So does the Steam Deck not support VRR for the onboard display? I see articles saying support was added for external displays, but it’s not clear whether the onboard one has it. If it does, then it seems like it shouldn't be a problem for a frame to be slightly late.
Edit: I read some other comments that explain the situation. It sounds like there is no VRR for the internal display unfortunately.
No, it sadly doesn't do VRR and neither does this new one. According to the LTT video[0], it's because of the internal connector that the internal display is attatched with, because external VRR screens do work. They speculate that valve were just limited by what is available on the market because they are not quite shipping enough units yet to warrant fully custom designs / orders. Apparently there are hints towards this being the same supplier that also supplies the Switch OLED's screen.
Bloomberg says the supplier is Samsung.[0] Not entirely surprising because Sony is somewhat of a competitor and that only leaves LG who is not nearly as good at mobile oled which is one of Samsung's largest markets. This said I know eg. Apple uses multiple display suppliers for the iphone 14/15 base model so it could be the same here.
Sony isn't a supplier for a cheap OLEDs. LG, BOE, and other Chinese competitors are. Random game tend to have static HUD that is a risk for burn in. I imagine that Samsung OLED is a safe choice for game console thanks to Nintendo's verification.
Which other chinese suppliers besides BOE can achieve 1000 nits HDR 2? Even BOE can barely do that being they have been canceled from the iphone 15 supply chain due to their reliability. They were having issues with iphone 14 as well which was only
>800 nits max brightness (typical); 1200 nits peak brightness (HDR)[0]
The display uses a mipi interface instead of a edp. This is because the screen isn’t completely custom and likely used one from a manufacturer similar to the switch oled which also uses a mipi display.
If valve sold more units it might justify a completely custom solution but this is still way better than what people had to do to get a better screen before.
You can just open the Deck and look. It's not a 40-pin eDP connector, it's a flat ribbon, exactly like a tablet display. Also the natural orientation is portrait, which you can see if you turn off the boot splash.
Edit: I read some other comments that explain the situation. It sounds like there is no VRR for the internal display unfortunately.