The Android TV market has somewhat stagnated, largely because of the fact that there's not a whole lot you can do with one. They can stream TV shows, movies, and do some of the things that regular Android smartphones can do, but there's not a whole lot of reason to upgrade once you have one, especially if it's a somewhat recent model. Companies do like to put out low-end Android TV devices, however, which may suffer performance issues.
"Performance issues" can vary in meaning from application lag to not even being able to play HD content, something that Google doesn't want to be associated with the platform. Cord Cutters News managed to speak with Shalini Govil-Pai, the Senior Director of Product Management for Android TV at CES 2019, who said that Google would be looking to impose minimum hardware requirements for future Android TV devices launched.
One of the things that Shalini Govil-Pai made clear is that Google will not abandon lower-end Android TV boxes, suggesting that the company knows that there is certainly a place for them in the market overall. Instead, they are aiming to make sure that there is a consistent performance level between devices. Another interesting piece of information she revealed is that Google has created a team whose sole purpose is bringing new apps to the Android TV platform, something that it severely lacks. This marks a further commitment being made by Google to the platform, after finally sending out developer kits for Android Pie-based Android TV boxes.
There are lots of options for Android TV boxes, some of the most popular of which come from the likes of NVIDIA and Xiaomi. For the most part, they tend to be set and forget. You plug it in, log in to your Google account, and download all of your usual media streaming applications. Past that, they tend to just work. The fact that some devices simply don't have as smooth of a setup experience is telling as to why Google may wish to set minimum hardware requirements, as a TV box should work as it's designed to. We'll wait and see what Google has in store, but this can likely only be a good thing.