I understand the joke, but I gotta point out that that's exactly what the PS/2 ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_PS/2 ) was. And it failed because it was an attempt to claw back the ecosystem from open/commodity systems into a proprietary alternative, which is... a nice outcome to bear in mind, IMO.
Is there any possible second contender even? In terms of single-device gaming PCs it seems like it's cornered the market. Everything else is random gaming PCs made for moms to buy for their 9-year-olds which no one could name, people making their own PCs from parts, unnamed prebuilts (again, made from off-the-shelf parts), and the Steam Deck's competition which are obviously playing catchup. Steam Deck is probably the closest that market has to an "iPhone."
The thing is every PC is a "gaming PC". The only distinction is how powerful you make it. And PC manufacturers generally sell a line of laptops/desktops branded for gaming. I found random numbers from 2021, where Lenovo said that they sell over a million of their Legion gaming laptops every year (https://news.lenovo.com/pressroom/press-releases/lenovo-legi...). Has Steam Deck sold more than a few million since it launched in 2022? Unlikely.
A gaming PC is a PC that's marketed as a gaming PC. Lenovo obviously isn't marketing their Thinkpads as a device for gamers, even if they'd be happy to sell them one.
Legion isn't a single device. How many models under the Legion branding are there? Even if they sold a million and change, break that up amongst multiple formfactors and I'm sure the Steam Deck outsells any individual one of those devices.
If you have to ask that question than you might not know the market that well.
The second contender would be something like an Asus Rog. In my circle everyone loves the Rog more than the deck. Could not tell you how well sales numbers compare between the two but there are definitely other options in the market and have quite a strong community around them.
Someone who doesn't know the market well should give an insight as to what's selling the best. People know about the Steam Deck because it's popular. We're not talking about what's the best or what has passionate fans.
You asked if there is a possible second contender. I told you, Asus Rog would be one. To not know that means you don't know the market well. I would assume the Deck has sold better but they don't have the market cornered.
This is completely absurd. If you look at Steam’s own hardware survey Windows still has 96% user share.
https://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey/Steam-Hardware-Softw...