The NVIDIA SHIELD Tablet K1 is currently out of stock across the web – at NVIDIA and third party websites such as Amazon. NVIDIA have not released a statement regarding the SHIELD Tablet K1’s demise and the device has only been available for a relatively short period of time, although it is very similar to the original NVIDIA SHIELD Tablet so from some perspectives the device is over a year old. The source website reached out to NVIDIA and a company representative explained that there has been no news within the business about the device being discontinued. The representative also explained that the SHIELD Tablet K1 would reappear on the NVIDIA website, plus others, but could not confirm a timeframe when this would happen. This suggests that the device is experiencing production delays. The original NVIDIA SHIELD Tablet had its share of issues and was the subject to a significant product recall.
The device itself is based on hardware that was contemporary eighteen months ago. The NVIDIA SHIELD Tablet K1 has an 8.0-inch, FHD (1,920 by 1,080 or 1080p resolution) display, stereo speakers and a 2.2 GHz, 32-bit, quad core NVIDIA K1 System-on-Chip, which features 192 GPU cores. This chipset is backed up by 2 GB of RAM plus 16 GB of internal storage, although NVIDIA have provided the Tablet K1 a MicroSD card slot for adding additional storage. The tablet is designed with gaming in mind and has been designed to cope with the heat of the processor. It comes with a large 5,200 mAh internal battery, Android Marshmallow under a “stock plus” user interface with several NVIDIA gaming applications bundled such as NVIDIA GEFORCE Now, which streams games from NVIDIA’s cloud based gaming servers straight to the tablet. Although the tablet it based on an older generation processor, it is still capable with today’s operating system: going on NVIDIA’s information, the Tablet K1 is perhaps experiencing production delays rather than being phased out.
This written, we’ve seen a new NVIDIA tablet going through the FCC and it is not inconceivable that the Tablet K1 will be joined by a newer model, which could lead to the older model eventually being phased out. Perhaps these production delays could accelerate the demise of the Tablet K1.