Steam Frame

The Steam Frame is a virtual reality headset developed by Valve. It was announced in November 2025 as part of a broader Steam hardware lineup. It was released on September 18, 2026. Unlike its precursor, the Valve Index—which is a headset for PCs that requires external trackers, the Frame is a standalone headset similar to competitors such as Meta Quest, which uses inside-out tracking and is capable of running SteamVR and non-VR games natively using its SteamOS-based operating system (using the existing Proton compatibility layer for Windows software, as well as additional compatibility layers for Android software and x86-64 code), or streamed wirelessly from a PC over a local network using Steam Link. Steam Frame received mixed reviews, with reviewers praising its design, the performance of games that optimized to run natively on its ARM processor, the quality of its wireless PC streaming, and its theoretical versatility in comparison to Android-based competitors. However, it was criticized for inconsistent compatibility with existing games via emulation, the quality of its speakers, its battery life, and its high price due to the global memory supply shortage.