Steam Deck OLED Sells Out in North America After $789 and $949 Price Hike

Steam Deck OLED sold out again in North America after Valve raised prices to $789 for the 512GB model and $949 for the 1TB model. The r/pcgaming post linked Ars Technica's report that the handheld moved out of stock within 24 hours of the late-May 2026 restock and price increase.

The price jump changes the buyer comparison. The 512GB OLED model previously sold for $549, while the 1TB version was $649. Valve has warned that OLED availability may be intermittent in some regions because of memory and storage shortages. At $949, the top Steam Deck OLED is no longer positioned as a low-cost handheld PC and sits much closer to newer Windows handhelds.

The thread reaction was mixed and concrete. Some commenters suspected there was not much stock to begin with. Others pointed to resellers or fear of further price hikes. Several users argued that SteamOS and the handheld's ergonomics still matter, but the higher price makes raw hardware comparisons against ROG Ally-style devices harder to avoid.

For players, the immediate takeaway is simple: Steam Deck OLED availability is unstable and the new North American price ceiling is much higher than it was at launch. The broader question is what this does to Valve's next hardware pricing. If memory and storage costs are already pushing an older handheld near $1,000, Steam Machine and any future Steam Deck revision will face a tougher value test.