What you need to know
- Steam Deck replacement parts will soon be available through iFixit.
- iFixit recently clarified that it will start offering replacement parts for the Steam Deck in summer 2022.
- While it's possible to repair a Steam Deck, Valve suggests against opening the gaming device.
Repairing your own Steam Deck is about to get easier. iFixit's Kevin Purdy shared with The Verge that the company will soon sell replacement parts for the Steam Deck. The parts should start shipping in summer 2022, allowing owners of the gaming device to swap out components.
iFixit has not confirmed which parts it will ship for the Steam Deck. Based on an official teardown of the Steam Deck from Valve, there's a good chance that users will be able to swap out the Steam Deck's thumbsticks and SSD. Valve's video shows how to replace components, including thumbsticks, but also cautions people against opening the Steam Deck.
"Even though it's your PC — or it will be once you've received your Steam Deck — and you have every right to open it up and do what you want, we at Valve really don't recommend that you ever open it up," warned the video. "The Steam Deck is a very tightly designed system, and the parts are chosen carefully for this product with its specific construction, so they aren't really designed to be user-swappable."
While the Steam Deck is much larger than the Nintendo Switch, it's still a relatively compact system. Opening it up and swapping out parts could be difficult for those without experience dealing with cramped components.
