The Limited Edition Steam Deck OLED, a special, $680 version of Valve’s handheld gaming system that features extra decorative touches, including colored vents and a transparent shell, is prone to cracking, according to various complaints that have surfaced on social media. Images shared by owners, including those on r/SteamDeck, indicate that these cracks tend to appear by the screws, a result of stress on the unit.
Some photos of the damage:
Affected users are saying:
- “Yup, it’s a thing that’s happening to multiple people. The cracks all start at the same spot and spread in the same direction.”
- “I’ve never dropped my deck and I always store it in the provided case when not in use.”
- “Translucent plastics are more rigid, so rather than flexing with stresses, they instead fracture or break, the heat most likely did this.”
- “Valve needs to just offer a replacement backplate at this point, it seems like this specific crack is pretty common.”
- “I thought about RMA, but I would have to swap the SSD. I’m keeping mine.”
LE Steam Deck OLED specs:
- 1TB NVMe SSD
- 1280 x 800 HDR OLED display with premium anti-glare etched glass
- 7.4″ Diagonal display size
- up to 90Hz refresh rate
- 6nm APU
- Wi-Fi 6E
- 50Whr battery; 3-12 hours of gameplay (content-dependent)
- 45W power supply with 2.5m cable
- Limited edition carrying case with removable liner
- Steam profile bundle
- Exclusive startup movie
- Exclusive virtual keyboard theme
Valve on its “experiment”:
Available in limited quantities in the U.S. and Canada: Steam Deck OLED Limited Edition. All the specs and perks of the 1TB model, with a smoky translucent colorway! Steam Deck Limited Edition was an experiment for our team, and we were only able to make a small quantity of units. We will continue to explore more colorways and hope to ship more options in the future.