Valve’s Steam Frame could cost more than the Steam Machine

While it initially sounded like the Steam Frame VR headset could avoid some of the component price challenges of the Steam Machine and the Steam Deck, that no longer appears to be true. Valve's wireless VR device may also face issues due to Qualcomm chips also becoming more expensive and harder to come by. 

In a recent stream, Valve leaker Tyler McVicker, estimated that the base unit price for the Steam Frame headset would now by higher than $1100, perhaps hundreds of dollars higher due to increased costs over the course of development.

The Steam Frame isn't a device that relies heavily on RAM, but it does use Qualcomm chips and NAND for its storage, both of which are getting more expensive, in line with rising GPU, CPU and RAM costs, and higher prices at the source – fabricators like TSMC, Samsung, SK Hynix, Micron, and others.

Valve hasn't officially announced its launch plans for the Steam Frame yet, but it is expected to launch before the end of the year. The Steam Frame is a standalone VR platform intended to allow Steam users to play their entire library of games on a giant cinema screen, or to run VR titles directly on the device using an Arm compatibility layer similar to the Proton technology used for Linux. The Steam Frame itself will also be running its own version of SteamOS to enable it to be a completely standalone, wireless VR device.

KitGuru Says: The Valve Index was also expensive for its time and hasn't gotten any cheaper since launch either. VR enthusiasts are kind've already used to the premium, so I'm not sure the price tag will make as much of a difference in the long run.  

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