Google's latest wave of product price hikes is pretty bad, but it could have been worse
A bunch of Nest devices and the Google TV Streamer (4K) are now more expensive than ever, but the prices of the search giant's smart speaker and smart displays are unchanged.
Yes, the inevitable has extended to Big G's one and only streaming device available today, as well as both Nest Doorbell variants and three of four Nest Cam models. Obviously, this is not good news for fans and prospective buyers of any of these products, but I'm actually pleasantly surprised that a few other Google-made gadgets have managed to escape the company's price hikes... for the time being.
Here's everything that's more expensive now
Google TV Streamer (4K) - new price 149.99, old price $99.99;
If I were to focus on the negative, I'd probably point out that the $50 hike of Google's 4K-capable digital media streamer is quite obscene, equating to no less than 50 percent of the product's original list price.
The newest indoor Nest Cam is 30 bucks costlier than before. | Image by Google
But I'd much rather look at the bright side and commend the company for only adding 20 bucks to the old retail prices of the battery-powered Nest Cam and the Nest Doorbell in both wired and battery-powered versions. The $30 (or 30 percent) and $50 (or 33 percent) price increases of the wired indoor Nest Cam and wired outdoor Nest Cam (2nd Gen), respectively, are not that bad either, although they could have obviously been smaller... or nonexistent.
What's not getting a price hike today?
For starters (and oddly enough), the wired Nest Cam with floodlight system is going unchanged, at a $279.99 list price. Perhaps more importantly (and somewhat surprisingly), the Google Home Speaker is not getting costlier either.
The same goes for the Nest Hub (2nd Gen) and Nest Hub Max smart displays, at least in theory, because the latter has been listed as out of stock at Google for quite some time now and is thus unlikely to ever return (at $229 or a higher price point).
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The Gemini-powered Google Home Speaker is retaining its original $99.99 list price... for now. | Image by Google
Of course, this is hardly surprising, at least as far as the Pixel Watch 5 and Pixel 11 family are concerned, which were commercially released fairly recently... at higher prices than their forerunners. But hey, it seems like anything can happen in today's mobile industry, so let's be glad the Pixel 10a, for instance, isn't already getting even more expensive.
Here are more news stories about recent and upcoming price hikes in the tech industry:
That, my dear friends and readers, is the million-dollar question, and the answer... depends on a lot of variables. The Google TV Streamer (4K), for instance, absolutely remains an Amazon must-buy because... the e-commerce giant hasn't bumped up the old price yet.
Google TV Streamer (4K)
Amazon has yet to increase the list price of the 4K-capable Google TV Streamer, which arguably makes for a better deal than some of the e-commerce giant's small discounts on this product over the last few months. The media streaming device comes with 32GB internal storage space, 4GB RAM, Dolby Atmos and Dolby Atmos support, as well as a bundled voice remote.
That's pretty weird given that Amazon's $84.99 Fire TV Stick 4K Max and $199.99 Fire TV Cube (3rd Gen) are two of the 4K Google TV Streamer's top rivals right now, but instead of questioning why this is happening, you should probably waste no time and pull the trigger at an unchanged price while you still can.
What do you think about Google's newest product price hikes?
The Nest Cams and Nest Doorbells, meanwhile, are hard to recommend at their new prices when a Ring Indoor Cam, for instance, normally costs just $49.99 and is frequently on sale at $20 less than that, not to mention the $99.99 Ring Battery Doorbell 2K that you can currently buy at a cool $30 Amazon discount.
Amazon, of course, is having trouble competing with the $99.99 Google Home Speaker, although if you're on a tight budget and don't want to purchase that device or the $119.99 Echo Dot Max, you can always opt for a diminutive Echo Dot at a $79.99 list price or a frequent $25 discount.
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Adrian, a mobile technology enthusiast since the Nokia 3310 era, has been a dynamic presence in the tech journalism field, contributing to Android Authority, Digital Trends, and Pocketnow before joining PhoneArena in 2018. His expertise spans across various platforms, with a particular fondness for the diversity of the Android ecosystem. Despite the challenges of balancing full-time parenthood with his work, Adrian's passion for tech trends, running, and movies keeps him energized. His commitment to mid-range smartphones has led to an eclectic collection of devices, saved from personal bankruptcy by his preference for 'adequate' over 'overpriced'.
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