Valve has released the SteamOS 0.4.3 update for the Steam Frame VR headset, focusing on improved power efficiency with up to a 12% increase in battery life. This figure represents the maximum potential; actual gains will vary depending on the headset's output frame rate and displayed content, with more modest improvements expected in typical usage scenarios.
The Steam Frame is powered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip based on the Arm architecture, with SteamOS optimized for this hardware. There are currently no specific technical details on how this update achieves power savings at the underlying level.
Version 0.4.3 also adds a "Track Dominant Eye Only" option. Users need to first display advanced settings, then enable this feature in the General options under VR Settings.
Regarding input, the update improves focus behavior when grabbing or scaling handles and fixes an issue where some content fails to load controller button bindings, affecting titles such as Audioshield and Google Earth VR.