The thing that irks me about these new model releases is I don’t want to upgrade for a minor improvement and then a year later a new model with slightly better improvements drops and I have to spend another $300+ for it. I’d rather Valve to offer the ability to open a return request and upgrade for the price of the modules and they upgrade your old model Deck with new parts you selected. It also keeps older model Steam Decks in circulation and keeps them relevant and prevents waste.
This probably opens a whole world of complex logistics Valve is not prepared/care for.
It sucks, but this is the reality of every electronic ever. You can always sell yours on eBay. Decks sells pretty fast over there.
You can also wait for the SteamDeck 2 if you don’t want to contribute to waste.