Steam Frame officially unveiled as Valve's first standalone VR headset

Valve's new VR headset, formerly known as Deckard, is finally here. While it is technically a Valve Index successor, the Steam Frame is a standalone device that can run games natively. However, one can also run games on a host device and stream them wirelessly to the headset via a 6 GHz dongle. It even comes with a dedicated battery pack cleverly strapped to the back of the headset.

Unlike many VR headsets (like the Apple Vision Pro) that employ OLED panels, Valve has taken the LCD route with pancake lenses. Both lenses have a resolution of 2160 x 2160 pixels each, with a refresh rate of up to 144 Hz. They have a FOV of 110 degrees and can be used with eyeglasses up to 140 mm wide.

One of the Steam Frame's key features is foveated streaming. It essentially tracks your eyes and renders only the parts that are in your direct line of sight. This helps conserve GPU resources and deliver greater visual quality in the region that is rendered.

Under the hood, the Steam Frame packs a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 with 16 GB of LPDDR5X RAM and 256 GB/1 TB of storage. It runs SteamOS out of the box and uses a translation layer to run predominantly x86 Steam titles on an Arm-based SoC. The Snapdragon SoC should, in theory, let users run Arm-based VR titles.

The included battery has a capacity of 21.6 Wh, which charges at up to 45 Watts via USB-C. Valve uses four outward-facing monochrome cameras for controller and headset tracking, two interior cameras for eye tracking and foveated streaming and IR illuminators for use in dark environments. A Wi-Fi 7 antenna enables the Valve Frame to connect directly to the internet.

Moving on to the controllers, the Steam Frame is a mostly standard design with 6 DOF tracking, capacitive finger tracking, capacitive sensing and a standard A B X Y/D-Pad layout on each controller. The thumbsticks use TMR modules, effectively eliminating the possibility of stick drift. With a single AA battery, it weighs just 130 grams.

The actual headset in itself is a bit heftier at 440 grams, although that goes down to 185 grams with the battery pack removed. The Steam Frame also comes with an extra, vertical headstrap for additional reinforcement. Unfortunately, like the Steam Machine, we do not have a price or a release date.