New Apple TV model

[UPBaylor]

Funny, but I’m about to ask the question I’ve chuckled at so many others asking over the past couple of years. I’m about to be in need of two new Apple 4KTV’s. I can hold off for a bit as I have pre-4K ATV’s on the sets I’m about to replace with 4K ones. Not wild about paying $200 for a 4 year old device on the precipice of being replaced.

So, what’s the latest wild speculation on the new ATV boxes going on sale and what’s everyone’s speculation on the price of the 64GB (or lowest memory)? (I know the real answer - no one knows.....)

 

[Harddrive]

There have been rumors for over a year and it looks suspicious since they went up on price you would think they would unload the current model if a new one is around the corner so its anyones guess and it would be a guess I am still rocking the 4k ethernet model and it works fine.

 

[Macalicious2011]

years. I’m about to be in need of two new Apple 4KTV’s.

You can buy used at atv4 first gen. I have have mine since 2015. It’s still super snappy and light years ahead of the dumb and sluggish ui of any tv that I have used.

In fact it’s still as snappy as using my the latest iPhone or iPad. Siri works the same.

 

[UPBaylor]

There have been rumors for over a year and it looks suspicious since they went up on price you would think they would unload the current model if a new one is around the corner so its anyones guess and it would be a guess I am still rocking the 4k ethernet model and it works fine.

I have 3 other 4K ethernet models and more of those would be just fine. I do need the ethernet option with anything I buy. I doubt I need any of the features in the new model other than enjoying a faster processor.

Further thought and research tells me I can probably do just fine with my old boxes. These are for “bonus” TV’s for sports watching multiple games in my media room and nothing else. Main big screen is a 4K model and that’s likely where the true 4K content would go. These other TV’s would likely only be receiving 1080p and upscaling to “4K” anyway since sports 4K is pretty limited to only the main games.

So, I think my best choice is to wait anyway.

BTW - Thanks!

 

[bozzykid]

There have been rumors for over a year and it looks suspicious since they went up on price you would think they would unload the current model if a new one is around the corner so its anyones guess and it would be a guess I am still rocking the 4k ethernet model and it works fine.

Apple raised prices so when a new model is released, it doesn't come with a large price increase. And Apple has never done major discounts of Apple TV models before a new model is released. It isn't a high volume device like an iPhone where retailers have large inventory sitting around.

 

[mctrials23]

Apple raised prices so when a new model is released, it doesn't come with a large price increase. And Apple has never done major discounts of Apple TV models before a new model is released. It isn't a high volume device like an iPhone where retailers have large inventory sitting around.

Yep. Its as simple as this. They want to say "at the same great price of £250" when they release the new model. Its complete BS and anyone who knows how much they used to cost won't be fooled.

 

[northernbaldy]

There have been rumors for over a year and it looks suspicious since they went up on price you would think they would unload the current model if a new one is around the corner so its anyones guess and it would be a guess I am still rocking the 4k ethernet model and it works fine.

They bumped the price up so that the new one doesn't look so expensive when its released

 

[DJHB1980]

I wonder if Vodafone & EETV in the UK will be giving out the Apple TV 2026 version later this year as part of their respective packages?

(Vodafone offers an Apple TV 4K device included at no extra cost when you sign up for select Vodafone Xtra Broadband or Pro 3 Xtra packages)

(You can choose an Apple TV 4K device instead of a standard set-top box when you sign up for EE TV.
This option gives you a slick TV guide that blends live channels with streaming apps, plus you get up to 6 months of Apple TV+ for free.)

I wish Sky Stream would use the Apple TV to deliver their TV Packs,
still would be inferior to Sky Q (Due to recording abilities)

 

[Icehawk]

What? No. They clearly raised the price to celebrate America's 250th.

 

[JulianL]

I wonder if Vodafone & EETV in the UK will be giving out the Apple TV 2026 version later this year as part of their respective packages?

(Vodafone offers an Apple TV 4K device included at no extra cost when you sign up for select Vodafone Xtra Broadband or Pro 3 Xtra packages)

(You can choose an Apple TV 4K device instead of a standard set-top box when you sign up for EE TV.
This option gives you a slick TV guide that blends live channels with streaming apps, plus you get up to 6 months of Apple TV+ for free.)

I wish Sky Stream would use the Apple TV to deliver their TV Packs,
still would be inferior to Sky Q (Due to recording abilities)

Me too. If Sky offered an Apple TV option that might persuade me to keep Sky Stream mostly out of pure laziness but also because of the Sky integrated EPG that avoids hopping in and out of individual TV channel apps (iPlayer etc) to watch a live TV channel. As it is though I'm waiting for the new Apple TV and then plan to dump Sky Stream in favour of the third party TV Launcher tvOS app to give an EPG for live TV that hides most of the fuss of launching the individual TV apps and Netflix/AppleTV/Prime/etc apps installed for all of my TV-on-demand stuff.

