If you’re the kind of person who buys an iPhone in August, congratulations, you’ve never once benefited from Apple’s pricing calendar, and this article is for you. For the past decade (with the exception of a couple of pandemic-addled years when even Apple lost track of the month), Apple has announced new iPhone models in September. Even if you don’t want the latest model, the current ones usually drop in price at this point, so August is never, ever the time to buy a new iPhone.
This year, the same rule applies to the Apple TV 4K. Somewhere in Cupertino, there’s a small black box in a drawer, fully finished, occasionally taken out and fondly stroked, then put back because Siri isn’t ready. So if you were about to click “buy” on the current Apple TV 4K, please, for the love of all that is HDR10+, don’t. Here’s what you’d be missing (assuming the rumours are true).
It’s been four years, so why now?
The current Apple TV 4K launched in October 2022. By some tech standards, it would be the equivalent of a fax machine, though streaming devices don’t move all that fast. It’s a wonder they continue to exist at all, to be honest, given that most TVs now offer access to streaming services without additional hardware, but here we are.
It’s still powered by an A15 Bionic chip, the same processor that debuted in the iPhone 13, and Apple recently raised the price from $129/£149 to $199/£249 for the base 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, seeing as you’d be paying $70/£100 more for four-year-old hardware, but that’s even truer when you consider a new model is rumoured to be on the horizon.
Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman – the man who seems to know what’s in Tim Cook’s diary before Tim Cook does – reported in late July that a new Apple TV and HomePod mini are “nearly ready to launch” as part of Apple’s smart home push. The hold-up, as it has been for what feels like an ice age, is Apple’s overhauled Siri AI, which is now finally making its way out, fashionably late, with iOS 27.
What new features can we expect from the next Apple TV?
Brace yourself, because the new Apple TV is not expected to feature a redesign. Sadly, it seems, Apple still hasn’t taken a leaf out of Amazon’s book and made a stick instead of a box for the next Apple TV. Reports instead suggest the next Apple TV will look identical to the current one – same black squircle and palm-sized footprint that will keep gathering dust behind your TV. You therefore aren’t exercising patience for a fancy new colour or shape.
Under the hood, though, you can reportedly expect the A17 Pro, as indicated by references in Apple’s software code. This processor was first seen in the iPhone 15 Pro in 2023 and it powers the iPad mini too, so yes, it’s still an old chip by Apple standards, but it’s the oldest one capable of running Apple Intelligence. That’s presumably why it’s been chosen rather than anything newer, hopefully allowing Apple to keep costs reasonable (the Apple TV is already considerably more expensive than its rivals), while bringing features such as hardware-accelerated ray tracing, a GPU bump, support for AV1 decoding, and, of course, the smarter Siri.
Connectivity is said to be getting a shake-up too, courtesy of Apple’s N1 wireless chip, which was first introduced on the iPhone Air and the iPhone 17 line. That means Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6, and, crucially for smart home nerds, built-in Thread support, rather than Thread being reserved for whichever model happens to have an Ethernet port. Whether your broadband can actually use Wi-Fi 7 is another matter entirely (you’ll need a compatible router), but at least the support is there, in case we don’t get another Apple TV update for years after this one.
There’s also chatter about a refreshed Siri Remote, though details are thin on the ground for now. One feature suggested for the remote is Ultra Wideband, which would make it compatible with Precision Finding. This would allow you to locate the remote using the same tech that finds your AirTags, rather than the current method of excavating the sofa cushions like an archaeological dig. But for now, that’s unconfirmed, like the rest of the speculation.
Is it worth waiting, then?
I’ll be honest, the upcoming Apple TV refresh probably isn’t going to blow your socks off, as has been the case with the last few iterations of the streaming box. Based on the rumours, we’re looking at a phone chip that’s two generations behind, fitted into a box that looks no different from the current model (though that’s not necessarily a bad thing).
The improved connectivity could be great for those looking to use the Apple TV as a smart home hub, however, and the new Siri might actually understand when you shout “play my favourite film” into the remote rather than launching a Nicolas Cage marathon. Plus, given that the current model now starts at $199/£249 with specs from four years ago, and a better box is reportedly weeks away, buying the current Apple TV 4K now would just be daft.
Read more: This is what the incoming Apple TV 4K box needs to do to make me buy it
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