Nvidia Raises Its Seven-Year-Old Shield TV Pro’s Price by $100

Buying Nvidia’s current streaming box now costs $100 more than it did at launch seven years ago. The Shield TV Pro’s retail price has risen to $299.99, effective October 2, 2026, with Nvidia pointing to higher component costs, including memory.

The increase applies to the version introduced in 2019, not a newly redesigned device. That model launched at $199.99. Its new retail price is roughly 50 percent higher—a substantial change for hardware that has already spent years on the market.

The Shield’s longevity does not mean Nvidia is simply selling through old inventory. In an interview with Ars Technica earlier this year, Nvidia’s Andrew Bell said the company still actively manufactures the device and sells every unit it makes. He described the Shield as a passion project.

Continued production is the relevant distinction: newly manufactured boxes still need components purchased at current costs. Nvidia’s response to Ars tied the price increase to an industrywide rise in those costs, specifically naming memory. The age of the product’s design does not remove that manufacturing expense.

Starting October 2, SHIELD Pro will be priced at $299. The cost of components, including memory, has increased substantially across the industry.

Nvidia spokesperson, speaking to Ars Technica

Ars Technica framed the increase as a consequence of AI-driven pressure on technology supply chains. Nvidia’s quoted explanation is narrower: component costs have risen substantially. It does not explicitly identify AI demand as the cause. The confirmed news is the higher price and the company’s component-cost rationale.

The Pro is also the surviving option in the lineup. The cheaper non-Pro Shield, which launched at $149.99, has been discontinued. At the time of Ars Technica’s October 2 report, the Pro was out of stock in Nvidia’s own store but available at the increased price from Best Buy.

The existing hardware runs Android TV on Nvidia’s Tegra X1+ processor. It offers AI upscaling and hardware decoding for a wide range of media formats. Those are features of the 2019 model, rather than capabilities introduced alongside this price increase.

Its more specialized attractions include extensive media-format support and the ability to act as a Plex server. Ars reporter Ryan Whitwam argues that buyers who do not need those features would be better served by a cheaper streamer. The immediate choice is whether those existing capabilities justify paying more for the same generation of hardware.