E-Ink faceplates for the Steam Machine are coming from Jsaux, not Valve

Jsaux, a Shenzhen-based peripherals brand, is developing E-Ink faceplates for the Steam Machine — and it's doing so independently of Valve. Three variants are in the pipeline: Color E-Ink, Mono E-Ink, and Color Dot Matrix. Interested buyers can register their email to get early access notifications, but neither pricing nor a release date has been announced yet.

Valve itself has been upfront about not planning to expand its own faceplate lineup beyond what shipped at launch. The standard Steam Machine comes with a plain black panel, while the 2 TB model also includes red fabric and solid walnut options. Valve has said it has no specific plans to make more, but it is releasing CAD files for the housing so anyone can design their own. It has also already published files for its internally developed inkterface faceplate — though that project is far from plug-and-play for beginners.

The Steam Machine launched with a lot of faceplate energy from Valve's side, showing off a range of designs in the run-up to release. That enthusiasm from the community has clearly attracted third-party interest, though not all of it has gone smoothly — Dbrand had to cancel a Companion Cube-inspired case after it turned out the company never actually got Valve's permission to make it. Jsaux, by contrast, appears to be moving forward with its own designs without that particular complication.

For now, the E-Ink faceplates remain vaporware with a sign-up page attached. If Jsaux follows through, it would be the first third-party brand to deliver a commercially available faceplate for the Steam Machine — and a genuinely useful one at that, given how much personality the E-Ink format could add to the device.