Not even the NVIDIA Shield TV Pro is safe from a huge price hike

The NVIDIA Shield TV Pro is still one of the best Android TV boxes around, over a decade after its initial release. That’s due to its respectable level of horsepower, an array of features, and a long update commitment. Unfortunately, it looks like even this venerable TV box isn’t safe from price increases.

NVIDIA may have stealthily raised the price of the Shield TV Pro. The TV box is now listed at $300.26 on Amazon and $299.99 on Best Buy (h/t: r/ShieldAndroidTV). This would be a ~$100 increase over the previous $200 asking price.

This is a disappointing yet unsurprising turn of events. We’re guessing that the RAM crisis has resulted in NVIDIA paying more for the Shield TV Pro’s memory and storage. So the company has to pass these costs on to consumers if it wants to maintain the same profit margin. Then again, I’m sure NVIDIA at large isn’t too worried about profits when its other product categories are raking in the cash due to AI.

This news also comes months after the Shield TV Tube model went out of stock. NVIDIA refused to comment on future availability at the time, which suggested that the device had been discontinued. We speculated at the time that NVIDIA may have ditched the device due to rising memory costs.

Nevertheless, it’s still a sad state of affairs when one of the best Android TV boxes gets a giant price increase. The Shield TV Pro is also one of the few Android TV boxes with 64-bit Android, making it suitable for games and emulators. So it won’t be easy to find an alternative device that ticks these boxes, although I’d argue that the Google TV Streamer and the Onn 4K Pro 2026 are your best options.