Apple recently raised hardware prices across the board, but the steepest rise came to a product you just wouldn’t expect – the Apple TV 4K streaming box.
The standard Wi-Fi -enabled 64GB Apple TV 4K has gone from $129 to a huge $199, while if you want Ethernet on board, you need to pay an extra $50 for the 128GB version – so it’s now $249. All these price hikes are due to increasing memory (and other component) costs, largely because of increased demand from AI applications.
It was quite difficult to justify the price of the Apple TV 4K anyway in the face of other streaming sticks being a lot cheaper. Given that the device is now four years old, it makes it very poor value for money. Many new smart TVs have Apple TV and other features such as AirPlay built-in.
Of course, it fills a premium gap that others don’t and at the old prices seemed OK value, if not exceptional. After all, there is on-board Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos support while if you have already invested in a high-end TV but it doesn’t have AirPlay, it’s great for browsing through your photos, working out with Fitness+ or screen sharing other stuff from your phone. It also eschews a lot of the performance issues with older smart TVs, many of which simply aren’t up to the task.
But it doesn’t do everything brilliantly – app support is patchy, Siri is just about OK and now the extra price does make the choice to buy one rather challenging.
Apple has hiked many prices in the wake of increased memory costs during 2026. While the Apple TV 4K has the biggest percentage price rise, the headline act among the rises is that the MacBook Neo‘s accessible $599/£599 price point has sadly had another $100/£100 added to it. Elsewhere there was a 30% rise for the HomePod mini while the iPad Air was up 25%.
Speaking to the Wall Street Journal recently, Apple CEO Tim Cook called the increases “unavoidable”, citing the industry-wide pressures that have seen significant price hikes over the last twelve months.
“Unfortunately, price increases are unavoidable,” he said. “We’re doing our best to mitigate the huge increases that are being passed to us, and we’ve been trying to shield our customers from the increases, but the situation has become unsustainable.”
We are expecting a new 2026 Apple TV to launch at some point this year which should boast a faster processor, support for Apple’s next-generation Siri AI experience, upgraded wireless connectivity, and a handful of smart home improvements.
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