Valve Software has recently announced their new hardware lineup for early 2026, including a Standalone Virtual Reality headset running Steam OS and capable of functioning as a PCVR headset via streaming.

Originally codenamed Valve Deckard, the Steam Frame is Valve’s first entry into the standalone headset market, following its pioneering role in mainstream PCVR headsets with the launch of the Valve Index in 2019, which is still widely used in 2025 and is considered one of the best headsets ever made. With 16 GB of unified LPDDR5X RAM, a 4nm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, UFS storage options ranging from 256 GB to 1 TB, dual LCD panels featuring a 2160x2160 resolution each, and pancake lenses, it rivals the best offerings from Meta and Pico.

Furthermore, the Steam Frame comes with its own 6 GHz dongle for PCVR streaming, and the addition of foveated streaming (possible thanks to the presence of eye tracking) will allegedly improve the streaming efficiency tenfold, as they can dynamically increase the pixels where your eyes are focusing on and lower the pixels where it’s not needed, making the image streaming as efficient as possible.

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The controllers work on one AA battery each, and the analog sticks are magnetic, preventing the dreadful “stick drift”, a known enemy to most virtual reality players.

As previously mentioned, the new headset will run on SteamOS, and Valve will implement a “Steam Frame Verified” system (similar to what they did with the Steam Deck), allowing players to check whether the game they want to buy is compatible with their headset. Alternatively, streaming flat-screen titles from your PC will also be an option.

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There is no release date or pricing information available yet, but Valve has mentioned that it will ship in early 2026.

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