Google is drastically increasing prices for TV streamers and smart home products

Anyone who uses smart home products or Google’s TV streaming box will probably have to be prepared for higher prices. In the USA, the TV streamer became 50 percent more expensive without announcement, while other products rose by a good ten percent.

Streaming devices and smart home products are increasing significantly

Google offers a wide portfolio of smart home hardware, including security cameras, doorbells with built-in cameras, smart displays, Wi-Fi devices and more. US customers now have to pay significantly more for many of the products, although Google has quietly increased the price but has not yet made an official statement. The price increases in Google’s smart home portfolio concern loud 9to5Google almost all currently available security cameras and various smart doorbells, some of which are also part of the Nest brand range. The price increase hits the Google TV streamer particularly hard.

Google’s TV streamer is now $50 more expensive

The 4K-capable streaming box, which has now replaced the previously offered Google TV dongles as a standalone device, previously cost a manageable $99 (around 92 euros) in the United States. Google is now charging a whopping $149 (around 138 euros) for the device, which corresponds to an increase of half the original purchase price. Google has not yet provided any official information about the reasons for the price increases. It is likely that the price increase is primarily related to higher costs for the chips and memory built into the device.

Because Google and other technology companies are investing heavily in expanding their AI capabilities, storage has become significantly more expensive. Google is now obviously passing on the resulting increased component costs to consumers instead of absorbing them, even though the company is one of the biggest causes of the storage crisis. By the way, the Google TV Streamer has four gigabytes of RAM and 32 GB of internal flash memory. When and whether Google will also raise the prices for its products in Germany is probably only a question of time.