Valve Steam Frame

Overview

Steam Frame is Valve's standalone VR headset. Valve announced it in November 2025 and opened sales on September 14, 2026, using a reservation list and waitlist instead of first-come ordering, so orders are filled in waves. It costs $1,059 with 256 GB of storage or $1,299 with 1 TB. Both kits include the headset, two controllers, a wireless adapter for the PC and a copy of Half-Life: Alyx. A charger is not in the box.

The headset runs SteamOS and installs games straight from SteamVR and the Steam store, so it works without a computer. It can also stream from a gaming PC for heavier titles. Valve treats it as the successor to the Valve Index, which has since gone out of production.

Display and optics

Each eye gets a 2160 × 2160 LCD panel behind pancake lenses. The panels run from 72 Hz to 120 Hz, with an experimental 144 Hz mode. Valve quotes a field of view of up to 110 degrees and notes that headset makers measure field of view in different ways, so the figure is not a direct comparison with other brands.

Comfort and design

The design moves weight away from the face. The front core module is small, and the 21.6 Wh battery sits at the back of the strap as a counterweight, with speakers built into the strap. Valve gives about 440 g for the complete headset as worn. Valve has not published an official battery-life figure. A front expansion port accepts add-on modules, such as a third-party color camera.

Tracking and controllers

Four outward-facing monochrome cameras track the headset and controllers, helped by infrared illuminators in dim rooms. Passthrough is black-and-white. Two internal cameras handle eye tracking.

The Steam Frame Controllers use a gamepad-style layout, so flat games are easy to play. They have magnetic (TMR) thumbsticks, capacitive finger sensing and haptics, and each runs on one AA battery.

Software and apps

Inside is a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 with 16 GB of RAM and a microSD slot. Steam Frame runs VR games and regular flat Steam games, showing flat games on a large virtual screen. For PC streaming, the included 6 GHz Wi-Fi adapter plugs into the computer. Foveated streaming uses the eye-tracking data to send the sharpest part of the image where you are looking, which saves bandwidth. Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4 are built in.

Who it is for

Steam Frame fits players whose games live mostly on Steam. It suits someone who wants one headset that can play portable games anywhere and also stream full PC VR around the house without cables. If you need color passthrough for mixed reality, keep in mind that the built-in cameras are monochrome.