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An Apple TV Refresh is Coming in 2025 - Here's What You Should Know

kevine said:
You're making a different argument than the one I was engaged in with what I wrote. I was replying to someone saying that the Apple TV is way behind other STBs like the Shield. It's not, it's different. What you wrote is an argument for why so many people aren't buying STBs to begin with.

The answer is the same though...

Just like Apple isn't going to launch a product like the Shield which prioritizes things other than streaming/subscription content, Apple isn't going to develop tvOS for 3rd party TVs. They don't do this with PCs, with phones, watches, tablets or anything else they do.

The Apple TV remains, by far, the best box in terms of UI and UE for the Apple ecosystem and online streaming/subscription services and also is better in that regard than anything built in to smart TVs. That's the niche they've carved out of the market and they're not going to deviate from that anytime soon.

Want games: Playstation, Xbox.
Want high-end audio from remuxed Blu-Ray: Shield.
Want best video options, best UI, and best UE if in Apple ecosystem: Apple TV.
Want to be cheap about all of this: use what's built into your TV.
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I have owned and used all of them and people have to stop defend Apple products like their work and get paid by them. I am a shareholder and even I can see that AppleTV in comparison to what it offers is rubbish. What good is to r hardware if the rest is inferior?

Really think Siri on AppleTV is smart, think again. Can you even run a web browser on an AppleTV or even a FileSystem, etc.

Just give it up already, AppleTV as it presently stands is a failure of a hobby.
 
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Powerbooky said:
I wonder... what will the power consumption be of this new 2025 AppleTV. We have two 2017 ATV 4K and these are amazingly power efficient.



Wow, overheating??? What model do you have? Our 2017 64GB AppleTV 4K never gets hot at all when we play games.
iCloud syncs well too (wired network). Only very large Apple Music playlists (+3000 items) causes a long freeze of the app.




Yeah, I see what you mean, but I'd say you need a mini Linux PC instead if you want all that flexibility. Those GoogleTV dongles, had them and they're horrible. Dangling on the back of the TV, slowly breaking the HDMI board connector. It's cheap all right, including the firmware. Just like those cable company media boxes, the UI always feels slow, never-finished.
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I have the ChromeCast with GoogleTV put some double sided tape on it or Velcro and the anxiety is gone. Considering this version is a dongle the limiting factor is the RAM but the oddly enough the STB version has three times the RAM and would be a steal if on sale.
 
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10anta said:
The Apple of old used to say it was ‘selling experiences’ or ‘utility’, ‘not just making hardware and software’.

Apple needs to ask what it wasn’t the Apple TV to be and what it should allow users to do, not just make pretty hardware in the hope it generates profit.
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After being released more than a decade ago by the late Steve Jobs as a “hobby”, Apple at present still doesn’t know what this AppleTV hobby is to be. It fall in the pile of VisionPro and other litter bin innovations.

If AppleTV was discontinued tomorrow I don’t think anyone would care let alone blink at its omission.

Apple should redirect the hardware and software resources including the money to other areas that could benefit instead like a better Siri for starters or even AI.
 
code-m said:
After being released more than a decade ago by the late Steve Jobs as a “hobby”, Apple at present still doesn’t know what this AppleTV hobby is to be. It fall in the pile of VisionPro and other litter bin innovations.

If AppleTV was discontinued tomorrow I don’t think anyone would care let alone blink at its omission.

Apple should redirect the hardware and software resources including the money to other areas that could benefit instead like a better Siri for starters or even AI.
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Even though I have many ATVs and enjoy them, I think you're right

I was really surprised what a great experience one can make with a third party launcher on a Chromecast TV w/ Remote for $30. One can dial it in to have literally nothing but what you want, looking how you want and even customize remote buttons. I'd be just fine and happy with that solution if ATVs went away
 
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Expecting it to be a very minor change with a newer chip. Will be good if the price reduces a bit. But it might remain the same.
 
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Lazy not to redesign the form factor.

Also enables third party retailers to clear out inventory as there’s no obvious visual cue to unwitting customers they’d be getting an older version.
 
jicon said:
Generally getting any decent quality high framerate game off the app store has nine times out of ten always been a miss, even on iPad. Pipe dream.
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There are games for tvOS that are capable of high frame rates, but the A15 in the ATV4K3 thermal throttles pretty bad due to being passively cooled.

There are many games that perform better on the older A12 ATV4K2 than the newer ATV4K3 due to the ATV4K2 having a fan.


Spokeyourname said:
They need to take a look at the Nvidia Shield Pro, and improve upon those features and specs.
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Features aside, the now three generations old 2017 ATV4K1 with the A10X had better raw performance than the Nvidia Shield Pro currently does.
 
