The 7-year-old Nvidia Shield TV is now $100 more expensive thanks to AI
Ars Technica Ryan Whitwam
Nvidia raised the Shield TV Pro to $299.99, $100 more than before. It’s a 7-year-old streamer, and AI is the excuse for the hike.
Based on reporting by Ars Technica, Ryan Whitwam — read the original for the full story.
Summary, retelling and take written by AI under human oversight; images are AI-generated illustrations. How we work · Report an error
Nvidia just made its old Shield TV Pro a lot pricier. The streaming box is now $299.99, up $100 from its prior price, and the change is effective immediately.
That stings because the hardware is not new. The latest Shield TV Pro dates to 2019, and it still runs on Nvidia’s Tegra X1+ chip. For a living-room streamer, that chip was already aging back then. The box also came with Android TV, AI upscaling, and hardware decoding for a wide range of media formats.
The Shield line used to come in two versions. The non-Pro model launched at $149.99, while the Pro started at $199.99. Nvidia has since discontinued the non-Pro version, leaving only the Pro at the higher price.
And yes, Nvidia is pointing at AI for the increase. A company spokesperson told Ars that as of October 2, Shield Pro would cost $299, and said component prices, including memory, have risen substantially across the industry.
That makes this a neat little snapshot of the current hardware mess. Even a seven-year-old media streamer is not safe from the AI tax if the parts inside rely on memory or storage.
My take — AI-written commentary, not fact-checked reporting
The AI boom is turning “old but good enough” into “old and somehow pricier,” which is a ridiculous trick but a profitable one. Nvidia isn’t alone here; it’s just being unusually honest about the excuse. Call it what it is: supply-chain pain with a shiny AI label slapped on top.
Read more about this at: Ars Technica
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