A new variant of Nvidia Shield has appeared on the Google Play Developer Console. The new hardware has the code name "mdarcy", unlike "darcy" of the current model, and it will run on Android 9 Pie.

Left: Current list "darcy" of the developer console. Right: New list "mdarcy". Click to zoom.

There are some differences between the two hardware lists, but the main one of them is the support of the Android 9 SDK on the new version, which would indicate that it will be launched with Android 9 Pie. The new "mdarcy" list contains the same Tegra X1 T210 SoC as the current Shield TV, but that does not necessarily mean that the hardware remains unchanged. It could just be a placeholder.

Line difference between darcy (red) and mdarcy (green), white is shared.

A new feature of the hot word system is also associated with mdarcy hardware. It's a bit speculative, because the documentation of this feature is rare, but this could indicates that the functionality of the hot-word-like wizard-like smart smartspeaker can be integrated, above and beyond the current voice input on the Shield remote. Adoptive storage support has also been discontinued.

A few months ago, XDA spotted two new remote hardware code names from Nvidia: "stormcaster" is a new Shield controller, and "Friday" is a new Shield remote. This material could also debut with this new Shield TV.

This new model seems to be a minor update, as implied by the hardware code name "mdarcy" just modified. That's hypothetical, but this refresh could also accompany a general update of the product lineup for Android 9. Pie – The Nvidia 2015 Shield TV is one of the most durable hardware ever to have worked Android, and the company continued to update it, even in 2017 the model has replaced. As we mentioned earlier, some of the details of the Play Console list could also be placeholders, as well as other changes and newer features associated with this new material.

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