Quick Summary: Key Takeaways
- The Price Shock: The Walmart new streaming stick (officially the Onn 4K Google TV device) costs under $20 in the US, making it the absolute cheapest 4K streamer on the market in 2026.
- The OS Upgrade: Unlike the cluttered, ad-heavy Amazon Fire OS, this device runs a clean, buttery-smooth version of Google TV.
- Performance: In our 48-hour continuous streaming test, it handled 4K HDR playback on Netflix and Max flawlessly without thermal throttling.
- The Verdict: If you are tied to the Apple ecosystem, stick to Apple TV. For everyone else, this is the best budget streaming device of the year. Period.
For years, the streaming hardware market in the USA and UK was a two-horse race: you either bought an Amazon Firestick or a Roku. But lately, consumers have grown exhausted. Fire TV menus are plagued with aggressive full-screen ads, and Roku's interface feels like it hasn't been updated since 2015.
Enter the Walmart new streaming stick (branded formally as the Onn. 4K Google TV Pro).
When rumors started trending that Walmart was quietly dominating the streaming aisle with a device that costs less than a decent pizza, I was highly skeptical. How good can a sub-$20 streaming box actually be? I purchased one from a local Walmart in Texas, hooked it up to our studio's 65-inch OLED TV, and spent a weekend pushing it to its absolute limits.
Here is everything you need to know before you buy, and whether it deserves a spot in your living room.
Unboxing & First Impressions: Cheap Price, Not Cheap Build
Opening the box, you don't get premium Apple packaging, but you get exactly what you need: the compact streaming box, a power cable, an HDMI cable, a surprisingly robust remote, and batteries.
The device itself is a small, matte-black pebble. It hides perfectly behind your TV. But the real star here is the remote. Unlike the fragile, creaky plastic of older budget streamers, the Onn remote has a solid, satisfying weight to it. The buttons have a tactile, clicky feedback, and it includes dedicated shortcut buttons for Netflix, YouTube, Disney+, and Paramount+.
Setup: Literally Plug and Play
Setting up budget tech is usually a nightmare of firmware updates and Wi-Fi drops. Not here. Because it runs on Google TV, setup is seamlessly integrated with your smartphone. I simply opened the Google Home app on my phone, scanned the QR code on the TV screen, and my Wi-Fi credentials and Google account were transferred instantly. From unboxing to watching the first YouTube video, the entire process took exactly four minutes.
Interface & Speed: The Google TV Magic
The biggest selling point of the Walmart new streaming stick isn't the hardware; it’s the software.
Booting it up takes less than a minute, and you are immediately greeted by the Google TV interface. If you've used a Chromecast with Google TV (which costs twice as much), you know exactly what to expect.
The interface is incredibly clean. Instead of pushing you to buy or rent movies from a specific ecosystem (like Amazon does), Google TV aggregates your existing subscriptions. If you search for "Dune: Part Two," it tells you exactly which app you already pay for has it available. Navigating through menus feels snappy, thanks to the 2GB of RAM—a rare luxury at this price point where 1GB is usually the standard.
The 4K HDR Stress Test
A clean menu is great, but can it actually stream high-bitrate video without stuttering?
I connected the device to our studio's 5GHz Wi-Fi network and booted up Blade Runner 2049 in 4K HDR. The colors popped instantly, and the contrast was stunning. More importantly, scrubbing forward and backward through the timeline resulted in less than a 2-second buffer time.
Even after four hours of continuous 4K streaming, touching the back of the device revealed only mild warmth. There was zero thermal throttling, a common issue that causes cheaper sticks to freeze or reboot mid-movie.
Pros and Cons: The Unfiltered Truth
What We Loved (Pros):
- Unbeatable price-to-performance ratio.
- Clean, ad-free Google TV interface.
- Excellent, tactile remote with TV volume/power controls.
- Snappy performance with 2GB of RAM.
- Wi-Fi 6 support for future-proofing your connection.
Where It Falls Short (Cons):
- Storage Limits: It only comes with 8GB of storage. After OS updates, you are left with about 4.5GB. If you download massive Android games, you will run out of space quickly.
- No Dolby Vision: It handles standard HDR10 beautifully, but true videophiles looking for Dolby Vision will need to look at the more expensive Nvidia Shield or Apple TV.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Can you sideload apps on the Walmart streaming stick? Yes. Because it is built on the Android TV architecture, you can easily enable "Developer Options" and sideload third-party APKs like Kodi or custom VPNs using the Downloader app.
Does it work with older, non-4K TVs? Absolutely. If your older 1080p TV has an HDMI port, the stick will automatically scale the resolution down to match your display while still giving you the smart Google TV interface.
Can I use a Bluetooth headset with it? Yes, it features Bluetooth 5.2. I successfully paired my Sony WH-1000XM5 headphones to watch a movie late at night without experiencing any audio lag.
The Final Verdict: Should You Buy It?
If your TV's built-in smart features are getting sluggish, or if you are simply tired of navigating through a maze of ads on your current Firestick, the Walmart Onn 4K is an absolute no-brainer.
It delivers 95% of the performance of a premium streaming box for a fraction of the cost. Walmart hasn't just entered the streaming wars; they have successfully created a "Firestick Killer."
Ready to upgrade? Check the current availability and pricing here: WALMART
