Nvidia Shield TV Pro Price Jumps 50% Amid Memory Shortage

The Nvidia Shield TV Pro price has jumped from $199.99 to $299.99, a 50 percent increase for a streaming box that first launched nearly seven years ago. Nvidia confirmed the change took effect on October 2, and the company points to a familiar culprit: the industry-wide memory shortage driven by AI demand. Alongside the price hike, Nvidia has reportedly discontinued the standard, non-Pro Shield TV, leaving the Pro model as the only Shield-branded streaming device still in production.

Why a seven-year-old device is getting more expensive

An Nvidia spokesperson told Ars Technica that “the cost of components, including memory, has increased substantially across the industry,” which is the company’s official explanation for the increase. That lines up with what we’ve been covering for months: DRAM and NAND prices have been climbing as AI data centers absorb a growing share of global memory supply, squeezing availability and pushing up costs for everyday consumer electronics that rely on the same chips. Executives have warned that the RAM shortage could stretch through 2028.

What makes the Shield TV Pro case notable is that there’s no new hardware to justify the price. This isn’t a refresh with a faster chip or more storage; it’s the same device with the same 3GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage that launched years ago, now carrying a significantly higher price tag purely because of what it costs Nvidia to source components.

What the Shield TV Pro still offers

Despite its age, the Shield TV Pro isn’t just a basic streaming stick. It’s built around Nvidia’s Tegra X1+ processor and includes two USB 3.0 ports, Gigabit Ethernet, and support for external storage drives, which has made it a favorite among users running local Plex media libraries. On the playback side, it supports 4K HDR at 60 FPS, Dolby Vision HDR and HDR10, AI-enhanced upscaling, and a wide range of audio formats including Dolby Atmos and DTS-X.

For gaming, the device supports Nvidia’s GeForce Now cloud gaming service as well as native Android games, giving it a capability edge over simpler streaming boxes from competitors. It’s also one of the few Android TV devices still receiving regular software updates after nearly seven years on the market, which has helped it stay relevant far longer than most streaming hardware typically does.

The base Shield TV is gone

The price increase isn’t the only change. Nvidia has reportedly stopped producing the standard Shield TV, the cheaper, more basic model that sat below the Pro in the lineup. With that model discontinued, the Shield TV Pro is now the sole Shield-branded streaming device Nvidia sells, removing the lower-cost entry point that used to exist for buyers who didn’t need the Pro’s extra ports and storage support.

Harder to find, and not always at the new price

Availability is also becoming an issue. The Shield TV Pro appears to be out of stock at most retailers right now. We did spot a Best Buy listing for the 16GB model priced at $249.21, about $50 below Nvidia’s new official price, but that listing was also out of stock, so it’s unclear whether that figure reflects a temporary discount or a different standard price point from the retailer. Shoppers looking for the device may need to watch for restocks and compare pricing across sellers rather than assuming Nvidia’s listed price is the only one in play.

The bottom line

The Shield TV Pro’s new $299.99 price doesn’t come with new hardware, just higher component costs that Nvidia is passing directly to buyers. It’s part of a broader pattern where AI-driven memory demand is making even long-established consumer products more expensive, and the discontinuation of the base Shield TV removes the budget option that once existed in this lineup. If you already own a Shield TV Pro, nothing changes for you. If you’re shopping for one now, expect to pay more, deal with limited stock, and shop around before paying Nvidia’s full asking price.

Source: Tom's Hardware