January 31, 2026
The box that outlived your phone
Nvidia's 10-year effort to make the Shield TV the most updated Android device
A decade of updates has fans cheering, memeing—and begging for a new box
TLDR: Nvidia’s 2015 Shield TV has been updated for nearly 10 years, winning fans who say it still streams and upscales like a champ. The thread split between praise for its longevity and a loud chorus demanding new hardware, with jokes about the “immortal box” and jabs at Nvidia’s modern priorities.
Nvidia’s tiny TV box from 2015 is somehow the most faithful gadget in the living room, still getting updates while many phones tap out. The company admits it “built Shield for ourselves,” then pivoted from a gamer-first box to a premium streamer for gamers as the audience demanded. That backstory got fans feeling sentimental—and rowdy. One camp is all heart-eyes: people brag their OG Shield still runs everything from Jellyfin (a free media library) to Moonlight (a game-streaming app) and makes 720p video look surprisingly sharp. Another camp is banging pots and pans for new hardware: “Now if only they would release an updated one,” sighs a top comment.
The jokes are flying. Users crowned it the “immortal TV box” and the “box that outlived my phone.” Meanwhile, cynics took a swipe at Nvidia’s success: it’s “ironic” that before the AI boom, Nvidia had the appetite to make a cult-favorite gadget—and now, not so much. With Google and Samsung only recently promising seven years of updates, fans say Shield’s decade-long support set the standard. The vibe: love letter meets open letter—gratitude for the decade of care, plus a very loud, very meme-y request for a fresh model. Nvidia, your move.
Key Points
- •Nvidia’s Shield Android TV, launched in 2015, has received sustained updates and support for a decade.
- •Andrew Bell states Nvidia never abandoned Shield and plans to continue support.
- •Shield’s development drew on Nvidia’s GPU strengths, the 2007 PortalPlayer acquisition for Tegra CPUs, and Android TV’s 2014 UI.
- •The original 2015 Shield emphasized gaming, including GeForce Now; later 2017 and 2019 refreshes focused more on streaming.
- •Nvidia repositioned Shield as a premium “streamer for gamers,” differentiating from lower-cost set-top boxes.