may be a big nothing burger in the end.

Something worth pointing out is that there is a way to side-step the “issue” with the matte finish for those who are so inclined. Adding a standard high-quality glass screen protector onto the screen should do away with most of the problems Dave2D has outlined. With that in mind, the two referenced versions of the same OLED display may be simply a matter of preference. Should you splurge on the top-tier 1 TB storage model only to dislike the matte finish, you can rest easily knowing that the fix is just one relatively inexpensive screen protector application away.