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Nvidia SHIELD Tablet refresh apparently cancelled

by Mark Tyson on 12 August 2016, 14:01

Tags: NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA)

Quick Link: HEXUS.net/qac5nl

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Back in May we saw signs that a new, more powerful, Nvidia SHIELD Tablet was on the way. Such a device had just been listed at on the United States Federal Communications Commission (FCC) database. Little was revealed about the updated spec but it seemed like the SHIELD Tablet update would sport the same size screen, in a more compact frame, offer enhanced wireless communications, and most commentators thought it would pack the faster Tegra X1 processor.

The current Nvidia SHIELD Tablet K1

Now the same source, FCC documentation, has been updated with a letter of cancellation for the device. If you scroll down the linked page you will come to a section of 'Available Exhibits'. The top linked document in that list is the 'dismissal request letter' from Nvidia.

The letter is dated 1st August and is rather short. It provides the original FCC submission reference number and original filing date then asks for the FCC to dismiss the grant/license to bring the product to the US. Nvidia confirms that the device hasn't been marketed/sold anywhere else in the world and says its request is based simply upon the following:

"For business reasons, the product has been cancelled."

The last Nvidia SHIELD Tablet was launched in July 2014 and reviewed by HEXUS here.

On the information we have it's hard to say whether or not Nvidia is abandoning the Tablet market. Taiwan computer industry news site DigiTimes only reported a few days back that "White-box tablet players see weak shipments in 2Q16". Such an obvious decline in the Tablet market is clearly a good 'business reason' to avoid developing and launching tablet computers at this time.

The Nvidia SHIELD home page has a top product carousel featuring four slides, all of which promote the SHIELD Android TV Console. Furthermore, in the Nvidia financial results there was not a single mention of its SHIELD products good or bad, either in terms of current performance or in outlook statements.

HEXUS Forums :: 13 Comments

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Posted by CAT-THE-FIFTH - Fri 12 Aug 2016 14:13
The new Nintendo console has a Tegra chip so I expect it makes more sense for Nvidia to concentrate on that.
Posted by YenRug - Fri 12 Aug 2016 14:15
Not one speculation that this might be because they're meant to be supplying the main chipset for the Nintendo NX?

You know your device has a fairly limited market, with what could be considered a directly competing product using your own product about to be announced by a company who's whole brand and existence is based on gaming; it would probably be commercial suicide to launch a new version, risking your own money and splitting the market, when you can let someone else buy your chipsets instead.
Posted by Smudger - Fri 12 Aug 2016 15:47
The fact that the K1 tablet is sold out everywhere and you can't get one for love nor money implies that either there is demand for this sort of tablet, owing to the dearth of decent small tablets available, or they just didn't make enough in the first place.
Posted by nobodyspecial - Fri 12 Aug 2016 16:01
Maybe if you put out something a bit different it would sell. I for one would like a 13-17in with far better gpu that is out there now. My dad would like a 20+. We both had our fill of 10in which sucks for gaming IMHO. It's just too small to read stuff in the games and for both of us not enjoyable. For him (and old man…LOL) print is too small to enjoy the web even. I hope they at least sell their chips to someone else (HP, toshiba have done larger ones before etc) AND allows tegrazone/streaming from gpu. The had better at least re-rev the console soon and up the watts (heck grow the dang box) and I'll be interested. The current one is too weak IMHO since they went so thing etc. Build one with a heatsink/fan and 100w with 14/10nm (dual chips? Bring it!) and I'm in. Just emulate ps4/xbox1 size. If it can't do 1080p with mid-max detail I'll pass again. I'm not looking for another roku, I want to game on it with android as all the engines up their gaming ability (ue4, unity 5.5 etc etc). If Nintendo is why they cancelled the tablet, put out a rev2 of the console.

They would attract more customers if they started making (or funding) their own android games just like sony/msft/nintendo. They have a great device, but need more games designed for their console. The ports they've done of old games show even the current one has juice (just not enough for me…ROFL). Exclusives for a few years (1-3mil for 10 a year or something) and worst case you put them out for other devices/pc's if it all fails in a few years. Use the proceeds from the games to keep upgrading the unit every 2yrs. They built the handheld for <10mil (easier when you own the chips), and at this point with shrinks etc, you should be able to easily plop the new chips in every 2yrs without much effort other than a screen upgrade, or for the consoles simply bigger drives+newer memory and new socs. It shouldn't be too difficult for them to make the games run on each version since they own the gpu and can simply ID each soc and turn off features accordingly to keep up fps on older models. GRID adds a ton of content already, so it seems foolish to toss this idea before at least plopping in new versions even in the same boxes. They have 10nm stuff hitting at xmas from pretty much everyone, so surely they can put out a massive improvement Q1 or something. Galaxy S8 is 10nm rumored to be Feb2017. With apple going tsmc, surely samsung is willing to deal on 10nm to take up some of that slack. Qcom 830 coming early 2017 also.

Cmon NV, shield console rev2 with 10nm and a big enough box so we can mod it with whatever HD we want later.
https://www.amazon.com/NVIDIA-SHIELD-Streaming-Player-Android-Gaming/dp/B00U33Q940
1350 4.5 star ratings at amazon (not including another bunch for the upgraded model). I haven't seen too many haters of this box from owners. My dad once one in place of a roku for most streaming other than crap you can't get on shield tv after seeing it, and knowing the features (kodi, plex, and the basic stuff of course), but I told him to wait for gen2. We cut the cord years ago, so this would make a nice addition under the tv if they put out a rev2. We would both be buyers of a new box. It's either that or we both build htpc's. We're sick of buying blurays to play more formats, and roku seriously lacks in this area already.

One last point: If they want to grow this platform they'd best let Nintendo stream from grid/gpu and use tegrazone games or something. The 3DS has sold more consoles than xbox1/ps4 combined (60mil+, and the DS sold 150mil+). That is potentially a huge add to the people using grid/gpu streaming/tegrazone. If nintendo sells that many of the next one, that will draw devs, especially if they put out their own box that sells a few more million on top with far more power (say 2 chips, like xbox1/ps4). I'd have no problem paying 350 for a top end android box that rivals the others in perf. They already have dozens of games I'd like to play on the tv on android never mind what will come with the latest engines over the next few years and billions of capable gpus on android once 10nm hits. It's apparently around 120mil to design a soc at 10nm, and NV has to do it anyway for each gen of car tech. Not sure why you wouldn't rev the shield tv each time to sell more socs, even if it's a token chip replacement with bigger drives/mem. Probably just wishful thinking…LOL. I have zero interest in xbox1/ps4 and $60 games. I keep my PC up to date for hardcore stuff and hope for a gen2 shield tv for android for much cheaper games for tv stuff (or stream from my next gpu).
Posted by lumireleon - Fri 12 Aug 2016 17:27
the people who buy DS and other consoles are the ordinary humans offcoz I'm no ordinary that's why my system has a card with GDDR5 memory and openCL performance out of the ordinary.

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