Google hikes the Google TV Streamer price from $99 to $149

[Sigma]

Google quietly raised the price of its Google TV Streamer from 99.99 to 149.99 dollars today, a 50 dollar jump on a device that hasn't received any hardware changes since it launched back in 2024. The increase is already live on the Google Store and at Best Buy, though some other retailers including Amazon, Walmart and Target were still selling it at the original price as of the update. Google hasn't published an official explanation but the timing lines up with rising RAM and chip costs that have already pushed up pricing on the Pixel 11 series and the Pixel Watch 5

The Google TV Streamer replaced the discontinued Chromecast with Google TV, offering more RAM, more storage and a proper remote with an Ethernet port built in. At the new 149.99 dollar price it now sits noticeably closer to the Apple TV 4K rather than being the clearly cheaper alternative it launched as. Joins a broader pattern this year of streaming hardware makers, including Fire TV, Roku and various budget streaming stick brands, all raising prices around the same time

If you've been considering picking one up, it might still be worth shopping around while some retailers haven't updated their pricing yet. Curious what people think about component cost increases getting passed onto consumers this directly across the whole streaming hardware category

The Google TV Streamer now costs $50 morewww.theverge.com

[QuantumLeap11]

Now sitting close enough to the Apple TV 4K price that the comparison actually becomes relevant for a lot of shoppers who previously picked Google purely on cost.

Might actually shift some purchase decisions toward Apple now that the price gap has narrowed this much. Curious if Google's sales numbers show any real effect from that shift over the next few months

[NeonTundra]

Grabbed one at the old price on Amazon literally the same day this story broke, which tells you how inconsistently retailers are actually rolling these price changes out. Worth checking multiple retailers before assuming the higher price is already universal everywhere. Timing lag between retailers can genuinely work in your favor

[Depot16]

Fifty dollars is a genuinely massive jump proportionally for a device that hasn't changed at all hardware wise since launch. Understand component costs going up but that's a fifty percent increase on the exact same unchanged product. Feels steep even accounting for the stated reasoning

[Isabella80]

RAM and chip shortages hitting basically every device category simultaneously this year makes me wonder how much of this is genuinely necessary cost recovery versus companies using shortages as convenient cover for margin expansion. Hard to actually verify from the outside which explanation is closer to true. Either way the consumer ends up paying more regardless of the underlying reason

[DeadChat]

Honestly wasn't planning to upgrade anytime soon but seeing prices creep up like this across every streaming device category makes me want to just buy something now before it gets even more expensive later. Feels like the smart move given how consistently prices keep climbing lately. Might regret waiting any longer at this point