Summary

• Google plans to launch even cheaper, low-RAM TVs in partnership with select OEMs.
• Upgraded specs can improve the Google TV experience, making the move to lower RAM odd.
• The company should focus on software improvements for smoother performance, not affordable hardware.

While we know that Android 16 is coming to your Google TV soon, this week the company shared a few other details about the future, including even cheaper TVs with less RAM. Google plans to partner with "select OEMs to launch affordable and reliable low-RAM TVs," and that sounds like a terrible idea.

When it was known as Android TV, Google constantly improved its performance to make our TVs and dongles run smoother. However, both Android TV and the more modern Google TV struggle with performance, especially on budget TVs or models a few years old. At this point, I wish they'd focus on better TVs, not bigger or cheaper ones.

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TVs are pretty cheap these days, but apparently, they're not affordable enough. At Google I/O 2025, the company unveiled Android 16 for TV while bragging about over 270 million monthly Google TV and Android TV users. And while Android 16 will improve the experience, a little announcement during the middle of the event worries me. As noted by 9to5Google, Google's Shobana Radhakrishnan, Senior Director of Engineering, detailed a plan to create options catering to budget-conscious users yet still delivering quality entertainment.

More specifically, Google said it'll work with manufacturers to create "affordable and reliable low RAM panel TVs." For anyone who had the old Chromecast with Google TV, or even upgraded 4K models with only 2GB of RAM, you know very well how not enough RAM can hinder the experience, delivering stuttery performance in streaming apps, especially while navigating channel guides on apps like YouTube TV. We need better specifications, not lower ones.

Google knows upgraded specs can improve Google TV, which is why the newest TV Streamer now comes with 4GB and is its best model yet. Which is why I find this latest move to go lower so odd. With new features arriving all the time, like Gemini, powerful streaming apps with endless content, and features like YouTube TV multiview, RAM and memory requirements will go up, not down.

The company is taking the wrong approach by failing to establish a higher level of minimum requirements to ensure optimal performance in our living rooms. I hope this move will force Google to improve the software to run more smoothly, regardless of the hardware, but I have doubts.

In addition to more affordable Google TV options, the update to Android 16 will deliver Eclipsa Audio, a new format effort by Samsung and Google, auto viewing mode optimizations, better streaming, HDMI-CEC improvements, and more. Google TV will also start allowing developers to nag us with popups to leave reviews and ratings on apps.

I guess we'll just have to wait and see what these new Google TV options deliver, how Google manages to fine-tune the software, and go from there. In the meantime, you can always try this custom launcher to speed up performance and tame your Google TV home screen.

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