Before the restock, the original OEM Steam Deck LCD battery kit cost $84.99, while the battery alone cost $79.99. After the restock, the OEM battery kit with iFixit’s tools included costs $134.99, and the battery alone costs $129.99.
Before the restock, the original OEM Steam Deck LCD battery kit cost $84.99, while the battery alone cost $79.99. After the restock, the OEM battery kit with iFixit’s tools included costs $134.99, and the battery alone costs $129.99.
Why the fuck does there need to be a middleman for replacement parts? Can companies which sell products direct to consumer not also sell parts direct to consumer?
Any other company would give you fuck all, In this case there doesn’t need to be a middle man Valve partnered with iFixit because they share a similar philosophy and iFixit already had the infrastructure.
They aren’t a “middleman” they are the official retail outlet.
https://steamcommunity.com/games/1675180/announcements/detail/4347665658888576969
Producing a product and selling a product are two different industries. While many companies vertical integration to do both, its not a given that every company will.
Small nitpick, but any company that produces a product is also going to sell that product, they just may not be selling it directly to consumers. Companies that are selling to other companies still have someone in charge of doing that. Otherwise they wouldn’t make any money on the things they produce.
Thank you! I feel like folks don’t understand that Valve doesn’t manufacture hardware, either, and had to source all of these components from other vendors anyways…
It makes sense that they trust ifixit with the components instead of trying to sell them on the Steam store to bewildered customers who would have a meaningful percentage of support and return requests which Valve never wanted to deal with. I think that’s why they had the official position that folks aren’t supposed to go inside the hardware, at the same time as they released all the instructions for doing so.