When the means of repair become inaccessible, the lifespan of a device is quietly decided not by its engineering but by its economics. iFixit's decision to raise the Steam Deck LCD replacement battery from $79.99 to $179.99 — a 125 percent increase across two unexplained price hikes — places the older handheld gaming device at a crossroads familiar in the history of consumer technology: the moment when sustaining a thing costs more than replacing it. The OLED model's battery remains untouched at the original price, making the disparity impossible to attribute to broad market forces alone.