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The Steam Frame came out a month ago, and while it’s one of the best PCVR headsets out there, its lenses weren’t quite as high-quality as some of its competitors. However, it seems like Valve might be working on a mid-generation refresh with OLED optics.
According to SteamFrameHub, which dug through some of the source code for the Steam Frame kernel, the OS has references to a different Steam Frame with OLED optics, code named ‘Plano.’ Take this with a massive grain of salt, of course. But if it’s real, the Plano headset would have largely the same specs as the existing Steam Frame, just with OLED panels with a per-eye resolution of 3,552×3,840, compared to the 2,160×2,160 pancake lenses found in the Steam Frame.
A higher-resolution OLED display would do wonders for the Steam Frame, especially for anyone using it for PCVR, rather than trying to play standalone games. Those better lenses would come a much higher price, though; as SteamFrameHub notes, the leaked optic specs line up nicely with the lenses found in the Samsung Galaxy XR headset, which starts for around $1,799. However, that headset launched before the RAM crisis kicked off, so a Steam Frame that matched its specs would likely be at least a bit more expensive.
Just like the rest of Valve’s hardware this year, the Steam Frame was supposed to kick off a new era of accessible PC hardware, fueled by SteamOS at its center. However, because of an ongoing RAM crisis that won’t be ending any time soon, the impact has been greatly diminished. Still, there are at least some people who seem to be buying the Steam Frame and the Steam Machine, as they’re both still completely sold out at the time of writing.
Because Valve is still working on getting through the reservation list and waitlist for the Steam Fame, it’s safe to assume that even if a Steam Frame OLED is a thing that will actually exist, it probably won’t come out for quite a long time. The real question then, is whether or not that’ll happen before Valve finds the perfect chipset that’ll make the company want to make a Steam Deck 2. Just like with everything else Valve, we’ll simply have to wait and see.
