Streaming boxes just got more expensive on both sides of the aisle. Nvidia has raised the price of the Shield TV Pro to $300, and Apple has pushed up pricing on the Apple TV 4K alongside a chip upgrade, according to a comparison published by How-To Geek on Friday. The outlet, which previously argued the Apple TV 4K had effectively replaced the Shield as the streaming box to buy, says the math has shifted again, but not in Nvidia's favor.
The new Apple TV 4K runs on Apple's A19 chip, which Apple says delivers a 50 percent faster CPU and twice the GPU performance of the previous A15 chip used in the last Apple TV 4K. How-To Geek says that gap matters beyond gaming graphics, pointing to smoother performance in apps that lean on 3D rendering and media players that decode video in software rather than with dedicated hardware.
Voice control is where the story gets interesting. How-To Geek has long preferred the Shield TV Pro here, since Google Assistant outperformed Siri for years on general knowledge and command handling. That advantage, the outlet argues, has flipped. Siri on the new Apple TV 4K is described as drawing on personal context and handling natural phrasing better than Google Assistant does today, with Siri's underlying intelligence reportedly influenced by Google's own Gemini models. The catch, according to How-To Geek, is that Nvidia can't bring Gemini to the Shield because its version of Android TV is too outdated to support it.
Apple's box also has microphones built into the device itself, so voice commands work without picking up the remote, a feature Amazon's Fire TV Cube has offered for years but one the Shield still lacks.
Format and ecosystem gaps
On picture quality, How-To Geek notes the Apple TV 4K supports HDR10+, the frame-by-frame dynamic HDR format, while the Shield TV Pro is limited to basic HDR10. Nvidia's device still covers Dolby Atmos and standard HDR, which the outlet says is plenty for most budget TV setups, but it concedes Apple's extra format support is free value for anyone with a compatible screen.
For households already carrying iPhones or HomePods, the Apple TV 4K can route wireless surround sound through HomePod speakers, skipping extra cabling. How-To Geek pegs that setup at $600 to $1,400 depending on how many speakers someone buys, money that only makes sense for people committed to Apple's ecosystem.
How-To Geek stops short of calling the Shield TV Pro useless. It says the device remains a fine streamer for people who prefer Android's flexibility or who simply don't want an Apple product in their home. But for anyone doing more than queuing up Netflix, the outlet argues the newer Apple TV 4K is now the stronger buy, chip for chip and dollar for dollar.
There's no indication Nvidia has a Shield TV successor in the works. Until one shows up, the gap How-To Geek describes between the two boxes looks set to keep widening rather than closing.
HTFiled by The Home Tech Desk
TVs, home appliances and the smart home: refrigerators, washing machines, air conditioners, purifiers, robot vacuums, the sets on the wall and the platforms that connect them. Launches, prices in the US and India, and what changed.
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