New Apple TV model

[wilderkun]

Why would Apple make a stick of it already licensed airplay, has the Apple TV app available to third party and also has iTunes libraries? They aren’t going to focus on old TVs. They are about new purchases. There’s literally no point in an Apple TV that doesn’t have an App Store, and for that you’d need more than a stick

 

[subjonas]

Why would Apple make a stick of it already licensed airplay, has the Apple TV app available to third party and also has iTunes libraries? They aren’t going to focus on old TVs. They are about new purchases. There’s literally no point in an Apple TV that doesn’t have an App Store, and for that you’d need more than a stick

I didn't say a stick makes business sense for Apple. You said "there is no reason" for it, and that there is no market need that it would fill. That I disagree with. If your only point is that Apple doesn't have enough financial motivation to fulfill that demand, I have no opinion about that.

 

[DJHB1980]

There's literally no reason for a stick. If you have the stick, you'd be unable to run 90% of the apps, and 99% of new tvs have the Apple TV app installed, a good amount have access to your library. If you had a stick you'd only be able to access those two things. There's no point in it, and people think it's gonna happen, but it won't. Please stop beating this horse.

im not 100% sure of what you mean,

if apple released an apple tv device in the form of an HDMI stick as well as a box, there is no reason for it?
is that what you are saying?

being able to do much the same on a stick in a different room just by plugging this into an upstairs or wherever tv or on travels is not useful
the portability alone would be a massive factor.

educate me/us on why a stick compared to a box is so not needed
if i wanted apple tv on 4 tv's, do you think 4 boxes is more sensible that 1 box and 3 sticks or even 4 sticks?

im just not understanding the rationale at all?

you think tv's with airplay (wher available) is a better or replicable alternative to having the apple tv in a HDMI stick form?

 

[wilderkun]

The stick wouldn’t be able to have a very good processor to run apps. So you couldn’t run games/apps that the regular Apple TV can. The only reason to buy one would be to get airplay or purchased movies. Which you can get for free with 90% of TVs under 5 years old.

 

[subjonas]

The stick wouldn’t be able to have a very good processor to run apps. So you couldn’t run games/apps that the regular Apple TV can. The only reason to buy one would be to get airplay or purchased movies. Which you can get for free with 90% of TVs under 5 years old.

The purpose of a stick isn't to replace the set top box--it's a much more portable and more limited supplemental device (basically just AirPlay and maybe ATV+ app) to travel with and use with the many non-AirPlay/ATV+ TVs that are currently in businesses and people's homes and will be for a long time since many if not most people and businesses rarely upgrade TVs. People basically stopped upgrading TVs after they got mobile devices.

 

[wilderkun]

The purpose of a stick isn't to replace the set top box--it's a much more portable and more limited supplemental device (basically just AirPlay and maybe ATV+ app) to travel with and use with the many non-AirPlay/ATV+ TVs that are currently in businesses and people's homes and will be for a long time since many if not most people and businesses rarely upgrade TVs. People basically stopped upgrading TVs after they got mobile devices.

But why would Apple want to serve customers with old TVs? They want customers that have and want the best. That’s why they didn’t release an actual TV. Also a lot of hotels are coming out with AirPlay TVs. There’s no profitable market for this. The Apple TV is widely reported to be the lowest profit margin. Why would they waste money on a new device that runs an ancient chip, just to do what a TV in 2025 can do out of the box

 

[DJHB1980]

It’s a shame that Apple are unable to make a stick similar to the Firestick and put their chips in to compete.
Amazon & companies like Roku must be doing something extraordinary that Apple are unable to.

 

[GigabitEthernet]

It’s a shame that Apple are unable to make a stick similar to the Firestick and put their chips in to compete.
Amazon & companies like Roku must be doing something extraordinary that Apple are unable to.

In my experience the sticks perform really badly compared to the Apple TV.

They get the job done but the Apple TV is just so much more fluid and well designed. I suspect most people who have an Apple TV had a stick beforehand and got fed up with it.

