Steam Frame price increase looms with rising cost of VR headset's Qualcomm chip

Anticipation for the new Valve VR headset is growing, as the company accepts suspected shipments of the wearable. Buyers are still waiting for a confirmed Steam Frame price and release date. However, Qualcomm may have complicated its launch after raising the costs of Snapdragon chips.

Bad timing?

On June 24th, Bloomberg reported that Qualcomm was planning a double-digit percentage price increase. The changes would take effect on September 1st, potentially after the debut of the Frame. Nevertheless, Valve insider Brad Lynch believes that VR headsets will feel the impact of the announcement.

The storage and memory shortage already delayed the Steam Machine and Steam Frame release date. AI data centers have relentlessly monopolized the components. It’s now affecting the Snapdragon processors also found in smartphones and select laptops. The manufacturer explained that it could no longer justify absorbing the added costs.

Unfortunately, the sequel to the Index specs includes a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 system-on-chip (SoC). With a modest increase, it may be unlikely that the Steam Frame price climbs by hundreds of dollars. Still, MSRP estimates for the virtual reality solution have risen since its reveal.

Pricing guesstimates 

The headset, which can run VR games as a standalone device, ships with 16 GB of LPDDR5X unified memory. Its 256 GB or 1 TB of Universal Flash Storage (UFS) has also inflated BOMs. Valve had aimed for a lower cost than the $999 Index predecessor. Optimistic projections were around $800 for the base model, but now above $1000 seems realistic.

The Steam Machine ended up stretching budgets more than feared. Insiders like Moore’s Law Is Dead blamed Valve’s inability to stockpile vital parts before the memory shortage worsened. Ideally, the company secured a reserve of Snapdragon SoCs ahead of Qualcomm’s September 1st deadline.

So far, the crisis hasn’t devastated the VR gaming market. Yet, the Meta Quest 3 and 3S did see their prices rise by $50-100 in April. Using higher-end components, the Steam Frame could be more vulnerable than cheaper alternatives.