Valve says iFixit will continue to sell Steam Deck batteries after this

Valve has been very friendly to customers who want to fix it – that’s why it was a surprise to hear The valve had already left the battery for the Steam Deck LCD handheld. It would mean you can no longer buy a battery from iFixit and install it yourself. Why would Valve stop keeping such an important feature when people are starting to want it?

Here is Valve’s response to Seasideas of 5PM ET: “We just confirmed with iFixit that they plan to have the batteries back next week.”

“iFixit will get the same OEM parts supported by their Valve partners that they always have,” spokesperson Kaci Aitchison Boyle tells me.

The Reddit article was not a hoax. Earlier today, iFixit CEO Kyle Wiens confirmed Seaside that it was learned that Valve no longer manufactures batteries or screens for the original Steam Deck LCD.

But during the day, Valve and iFixit had already managed to change this. “They put us in touch with the dealer, we’re working,” Wiens tells me now. And if Valve decides to replace the solar panel in the future, iFixit says it will be ready to take the lamp using a vendor later. “I want people to know that we’re going to find a way to get batteries for these things,” Wiens says.

Wiens says Valve is “a great partner.” He suspects that Valve and the vendors are betting wrong on how many they have to make.

“If you don’t get the forecast wrong, you end up, or you just go somewhere else and spend a lot of money on things you don’t do anything about.”

I’m sure we’ll see removable adhesive tape in the hands; The CEO of iFixit tells me that the adhesives for releasing the shocks are “usually too expensive to include in the original kit,” but it’s possible to trade it in if you’re willing to spend “a few extra bucks.”

Maybe the next time you need a battery from another supplier, it will be better than the original.