 

[DJHB1980]

id hope that the stick and the box whilst on the same Wi-Fi at the same home could be connected in some way to offload any heavier or demanding tasks
but also be used independently as the best, most fluid & slick HDMI stick on the market by far also portable to take away from the home
with maybe a clever Wi-Fi/VPN mode that allows it to connect back to the "home" to stop the constant 'away from home' messages that all the streaming apps do these days

 

[subjonas]

But why would Apple want to serve customers with old TVs? They want customers that have and want the best. That’s why they didn’t release an actual TV. Also a lot of hotels are coming out with AirPlay TVs. There’s no profitable market for this. The Apple TV is widely reported to be the lowest profit margin. Why would they waste money on a new device that runs an ancient chip, just to do what a TV in 2025 can do out of the box

Apple wants customers that have the best? That's a weird statement to make. Anyway, I already have an Apple TV box for my TV. So I wouldn't want an Apple TV stick for my home--I would want it for when I go to other people's homes or when I travel. Despite that you keep implying that all TVs out there have AirPlay, almost no one I know has an AppleTV or an AirPlay TV, and no hotel/inn/AirBnB I've stayed at has had one either (I travel a couple times per year). Otherwise, I wouldn't want a stick.

Also it's weird that you keep asking me why Apple would be financially motivated to make a stick, when that's a totally different question that I told you I have no opinion about.

 

[DJHB1980]

The question isn't about would a stick be as powerful and as good as an Apple TV Box but can Apple make a stick that is more powerful and better than the any or all of the Amazon Fires TV Sticks or the Roku Streaming Sticks.
if so then it makes sense to compete in that space.

I definitely would see the stick as both its own product in certain use cases as already mentioned especially due to its portability and as a companion to the 'meatier' internals of the 'regular' Box.

I would call it the 'Apple TV SE' (Special Edition) and it should be under (£/$/€) 100 to satisfy that market that want into apple tv at a sub (£/$/€) 100 price point. this although an insult should have at least the A17 Pro (2 years old, nearly 3) or a newer chip.

The debate on the naming of a 'regular' Apple TV Box and some sort of fantasy 'Pro' or 'Ultra' box would rage on.

 

[erihp]

The stick wouldn’t be able to have a very good processor to run apps. So you couldn’t run games/apps that the regular Apple TV can. The only reason to buy one would be to get airplay or purchased movies. Which you can get for free with 90% of TVs under 5 years old.

Have you ever seen the logic board of an iPhone? It’s a stick. They have very fast processors.

The reason it’s the shape of a phone is because of the battery and a screen. A stick needs neither.

I don’t think a stick is coming but the things you’re saying don’t make sense.

Also, many people don’t (want to) connect their TVs to their networks for reasons we probably don’t need to deep dive into here. Plenty of people have older TVs or slow TV interfaces and builds of apps that are miserable to use.

Adding a streaming device modernizes old displays such that it not having built in apps is meaningless, and the whole point of connecting external devices to displays. If the display still works and provides an acceptable picture many people opt to keep using it. Imagine that!

‘Apple wants users to have the best’ and ‘just buy a whole new TV’ is such a weird take, I’m not going to bother lol

 

[erihp]

It’s a shame that Apple are unable to make a stick similar to the Firestick and put their chips in to compete.
Amazon & companies like Roku must be doing something extraordinary that Apple are unable to.

They -could- but why? Travel is the only use case where the tiny form factor makes any sense.

Those $20 sticks from Amazon, Onn, and Roku are abysmal. The performance is terrible, the apps are poorly designed/implemented, and they are littered with ads and annoyances.

They are also loss leaders to drag you into their paid streaming ecosystems and they make money from usage data mining.

That user experience isn’t one to mimic or strive to compete with. There is nothing extraordinary happening in the world of cheap streaming sticks..

 

[erihp]

educate me/us on why a stick compared to a box is so not needed
if i wanted apple tv on 4 tv's, do you think 4 boxes is more sensible that 1 box and 3 sticks or even 4 sticks?

im just not understanding the rationale at all?

Just buy four new TVs, duh!

