Gamers in Australia have some exciting news: Valve will start selling the console in their region on November 19. As of now, it seems that pre-orders are not yet available, but this should change soon. The shipping for the consoles will commence at 10 AM AEDT on November 19.
Variants and Pricing
Valve is offering both the LCD and OLED versions of the Steam Deck. The LCD variant comes with 256 GB of storage and is priced at A$649 (US$428). If you're looking for more storage, the 512 GB Steam Deck OLED will cost A$899 (US$593), while the 1 TB model will be available for A$1,049 (US$691).
Discontinuation of LCD Variant
As previously mentioned, Valve has basically stopped producing the Steam Deck LCD variant, so it will eventually run out of stock. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, as the OLED version has several quality-of-life improvements that makes it a better choice. These enhancements include a bigger battery, Wi-Fi 6E support, and a smaller 6 nm SoC.
The Future of Handheld Gaming
Moreover, a new Steam Deck isn't expected to release in the near future. However, the handheld gaming market has become more diverse with big names like Asus, MSI, Acer, and Lenovo getting involved. There are also many options from Chinese companies such as Ayaneo, AYN, OneXPlayer, and Aokzoe to consider.
