Sunday, December 21st 2025
Valve Discontinues Steam Deck LCD, OLED Versions Remain
Valve has officially discontinued its 256 GB LCD version of the Steam Deck handheld gaming console, phasing it out entirely from its offerings. However, this is not the end of the Steam Deck lineup, as the 512 GB and 1 TB OLED versions will continue manufacturing and sales. According to Valve, "We are no longer producing the Steam Deck LCD 256 GB model. Once sold out, it will no longer be available." This is a logical decision considering Valve is trying to simplify its production lines as it introduces new products such as the Steam Machine, Steam Frame, and Steam Controller.
The LCD version of the Steam Deck carried a MSRP of $399 and came with 256 GB of storage, but to upgrade to OLED, gamers had to spend an extra $150 for a price tag of $549. Of course, the OLED SKU carries a fleet of benefits, with the most obvious being the display quality with HDR and a higher 90 Hz refresh rate, longer battery life, and bigger storage capacity for larger games. To make matters more interesting, Valve's website already shows that the LCD version is out of stock, so if gamers want to get their hands on the Steam Deck at the lower price point, they have to look at third-party retailers for any remaining stock.
Additionally, Valve's discontinuation of the 256 GB version might have something to do with the global NAND flash shortage, which is causing a strain on the company's multi-product lineup. All available NAND chips are now redirected towards 512 GB and 1 TB SKUs, as well as the Steam Machine launch scheduled for 2026. As the scarcity of NAND grows, redirecting supply for higher-margin products is somewhat understandable. However, with many new players entering the handheld console space, we have to wait and see how gamers react.
Source:
Valve
The LCD version of the Steam Deck carried a MSRP of $399 and came with 256 GB of storage, but to upgrade to OLED, gamers had to spend an extra $150 for a price tag of $549. Of course, the OLED SKU carries a fleet of benefits, with the most obvious being the display quality with HDR and a higher 90 Hz refresh rate, longer battery life, and bigger storage capacity for larger games. To make matters more interesting, Valve's website already shows that the LCD version is out of stock, so if gamers want to get their hands on the Steam Deck at the lower price point, they have to look at third-party retailers for any remaining stock.
16 Comments on Valve Discontinues Steam Deck LCD, OLED Versions Remain
Why not sell a oled version with 256GB as an option?
There is definitely more to this sudden change than the price of parts ;)'old' hardware spec, except there is nothing at this power envelope that does noticeably better - we can mull over 20% here or there but it will not change the game whatsoever for this segment. Valve is completely right about their stance on a successor. But I agree, purely on the face value of the parts themselves... its overpriced. But that goes for almost every prefabricated device vs a DIY build - Steam Machine already has the same dialogue around it.
That's what matters. You can have a more recent chip, and it'll use the same power, or use more power and perform marginally better, which is a nothingburger on a device operating on a battery.
The spec that does matter is the software it runs, how it runs it, and the overall QoL of the device, which is unsurpassed. Other things it has the competiton has not: repairability, upgradability, and a perfect positioning in the PC gaming ecosystem with no ties to a rapidly degenerating Windows.
What you're looking at here, is Valve doing us an Apple situation, without the shitty gatekeeping tactics, and given the track record of Apple's experience, I'll happily pay a bit of premium for that, especially given the freedom we maintain while having vastly improved software.
the closest thing would be -following the principle that SteamOS on ARM will eventually show up since that's allegedly what the Frame runs on a Snapdragon gen8 APU- a smartphone running SteamOS with modded on controller inputs, extra cooling and extra battery
The SteamDeck at this point in time for the $550/$650 asking price is a stupidly foolish choice.On this we agree, Valve is very much doing the Apple thing: Charging too much money for a name. Except that Valve is not reaching the same level of value balance. With Apple products, one at least gets modern hardware for the insane prices being charged instead of 6 year old hardware with a low resolution screen.
At this point in time, the SteamDeck is a valid option only for people with more money than brains. For everyone else, there are MUCH better options at similar prices..
Low res is in fact, a perk adding to the Deck's battery life and at this diagonal Im not seeing the advantage of 1080p. Shit gets tiny that way, not a fan. Ill take native scaling and comfortable sizing + low battery use over res every time.
As for those better options, Im not seeing too much of them, and/or they lack something.
Is an alternative to Deck objectively a better device in terms of performance, I won't contest that. But is it performance I really benefit from, or do I benefit more from good battery life, a very nice OLED screen, plenty of storage and a very lean OS... I've experienced the latter. Inside SteamOS, its really a console experience, you hit the stuff you want to play, and its go time, and all the necessary controls are in reach both within and outside the game. The GUI and the seamlessness is what I've really come to like - its 'unlike PC gaming' really, whereas a Windows handheld does not get there at all. In the very same menu, I can fire up Super Mario Bros. (the original) or Donkey Kong emulated perfectly; its just fucking brilliant.
(Side note: Emulation and gaming is one of the reasons ZorinOS impresses me, the support for gaming has greatly improved in Zorin, much more than Mint and on par with Bazzite.)
At this point in time, the SD might still be able to function as a reasonable gaming handheld. However, at the prices on offer? Hell no.
I expect the lowest model has been loss leading or barely break even, and the recent market problems have broke the camels back.