 

[djc6]

Aren't the guts of the iPhone Air essentially a stick inside the 'plateau'? Remove the camera and all the other cellular stuff and battery management stuff and put in in a piece of plastic (or milled aluminum) with an HDMI port 🙂

I just want a stick option because its easier to hide behind wall mounted tv - its physically smaller and can be powered from a usb port on the tv.

I do like the full size apple tv in another location of my home so I can use Ethernet.

 

[DJHB1980]

Aren't the guts of the iPhone Air essentially a stick inside the 'plateau'? Remove the camera and all the other cellular stuff and battery management stuff and put in in a piece of plastic (or milled aluminum) with an HDMI port 🙂

I just want a stick option because its easier to hide behind wall mounted tv - its physically smaller and can be powered from a usb port on the tv.

I do like the full size apple tv in another location of my home so I can use Ethernet.

this is my exact thinking

A19 Pro - Main box - does all the heavy lifting

A19 - Stick - while still extremely capable works as best ever streaming stick,
and probably more powerful than any other non-apple streamer every produced,
can also be used to do more heavy duty and can draw on the Main box to help (if needed) -
also portable - indispensable if can work at full power which is at 5V or under
(5V @ 0.9A–1A = 4.5W–5W, Some TVs have dedicated ports for hard drives that can provide 1A or more.)

 

[DJHB1980]

This has gone extremely quiet
no rumours and not even mentioned or barely by leakers saying these 10/15/20 items are soon to be released in an event on (inset date)
but then the late January date comes and goes and im sure the February one will too

What is going on?????

im personally predicting a 1 device tiny "upgrade" in march in a press release,
but i hope im totally wrong and the next Apple TV Box/Stick becomes the device(s) it/they could be for Apple to rule and dominate/decimate the streaming device market.

 

[SpecFoto]

What is going on?????

Apple, now that they have given up internally on improving Siri and brought in Google to fix it, has been caught with their pants down. I'm sure they had new ATV(s) planned for the end of last year but this all has now changed and they had to redesign.

For me, I don't need any new AI (Artificial Idiot) features for the ATV. My 2 ATV 4K ethernet boxes 1st and 3rd Gen do everything I need for our 2 Sony/Samsung 55" TV's and are used almost daily with great success.

However I would like to see a ATV stick to take on our trips overseas. Been using a Roku one for about 12 years and would instead love an Apple one to tie into our various streaming services without the ads and clutter the Roku brings.

 

[Stuipdboy1000]

Wouldn’t surprise me if the hardware was ready last year but they’re waiting for the new Siri and Apple Intelligence features to be for a better marketing story.

 

[JulianL]

Wouldn’t surprise me if the hardware was ready last year but they’re waiting for the new Siri and Apple Intelligence features to be for a better marketing story.

I agree and that's why I'm thinking the rumour posted on Macrumours last Sunday (or thereabouts) about Apple planning to demo the capabilities of the Gemini-based 26.4 Siri in late February even though it won't ship until 26.4 release in (probably) April might well be accurate.

It might be a case of Apple thinking "we can't keep this hardware on ice for any longer, we really need to get it released, but improved Siri is a big part of the message so this is how we get the full hardware and software message out there without delaying the hardware release all the way until April - or even worse until June if Apple wanted to wait until the full chatbot Siri is (rumour has it) to be demoed at WWDC.

The same possible logic applies to the rumoured HomePod Mini update that I suspect has also had the hardware ready since last year so I'm wondering if this rumoured Siri reveal in late Feb might also be the launch event for both the updated Apple TV and the updated HomePod Mini.

If that happens then early purchasers would still have to take a bit of a leap of faith as to whether Siri really has improved significantly, possibly based only on a controlled demo from Apple, but honestly I'm so anxious to get going with what would be two new Apple product types for me that I would still be a day 1 purchaser of both a new ATV a single new HPM based on the fact that an April 26.4 release would be sufficiently close that another delay would be unlikely. If Apple did this as a live in-person event and had a hands-on demo room afterwards where attendees could interact with the new Siri that would increase my confidence in making a day 1 purchase even more.

