Valve Announces the Steam Frame: 'A New Way to Play Your Entire Steam Library'

Freeman writes:

https://www.pcgamer.com/hardware/vr-hardware/steam-frame-specs-availability/

Valve has announced a brand new VR headset. It's called the Steam Frame, and it's set to launch next year. While pricing is not yet confirmed, I've been to Valve HQ to try it out and get all the details.
[...]
The Steam Frame is a standalone VR headset. It doesn't require a PC in order to play games or watch videos in VR. It doesn't need base stations or a cable, either. It's powered by SteamOS, Valve's own Linux distro used on the Steam Deck, and an Arm chip. So, what makes this a PCVR headset again?

"We see Steam Frame as a streaming first headset," Lawrence Yang, a designer at Valve, tells me.
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Streaming in this context does not refer to cloud streaming
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Rather streaming means playing a game on a gaming PC and streaming it over to the Steam Frame via a wireless connection. So, you're streaming the game from one PC to another PC on your head, without using any cables.
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wireless adapter beams the game over a dedicated 6 GHz connection to the Steam Frame. Essentially, Valve intends for players to use the Steam Frame in the traditional sense of tethering to a gaming PC-just without the physical tether.
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It uses clever software to play games developed for Windows and x86 on its Linux and Arm stack. It also natively supports games programmed for Arm, which many VR titles are designed for these days.

So, it supports a bit of everything: standalone, PCVR, Linux, Windows, Arm, x86... though a user shouldn't have to be conscious of many, if any, of these technical divisions. You put the Steam Frame on, choose a game from your Steam library, VR or no, and play.
[...]
With new hardware, software, and much expanded capabilities, Valve is keen to point out that this is not the Valve Index 2. Hence the name change.

"So Steam Frame, I would say, represents a fundamental shift in the way that we look at VR," says Yang.

"Rather than being a PC VR accessory to play your PCVR games, we see it just as a new way to play your entire Steam library, whether it's VR or non-VR titles."

	Steam Frame	Quest 3
LCD Screens:	Two	Two
Resolution (per-eye):	2160*2160	2064*2208
Refresh rate (Hz):	72, 90, 120, 144 (experimental)	72, 90, 120
Optics:	Pancake	Pancake
IPD adjustment:	Variable dial	Variable dial
Field of view (horizontal):	Up to 110	110
Field of view (vertical):	TBC	96
SoC:	Snapdragon 8 Gen 3	Snapdragon XR2 Gen 2
RAM:	16 GB LPDDR5	8 GB LPDDR5
Storage:	256 GB / 1 TB	128 GB (discontinued) / 512 GB
Battery:	21.6 Wh	19.44 Wh
Passthrough:	Mono	Colour
Cameras:	6 (4 mono + 2 eye track)	6 (2 RGB + 4 IR)
Speakers:	Twin-driver strap	Stereo strap
Connectivity:	Wi-Fi 7 2*2	Wi-Fi 6E
Controllers:	2* Steam Frame	2* Meta Touch
Controller battery:	1* AA each	1* AA each
OS:	SteamOS (Linux)	Meta Horizon (Android)
Weight (g):	435 (190 core only)	515 (461 no strap)
Price:	TBC	$500

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