Valve announces Steam Frame VR headset with Snapdragon chipset and standalone functionality

Valve has announced its newest VR headset, the Steam Frame, alongside the Steam Machine and the Steam Controller. Along with being able to play VR and non-VR games, the Steam Frame can also run games natively in a standalone configuration, thanks to its onboard Snapdragon processor.

The Steam Frame is first and foremost a streaming VR headset. It includes a wireless adapter with dual radios that you plug into your PC, Steam Machine, or Steam Deck and stream games to the headset. The dual radios maintain separate connections for streaming and connecting to your Wi-Fi to eliminate bandwidth congestion.

The headset features dual 2160x2160 LCD displays with a refresh rate of 72-144Hz. The headset uses foveated streaming so only the parts of the screen you are actively looking at are being streamed at high quality. This is achieved using a pair of eye tracking cameras inside the headset. There are also four more high-resolution monochrome cameras on the outside for tracking the controller and the headset, and infrared LEDs make it possible to use the headset even in low light environments. The headset also has built-in stereo speakers that force-cancel each other to avoid vibrations.

The headset comes with a split controller layout. The controllers use a typical gamepad layout so VR as well as non-VR games work as expected. These controllers also use the improved second generation magnetic joysticks used on the new Steam Controller. They each have a AA battery with a claimed life of around 40 hours.

The biggest party trick of the Steam Frame is that it is essentially a SteamOS PC. It runs on a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip with 16GB of LPDDR5X memory, and a choice of either 256GB or 1TB UFS storage with microSD expandability. There is also an onboard 21.6Wh battery. This allows the Steam Frame to be used completely on its own without any wired or wireless connection to any other device, and run games natively on it. The headset does this by emulating x86 games to ARM64 on the fly using an emulator called Flex. You will also be able to run Android games natively.

Valve will be releasing a developer kit of the Steam Frame soon, which should help improve compatibility. It will also eventually be providing preconverted versions of x86 games so you can run them directly without having to emulate them on the fly, improving performance.

Like the Steam Machine and the Steam Controller, the Steam Frame will be available in early 2026 at an undisclosed price.

Source