Short answer
Nvidia has raised the price of its Shield TV Pro streaming box, which launched several years ago, citing an industry-wide rise in component costs, memory above all. The report says AI demand is making almost every device with memory or storage more expensive. Teams planning hardware purchases should allow for this increase in their budgets.
Highlights
- Nvidia raised the Shield TV Pro price to $299 from 2 October; the device launched in 2019 at $199.99.
- The company cited a substantial industry-wide rise in component costs, including memory.
- The report says Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony have also raised the prices of their current-generation consoles.
2 min readEditor-in-chief: Uğur Deniz İlhan
According to Ars Technica, Nvidia has raised the price of the Shield TV Pro, which launched in 2019, to $299 from 2 October. The Shield TV Pro is a streaming box that runs Android TV and can play almost any media format. Nvidia blames the increase on a substantial industry-wide rise in component costs, including memory.
How big is the increase, and why was it made?
The device launched in 2019 at $199.99; the new price is $299.99, an increase of $100. The $149.99 non-Pro model has since been discontinued. The report says Shield TV Pro stock has been slim in recent months, probably because rising component prices made new units too expensive to build.
Is the price rise specific to the Shield?
No. According to Ars Technica, in 2026 anything with memory or storage is getting more expensive. The report adds that Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony have raised the prices of their current-generation consoles; the PS5 Pro, for example, launched in 2024 at $699.99 and now costs $899.99.
The author does not see Nvidia as merely a victim here: as a key player in the build-out of AI infrastructure, the company bears more responsibility than most for the rise in component prices.
What should companies and teams do?
The report focuses on a consumer product and contains no analysis of the impact on businesses. Even so, the takeaway for IT, product and marketing teams that buy hardware is clear: while AI demand continues, devices that contain memory may cost more at the time of ordering than planned.
- Allow a margin for price rises when budgeting for items such as screens, streaming devices, test phones and meeting-room hardware.
- Confirm the current price before ordering devices that need replacing, and try to obtain a quote that fixes the price.
- If you do not need a device's special capabilities, consider cheaper alternatives; Ars Technica itself recommends the Shield only to those who need its extensive codec support or Plex server capability.
Frequently asked
- Can the Shield TV Pro be bought at the moment?
- Ars Technica reports that at the time of writing the device was still out of stock at Nvidia's store but available at the new price from Best Buy. The report gives US prices.
Sources
- Ars Technica ·
Follow UNIT Journal
What's new in search, AI and technology, in your feed every day.