 

[DJHB1980]

Apple, now that they have given up internally on improving Siri and brought in Google to fix it, has been caught with their pants down. I'm sure they had new ATV(s) planned for the end of last year but this all has now changed and they had to redesign.

For me, I don't need any new AI (Artificial Idiot) features for the ATV. My 2 ATV 4K ethernet boxes 1st and 3rd Gen do everything I need for our 2 Sony/Samsung 55" TV's and are used almost daily with great success.

However I would like to see a ATV stick to take on our trips overseas. Been using a Roku one for about 12 years and would instead love an Apple one to tie into our various streaming services without the ads and clutter the Roku brings.

Wouldn’t surprise me if the hardware was ready last year but they’re waiting for the new Siri and Apple Intelligence features to be for a better marketing story.

i do want the travel aspect but i also want the 3 other TV's in the home to use the same interface as the main one.
This is why a lot of people want a stick, for its flexibility and portability
id take out the least used for travel but the options currently are limited.

the AI features could be a hindrance or game changer for some and useful in certain situations and im totally with the option and the strategy and for those who don't want or need it i imagine the mute option could be for you.

i do like the idea of the main box being a slave drive on occasion to the stick(s).

Some sort of connection to the main box too with some sort of VPN trickery to have both connected to the same household or Wi-Fi to avoid the increasing Netflix and Disney+ 'away' messages.

im sure it will be great but its wearing on mine and imagine a lot of patience.

 

[kiranmk2]

My guess is that Apple realises that just launching these two products (Apple TV 4k and HomePod Mini) by themselves is unlikely to generate much buzz - More powerful chips, with the potential for "console quality games" on the Apple TV 4K (but no news of any TvOS version of RE, CyberPunk, Death Stranding etc) and longer handoff distance and wifi 6/7 support are probably not large system sellers.

However, launching these products as part of the overall Apple Intelligence launch starts to make things sound more interesting to the average user. I imagine tying the Apple TV 4K update to enabling Apple Intelligence on your network may do more to boost sales, especially to people that don't already have Apple TVs.

Of course, the A17 Pro chip is coming up to 2.5 years old so I'm still hoping for an A18 at least...

 

[phrehdd]

Serious question: What "features" could they add?

It's an overpriced device for streaming media content. I love mine (we have 4), but not sure what new stuff they could pack into a device to upgrade it.

Just conversation here - I have ATV and I also have Nvidia Shield TV Pro. The Nvidia hasn't upgraded its hardware in a few years yet, it more often Han not does a better job with both streaming and playing local/network video files. The point is that there is room for improvement whether one streams movies or plays files local or does gaming. I like ATV menu far better than the Nvidia offering but if I want to watch my archived discs from my network - Nvidia hands down is a better option. I want ATV to catch up and if able to, surpass.

 

[OverTheHill]

This has gone extremely quiet
no rumours and not even mentioned or barely by leakers saying these 10/15/20 items are soon to be released in an event on (inset date)
but then the late January date comes and goes and im sure the February one will too

What is going on?????

im personally predicting a 1 device tiny "upgrade" in march in a press release,
but i hope im totally wrong and the next Apple TV Box/Stick becomes the device(s) it/they could be for Apple to rule and dominate/decimate the streaming device market.

At this rate? 2030 🤣 for a release or waiting on Dolby Vision 2. If no DTS, I’d take DV 2 with some sort of lossless audio if that’s the delay. While Apple no doubt knew it was coming, DV 2 was publicly announced in September, then give it six months to a year to be available in devices.

 

[DJHB1980]

How many of these will they match on your Bingo card (spoiler not many lol)

AI (Apple Intelligence), DV2 (Dolby Vision 2), HDMI 2.2 (Ultra 96 Cable), Lossless Audio,
A19/A19 Pro, Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6.0 on the N1 wireless chip, HDMI Stick,
8GB/16GB RAM, higher refresh rates (e.g., 4K 120Hz/240hz),
FaceTime Camera, 256GB/512GB Storage, Sub 100 ( $ / £ / € ) price point.

let me know if I've missed anything