The increase is confirmed by an Nvidia spokesperson, who told Ars Technica: "Starting October 2, SHIELD Pro will be priced at $299. The cost of components, including memory, has increased substantially across the industry." The move also brings the end of the line for the cheaper standard Shield TV, which Nvidia has reportedly stopped producing, leaving the Pro as the only Shield-branded streamer on sale.

The hardware itself has not changed. The Pro still runs on the seven-year-old Tegra X1+ chip with 3GB of RAM and 16GB of storage, plus two USB 3.0 ports, Gigabit Ethernet and external drive support, which keeps it popular for Plex and local media setups. It handles 4K HDR at 60 frames per second with Dolby Vision, AI-enhanced upscaling and Dolby Atmos audio, and it doubles as a GeForce Now cloud gaming box. It is also one of the few Android TV devices still receiving software updates after all this time.

Finding one may be the harder part. The box is out of stock at most retailers, though Tom's Hardware spotted a Best Buy listing for the 16GB model at $249.21, about $50 below Nvidia's new price. That listing is also out of stock, so it is unclear whether the figure is a discount or the retailer's standard pricing.