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Hunting for a Steam Deck and finding an empty cart? You're not alone. Valve quietly updated the Steam Deck product page with a blunt warning: the handheld "may be out of stock intermittently" in some regions because of memory and storage shortages. Short version: if you wanted the cheaper LCD model, it's effectively gone once current inventory sells out — Valve started phasing that version out in December, leaving OLED as the only option for new buyers.
What’s behind the shortage? Think small parts, big ripple effects. Memory chips and bulk storage have been scooped up by companies building out AI infrastructure. Those data-centre scale buys have eaten into supply lines that consumer hardware makers rely on. The result: higher component prices and fewer parts to go around. Even last Black Friday felt the squeeze — RAM deals were scarce. At CES 2026 Samsung’s Wonjin Lee warned memory costs could climb further, and that warning matters for any device that packs DRAM or flash storage.
Valve’s message isn’t limited to the Steam Deck. The company has admitted delays for its Steam Machine and the Steam Frame VR headset, both of which were slated to ship in early 2026. Now Valve says it must rethink launch timing and pricing. Translation: smaller inventories and the risk that final retail prices end up higher than planned.
So what does this mean for gamers? Expect intermittent availability and a tighter secondary market. When components are scarce, manufacturers can’t replenish fast, which feeds short-term hoarding and markups. It’s a supply-chain tightrope: the bottleneck is at the silicon level, far upstream from warehouses and storefronts.
Memory and storage shortages have moved from backend headaches to frontline product decisions. If you can wait, set store alerts and ignore inflated resale offers. If you need a handheld now, be prepared to pay a premium for the OLED model or consider alternatives while inventories stabilize.
Either way, the broader lesson is clear: as AI companies gobble up memory and drives, consumer hardware availability will be shaped by that same appetite — and that will keep the market interesting, if nothing else.
Source: engadget
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