00:03The Steam Machine pricing rumours have me worried. And not just for Valve's PC-like
00:08console, I'm worried about its SteamFrame VR headset too. And frankly, all of tech this year,
00:14as higher costs are likely to be the norm for every single gadget for the foreseeable future.
00:19Okay, let's jump back a second. The Steam Machine, if you don't remember,
00:22is Valve's upcoming console-like PC. And while Valve told us a lot of details when it announced
00:28it last year, like its AMD specs and 16GB of RAM, it crucially didn't give us the price.
00:34That might have changed, however, after a Czech retailer seems to have accidentally leaked the
00:39console starts at around $950 for its half a terabyte version, after you account for currency conversions.
00:46Now, it's worth taking these details with a whole fistful of salt. Currency conversions aren't always
00:52the best metric for determining a product's cost in different regions, as there are various tariffs
00:57and VAT differences to consider, among other things. Plus, there's no guarantee that this
01:01isn't simply an employee making their best guess at a price ahead of any official announcement from
01:07Valve. Nevertheless, many are worried this could be the official price, and, myself included,
01:13we aren't happy about it. Looking at various subreddits reacting to the announcement, you'll see
01:18plenty of comments saying something like, okay, that's too expensive, if true. Or people praying that
01:24this is indeed a placeholder price. One commenter even called it DOA, dead on arrival.
01:30Some even have wondered if Valve might delay the launch and hope that they might wait for component
01:36prices to drop. Though, as I'll explain in a minute, I don't think that's going to happen, unfortunately.
01:42Beyond the Steam Machine, I'm also a little concerned about the Steam Frame VR headset. This headset has
01:48been billed as effectively a Steam Deck for your face, as it has the ability to play both VR games
01:53and flat games, with some pretty solid specs to boot. It also boasts eye tracking, which typically bumps
01:59up the cost a fair amount, though it doesn't come with full colour mixed reality, which could sort of
02:04act as a counterbalance cost-wise. Many, myself included, are expecting the Steam Frame won't come
02:09close to the MetaQuest 3's $499.99 asking price, and this Steam Machine leak suggests that will indeed
02:16be the case. It might even sit the wrong side of $1,000 for at least some models of the
02:22Steam Frame.
02:23With VR struggling more than ever to find relevance in a world of smart glasses, I can't help but fear
02:28this headset, which I was so desperately excited about in our world of ongoing Meta XR supremacy,
02:34might, just like the Steam Machine as some have put it, be dead on arrival.
02:39So why are Steam Machine costs potentially so high? Now, we don't know what Valve is thinking,
02:45but one big theory is that it isn't keen to sell its hardware as a loss leader, which is something
02:49other console makers seem to do. Essentially, Sony, Microsoft and Meta are believed to sell their consoles
02:55and VR hardware at either a loss or with a very small profit margin, with the aim that they'll recoup
03:01lost costs on the software sales and licensing later down the line. Valve doesn't seem so keen to do
03:07that, which is why it could be that the Steam Machine is expected to cost a lot more than a
03:11PS5,
03:12despite sharing many similarities with the Sony Machine hardware-wise.
03:16We also know tech prices are going up all over the place. The central issue is RAM. Essentially,
03:22there are only so many factories in the world that make RAM, and it's essential to so much of the
03:27gadgetry that we rely on. PCs, gaming hardware and phones are three that you'll instantly think of,
03:33but it appears in TVs, smart wearables like watches and glasses, and basically any gadget
03:37that needs the digital short-term memory that RAM provides. As you can imagine, however,
03:43something which also needs to have a very big memory is, say it with me, AI.
03:48And with AI continuing to build up hype and get more and more investment, if you were a chipmaker,
03:54would you allot your factory capacity to the basic chip you can sell for a middling profit,
03:59or the AI-focused chipset you can sell for a massive markup? It's frustratingly for us consumers,
04:06simple business sense, to focus on the AI chips. The remaining chips that do filter beyond the AI
04:11ecosystem are then snatched up really quick, as there's still plenty of consumer electronics
04:16demand for them. There are also scalpers looking to take advantage of the shortage, as they always
04:20will, and even some smaller AI companies will be after these components, as consumer chips may be
04:26less powerful, but they're also a heck of a lot cheaper than the enterprise-level stuff.
04:30And so that's maybe why this Valve hardware is potentially set to cost so much more than any of
04:35us were expecting. And we're also seeing warnings that TV costs are going to go up from Samsung,
04:40Lenovo's new gaming handheld that announced at CES is pricier than its last-gen model, and phone costs
04:45are expected to rise this year too. Basically, expect every 2026 gadget to cost more than its 2025
04:53version. And it's not just the new stuff, even older tech like the Xbox Series X and PS5 have
04:58seen price hikes in part thanks to RAM shortage-induced price rises. Another thing to consider
05:04is that while things seem to have calmed down somewhat, for US customers there's also the
05:08tariff-shaped elephant in the room. Especially now that those tariff rates have seemed to have stuck at a
05:13raised place, many electronics producers have in turn started to raise prices, as was expected,
05:20so that consumers are eating up the added cost of importing tech to the US. Unfortunately, with AI
05:26and other forces in the market, I doubt we'll see costs improve much in 2026, and maybe for the
05:32foreseeable future. That is, unless something major happens, like the AI bubble finally pops. I keep
05:37hoping that it will, but every day I'm proven wrong. For now, we can just hope that these specific
05:42steam machine prices are a guess and not the real thing, and that the real prices are lower than
05:48has been leaked, and also be more careful about the tech that we do shop for. And to help with
05:53that,
05:54you can subscribe to the Tech Radar YouTube channel for all of our tech buying advice.
05:59We'll see you in the next one.
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