iFixit Warns: No More OEM Batteries for Steam Deck LCD, Then the Backtrack

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

It was Valve itself that clarified the situation, announcing it had confirmed with iFixit the return of batteries to availability within the next week. They will be the same original OEM parts "sourced through Valve's partners, as has always been the case," clarified spokesperson Kaci Aitchison Boyle. iFixit has confirmed it has 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 customer support representative had replied that "it is becoming less likely that we will continue to receive OEM batteries for the Steam Deck, and we are actively exploring options in the third-party replacement market," with no certain timeline for either. A second message from a user who also seems to work for iFixit clarified the point: it was Valve putting those parts in mothballs, not a business decision by iFixit.

At the Root, an Error in Forecasting

The account is confirmed by the words of iFixit CEO Kyle Wiens, who initially reported having been informed that Valve would no longer produce batteries or replacement screens for the original LCD model. By the afternoon, the picture had already changed: "They connected us with a supplier; we are working on it."

Wiens does not see the matter as a strategic backtrack: he attributes it to a simple estimation error. "If you misjudge the forecast, either you run out of stock, or you go in the opposite direction and spend too much on parts that then sit around serving no one." Valve, he added, "has been a really great partner"; and if one day the company were to genuinely phase out the component, iFixit claims it is ready to source from a third-party manufacturer.

Why the Spare Parts Matter

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

Furthermore, Valve has permanently withdrawn the Steam Deck LCD at the end of 2025, and replacing the battery on that model has never been simple: the cell is securely glued to the frame and must be detached carefully to avoid risking a fire, a constraint that Valve's designers themselves admitted in a 2022 interview they did not find satisfactory.

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