I know a lot of people aren’t going to want to hear this my self included, but I’m confident Valve is Receiving the Steam Frame to warehouses and not the Steam Machine!
Ok so that might not be entirely true there also might be some Steam Decks included in these manifests as well. I would assume they are both listed as “Game Console”.
Why Not the Steam Machine
My confidence for stating that Valve is receiving the Steam Frame instead of the Steam Machine comes down to one phrase they keep using “…and it’s a PC”. I think this is a very important differentiation in today’s US economy [sorry rest of the world I barely understand US imports].
Lately we have seen some Retro Game Consoles shipped as MP3 players in order for companies to get a lower tariff rate. If Valve was shipping and receiving the Steam Machine at their warehouses it would save them a ton of money to list them as PCs.
Computers and Smartphones are receiving exemptions
PC Exemption: “Major consumer electronics, including smartphones, laptops, computer processors, and tablets, are currently exempt from some of the most aggressive new tariffs.”
All imports are subject to a 10% Base Tariff when receiving in the US, but additional tariffs on PCs have exemptions. There is a pretty aggressive tariff on Game Consoles [see below] right now.
As you can see on the image above [tariff list can be found here] that video game consoles are subject to a 35% tariff rate.This is in addition to the 10% BT.
PC’s which fall under HTS Codes 9903.88.03 and 9903.88.04 are currently sitting at a 25% fee when not exempt. This is at least 10% less than Game Consoles depending on which way the wind is blowing today.
There are some other variables that can affect these rates I’m not super familiar with as well like; back door deals, presidential donors and Tim ‘Apple’.
Memory
The Steam Machine is said to be using 16GB DDR5 RAM while the Steam Frame is using 16GB LPDDR5X RAM. The reason this is important is LPDDR5X RAM is slower and isn’t being used for data centers making it more available and cheaper.
With having more availability to RAM during the current RAMpocalypse it makes sense that they would assemble these first. Every tech company is weathering this storm in their own way, but the past would tell us Valve isn’t in a hurry.
Thoughts
I think Valve is stocking up on the Steam Frame and possibly the Steam Deck [the OLED not the Deck 2] to have a full ecosystem launch. I also don’t believe the Steam Machine would ship as a Game Console for financial reasons.
Valve is however going to need to get the Steam Machine out soon either way. Every day they wait to release is another day the equipment is getting out dated.
Valve might be building up inventory similar to Nintendo to make sure it’s ready on launch day. The Steam Frame doesn’t however make a ton of sense w/out the Steam Machine.
That said Valve released the Valve Index [VR] on its own and I assume it did well or they wouldn’t be releasing the Frame. The Index was more PC dependent so maybe they will try to release now if they feel like they have to.
Either way Valve is filling their warehouses with something other than Steam Controllers. I am personally excited to find out what exactly it is.
Do you think Valve is receiving Steam Machines, Steam Frames, both or neither? I would love to know your thoughts.
As we get more info and updates we’ll keep you posted here. Oh and I’m still sticking with my day one $750 Steam Machine Prediction.
GameOn
CellPhish
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