iFixit Warns: No More OEM Batteries for Steam Deck LCD, then a Step Back

In recent days, a Steam Deck LCD owner tried to order a replacement battery from iFixit and was informed that official parts were running low, with Valve intending to phase them out. For a portable gaming system sold until a few months ago and built around the promise of repairability, the news did not go unnoticed. However, by the end of the same day, the alarm was alleviated.

Valve itself clarified things by stating that it had verified with iFixit that the batteries would be back in stock by next week. They will be the same original OEM parts "sourced through Valve's partners, as has always been the case," specified spokesperson Kaci Aitchison Boyle. iFixit confirmed that it had been reconnected with a supplier.

The alarm was raised from an email exchange that ended up on Reddit. When asked for a new battery, an iFixit support agent responded that "it is becoming less likely that we will continue to receive OEM batteries for the Steam Deck, and we are actively evaluating options in the third-party replacement market," without a definite timeline for either. A second message from a user who also seems to work for iFixit clarified the point: it was Valve phasing out those parts, not a business decision from iFixit.

At the Root, a Miscalculation

The account finds confirmation in the words of iFixit's CEO, Kyle Wiens, who initially reported that he had learned that Valve would no longer produce batteries or replacement screens for the original LCD model. By the afternoon, the picture had already changed: "They put us in touch with a supplier, and we are working on it."

Wiens does not view the situation as a strategic retreat; he attributes it to a simple estimation error. "If you misjudge the forecast, you either run out of stock, or you go in the opposite direction and spend too much on parts that end up going unused." Valve, he added, "has been a really great partner"; and if one day the company truly phases out the component, iFixit claims it is ready to source from a third-party manufacturer.

Why the Replacement Parts Matter

Repairability has been one of the key selling points of the Steam Deck. iFixit had assigned the LCD model a score of 7 out of 10, compared to the 9 out of 10 for the 2023 OLED, and as early as 2022, Wiens had called the ability to replace the battery "essential for the Steam Deck to stand the test of time." The Steam Hardware Survey, filtered for Linux systems, still attributes about 47% of the Steam Decks in use to the LCD model: a large installed base that will require maintenance sooner or later.

Valve has altogether withdrawn the Steam Deck LCD by the end of 2025, and on that model, battery replacement has never been easy: the cell is firmly glued to the chassis and needs to be carefully detached to avoid the risk of fire, a constraint that Valve's designers themselves admitted in a 2022 interview was unsatisfactory.

For those with an LCD Steam Deck to keep alive, the practical conclusion is that official batteries will soon return from the usual channels. And regarding the possibility that they might really disappear one day, iFixit's stance leaves no doubt: "I want people to know that we will find a way to procure batteries for these devices."