Only 1 thing... HI RES AUDIO... absolutely stupid that the DAC is fixed at 48Khz... I don't want resampling, or a HMDI through so my amp can decode the audio. I want 44.1khz when it's 44.1 and 96 when it's in 96. the MacBook Pro can do that, why not the 1 device that is connected to my Atmos setup

No I don't care if YOU can't hear difference...
 
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Powerbooky said:
Wow, overheating??? What model do you have? Our 2017 64GB AppleTV 4K never gets hot at all when we play games.
iCloud syncs well too (wired network). Only very large Apple Music playlists (+3000 items) causes a long freeze of the app.
Click to expand...

That's because the 2017 model has a fan. Newer models don't.
I have a wired connection too, doesn't keep it from discarding game progress.
 
I probably don’t know enough to speak with any degree of accuracy on this topic but I do wish all Apple devices were WiFi 7 capable. I know it’s expensive, but it seems like matured enough technology.
 
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For beefing up the Apple TV for gaming, I'd rather just see them add a TV Interface option to the Mac Mini. The form factor and hardware power is already there; they just need the software for the TV experience.
 
This sounds nice. But an OS upgrade that’d make a world of difference is changing “Match Range” to being “Match Range and Resolution”. There’s some apps that I won’t name, but rhyme with MSG/Gotham Sports 😉, that I’m forced to change the resolution to 1080 or I’m treated with a slide show in performance.
 
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Hopefully they’ll make it USB-C powered. The AC power supply is only 18W. I’ve converted one of mine to DC power for portability - it’s connected and powered by a portable 16” 4K OLED monitor. I can watch without having to plug anything in.

I can watch on an iPad too, but I believe the Apple TV 4K streams higher quality than laptops/ipads.
 
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I think they may actually do a binned version of A18 just to keep the software stack support simple.
 
code-m said:
After being released more than a decade ago by the late Steve Jobs as a “hobby”, Apple at present still doesn’t know what this AppleTV hobby is to be. It fall in the pile of VisionPro and other litter bin innovations.

If AppleTV was discontinued tomorrow I don’t think anyone would care let alone blink at its omission.

Apple should redirect the hardware and software resources including the money to other areas that could benefit instead like a better Siri for starters or even AI.
Click to expand...
You're right: Apple TV remains a product in their portfolio without a coherent direction and lacking in vision.
 
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code-m said:
I have owned and used all of them and people have to stop defend Apple products like their work and get paid by them. I am a shareholder and even I can see that AppleTV in comparison to what it offers is rubbish. What good is to r hardware if the rest is inferior?

Really think Siri on AppleTV is smart, think again. Can you even run a web browser on an AppleTV or even a FileSystem, etc.

Just give it up already, AppleTV as it presently stands is a failure of a hobby.
Click to expand...
Look, I’m a geek and an engineer. I’ll be very blunt: on a streaming box by far the majority of people dont care about accessing a filesystem. That’s an unbelievably bad reason to trash an atv. Yes, if you want that a system you can get to the guts of is better, but not only do most people not want that I’d actually argue most people would prefer they *never* have to think about something like the filesystem on such a device.

As far as browser goes btw the general solution, across the board, has been phone projection for a while. No one wants to browse using the regular remote and very very few people want to keep a keyboard/mouse around for their streaming box. It’s a non-issue for almost everyone on a device like this. Airplay and casting won that battle ages ago

It’s an appliance. You dont want an appliance, and that’s fine, but that doesnt make the atv bad
 
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code-m said:
I am finding it hard to understand why Apple keeps investing time and money when it puts no effort into making the AppleTV competitive.

With a $30 GoogleTV dongle I can add Ethernet, SD card and external storage options via USB-C for under $50. Have access to AppleTV+ including all the other Big Name streaming services and more so. Plus I can add a web browser and use it as an ultra portable computer in a pocket.

Apple seems to be lost when it comes to AppleTV, iPad/OS and VisionPro. Not sure what is happening in the spaceship.
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Some of us want a nicer streaming box setup.

The cheap stuff will let you watch tv just fine. But it's the other stuff that separates Apple.

Nicer remote. Fast box. No ads. Slick UI. Simpatico with iPHone and Airpods and Homepods.
 
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I'm at the point I might just buy a Mini and make it into my desired Apple TV. Its more expensive buy vastly more configurable and can work very similar with tweaks. Im using my M1 now but it's a bit bulky for dangling behind a tv lol
 
Dorfdad said:
I'm at the point I might just buy a Mini and make it into my desired Apple TV. Its more expensive buy vastly more configurable and can work very similar with tweaks. Im using my M1 now but it's a bit bulky for dangling behind a tv lol
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Are you aware of any software that can make it work like an Apple TV perhaps in conjunction with some third-party Bluetooth remote?

I’m very much a candidate for this exact move you’re talking about
 
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