For a while, I recommended the Fire TV Stick 4K Max and the Google TV Streamer to anyone looking for a solid Android streaming experience, mainly because they were well-priced and packed plenty of premium features. But a lot has changed in just the past few months.
Back in June, Apple raised the price of the Apple TV 4K from $130 to $200 because of the ongoing global memory shortage, triggering a domino effect of price hikes across the streaming hardware market, with Roku raising prices in July and Amazon following in August.
Some Fire TV Sticks didn't go up in price as much as others, with the Fire TV Stick HD getting just a $5 increase. But the Fire TV Stick 4K Max took the biggest hit, jumping $25 from $60 to $85.
Google was the one company that held out the longest, but at the beginning of September, it finally raised the price of the Google TV Streamer from $100 to $150, a whopping 50 percent increase.
That means that in just the past month, two of the most popular Android streamers have gotten significantly more expensive. And what were once arguably some of the best-value streaming devices around aren't nearly as appealing anymore.
So, if you're looking for an Android streamer, what's the best option now? Thankfully, there's a solid alternative to both Android Fire TV Sticks and the Google TV Streamer, and, most importantly, the price is actually worth it.