Valve says iFixit will still sell Steam Deck batteries after all

Valve has been very friendly with customers who need fixes – which is why this was so surprising to hear This Valve was already stopping the battery For the portable Steam Deck LCD. This meant that you could no longer buy a battery from iFixit and install it yourself. Why would Valve stop stocking the most important replacement part when people start needing it?

Here’s Valve’s answer to Edgeas of 5pm ET: “We have just confirmed with iFixit that they plan to have the batteries back in stock by next week.”

“iFixit will have the same OEM parts sourced through Valve partners that they always have,” company spokesperson Kaci Aitchison Boyle told me.

The Reddit story wasn’t necessarily false. Earlier today, iFixit CEO Kyle Wiens confirmed this Edge They’ve already heard that Valve will no longer be manufacturing replacement batteries or displays for the original Steam Deck LCD.

But by the afternoon, Valve and iFixit had already managed to change that. “They connected us with a supplier, and we are working on it,” Wiens tells me now. And if Valve decides to discontinue the part in the future, iFixit says it will be ready to take up the torch using an aftermarket supplier instead. “I want people to know that we’re going to find a way to get batteries for these things,” Wiens told me.

Valve “has been a really great partner,” Wiens says. He suspects Valve and its suppliers are making the wrong bet on the number of spare parts they need to produce.

“If you get the forecast wrong, you run out, or you go wrong the other way and spend a lot of money on parts that sit around doing no good.”

I still hope to see Electrically removable adhesive On mobile devices. iFixit’s CEO told me that shock-release adhesives are “often too expensive to include in the original device,” but are possible aftermarket if you’re willing to spend “a few extra dollars.”

Maybe by the time you need an aftermarket battery from a different supplier, it will be better than the original battery.