The new Apple TV 4K 2026 has been a long time coming. The current Apple TV 4K has, after all, diligently punched in and out since its 2022 release, earning the top spot on our best streaming devices list.
Apple recently raised the price from $129/£149 to $199/£249 for the base Apple TV 4K model as part of a flurry of price hikes across its products, from MacBooks to iPads. The latter point alone should be enough to give pause if you’re in the market for a box, seeing as you’d be paying $70/£100 more for four-year-old hardware. It’s also still powered by an A15 Bionic chip, the same processor that debuted in the relatively-ancient iPhone 13.
Busy? The biggest changes are tipped to come from a faster processor, support for Apple’s next-generation AI-powered Siri experience, upgraded wireless connectivity, and a handful of smart home improvements. But if you want the full details, read on.
The new box might appear either later this year or in the spring (the latter is most likely I feel) as part of a move by Apple to do more smart home gear. This will be backed up by the improved AI-enhanced version of Siri and we’re expecting there to be some kind of HomePod with a display as well.
Design
If you’re hoping for a radical new Apple TV 4K redesign, you might be disappointed.
Most credible reports suggest that Apple is expected to stick with the same compact square-shaped design used by the current Apple TV 4K. The familiar black finish is also expected to remain, meaning the new model could look almost identical to its predecessor.
That wouldn’t be especially surprising if true – Apple has barely altered the Apple TV’s appearance over the past decade, instead focusing its upgrades on internal hardware and software. Sure, it would be nice to see a design tweak here and there, but on the whole, it’s the performance that counts, and it’s far from ugly to start with.
Performance and Apple Intelligence
Here’s where the biggest upgrades are expected. Current rumours point to Apple using the A17 Pro processor, first introduced in the iPhone 15 Pro. If true, that would represent a sizeable leap over the A15 Bionic found in today’s Apple TV 4K, bringing improved CPU and GPU performance alongside greater power efficiency, thanks to its 3nm manufacturing process.
The A17 Pro also supports hardware-accelerated ray tracing, which could improve graphics in Apple Arcade games and other titles available through tvOS. Of course, Apple could still opt for an even newer chip, such as the A18 or A19, given how long it’s been since the last Apple TV hardware refresh, although there’s currently no strong evidence pointing to either processor.
More importantly, the A17 Pro is the earliest Apple chip capable of running Apple Intelligence, making it the leading candidate if Apple plans to bring its AI features to the Apple TV. If Apple decides to bring its AI-powered features to the Apple TV, it would provide the hardware foundation needed to do so. Extra RAM also seems likely if Apple Intelligence support arrives, although no credible reports have revealed how much memory the new Apple TV could include.
If these reports prove accurate, the new Apple TV could become a much more capable AI-powered smart home hub, assuming Apple Intelligence support makes the jump to tvOS as widely expected.
Code buried inside the macOS Tahoe 26.7 release candidate, discovered by MacRumors, also points to a new Apple TV remote. The reference reads “ATVRemote1,5”. That’s a strong hint we’re looking at a next-generation model.
AirTag 2 introduced a second-generation Ultra Wideband chip. That chip enables precise, room-level tracking through the Find My network. Slotting a similar chip into the Siri Remote would let you locate it the same way you’d locate a missing AirTag: with a real-time direction and distance, rather than just an approximate ping.
It would be small addition, but it would fix the single most annoying thing about owning an Apple TV.
Connectivity and smart home features
Apple is also expected to upgrade the streaming box’s wireless hardware with a new N1 chip. The chip is expected to support Wi-Fi 7, offering faster speeds and lower latency for compatible routers, particularly when using the less congested 6GHz band. Bluetooth 6 will likely also be included.
The device will retain its role as both a Matter controller and Thread border router, allowing it to continue acting as the centre of an Apple Home smart home setup. , although Apple hasn’t confirmed any wireless specifications for the next-generation Apple TV.
So with all that said, if you’re thinking about buying an Apple TV today, don’t.
What’s new in Apple tvOS 27
The headline improvements in the recently-released tvOS 27 focus on speed and responsiveness. Apple says that apps will launch faster, animations will feel smoother, and interactions between Apple devices should become more responsive and app sizes should also be smaller. As with the other recent new software, Siri has also been much improved.
There’s also a redesigned Podcasts app for both audio and video playback and Apple Music gets some improvements too. Plus improved integration with Apple Home devices as well.
tvOS 27 is available on the second- and third-generation Apple
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