 

[turbineseaplane]

Any new ATV needs more RAM, not less or even the same.

I do not like it when Apps get killed in the background and have to fully refresh.

 

[JulianL]

Any new ATV needs more RAM, not less or even the same.

I do not like it when Apps get killed in the background and have to fully refresh.

I'm slightly optimistic that the next ATV will get more RAM and I'd be amazed if it gets less. The price increases recently announced had anomalously high percentage increases for the current ATVs, over a 50% increase for the higher-end model, when compared to the 10% to 20% price increases for the current MacBooks and iPads. That makes me hope that for ATV Apple wasn't only adjusting the price for the more expensive RAM in the current configuration but was also setting the new price in anticipation of adding more RAM in the next generation without needing to hike the price again.

If that is Apple's strategy then that in my opinion makes the current ATV, particularly the high-end one, pretty bad value for money right now and with ATV surely releasing some time this year - my guess is announced in October or just possibly during the September iPhone event - I'm definitely waiting for the new models before making my first ever ATV purchase.

 

[Paddle1]

Any new ATV needs more RAM, not less or even the same.

I do not like it when Apps get killed in the background and have to fully refresh.

Some apps can stay open in the background for days on my 3rd gen, longer than I get on my phone. I imagine it will be better on a new model as long as Siri/AI doesn't hog the RAM.

 

[priitv8]

Some apps can stay open in the background for days on my 3rd gen, longer than I get on my phone. I imagine it will be better on a new model as long as Siri/AI doesn't hog the RAM.

I have turned background activity off globally and so far can not see any adverse effects on the tvOS.

 

[DJHB1980]

To paraphrase.

So Apple won’t make a product, or selection of products, in this sector for everyone, they are making 1 product for some people.

The opposite of the way they act in nearly every other product category they are in.

We are Apple & the Apple TV is for the few.

This is the opposite of the Mac the iPhone the iPad the iPod etc.

Apple TV by consensus of virtually everyone here is elitist and exclusive to those who can or are prepared to pay more for the product in this sector.

It’s sad that the Apple TV is for the few not the many, handing victory to mostly Roku, Amazon a lot of the time & to a lesser degree Google.

Apple TV is essentially a niche expensive product in a massive market of cheaper alternatives that do the job. Although not as well.

 

[turbineseaplane]

To paraphrase.

So Apple won’t make a product, or selection of products, in this sector for everyone, they are making 1 product for some people.

The opposite of the way they act in nearly every other product category they are in.

We are Apple & the Apple TV is for the few.

This is the opposite of the Mac the iPhone the iPad the iPod etc.

Apple TV by consensus of virtually everyone here is elitist and exclusive to those who can or are prepared to pay more for the product in this sector.

It’s sad that the Apple TV is for the few not the many, handing victory to mostly Roku, Amazon a lot of the time & to a lesser degree Google.

Apple TV is essentially a niche expensive product in a massive market of cheaper alternatives that do the job. Although not as well.

I really don't understand it.

I thought their pivot to Services revenue as a growth area would lead to less expensive ATV boxes & dongles to get people "in". It seems like, instead, they cheaped out and just put the ATV App on all the junk TV operating systems/platforms.

It really is amazing how crummy the usage experience is on so many of the built-in TV platforms. Laggy, confusing, stuff moving around, ADs all over, god only knows how much tracking & data harvesting/selling -- just bleh 🤮

 

[ukpetey]

I’ve been waiting so long for the next gen apple tv that i am now 99% certain that i actually don’t need one anymore. The final decider being the incredible p*ss take of a price hike on the old (current) model, for seemingly no good reason.

 

[pdmpolishing]

I’ve been waiting so long for the next gen apple tv that i am now 99% certain that i actually don’t need one anymore. The final decider being the incredible p*ss take of a price hike on the old (current) model, for seemingly no good reason.

The only reason I would buy a new ATV now is if it allowed bitstream audio, if not the current version is perfectly good enough even if the new version is full of AI, that nobody is really interested in.

 

[Harddrive]

The only reason I would buy a new ATV now is if it allowed bitstream audio, if not the current version is perfectly good enough even if the new version is full of AI, that nobody is really interested in.

My feelings exactly.

 

[Badradio]

I’ve been waiting so long for the next gen apple tv that i am now 99% certain that i actually don’t need one anymore. The final decider being the incredible p*ss take of a price hike on the old (current) model, for seemingly no good reason.

I was waiting too, but just to future-proof the latest purchase. When I saw the price hikes, I immediately grabbed a current model from Amazon at the existing discounted price.

 

[SalisburySam]

I’d consider a new AppleTV device to replace my existing 3rd Gen 4K model if I could use HomePods again as stereo speakers for the TV. When the HomePods automatically upgraded to v26.n they went rogue and became unusable so I took them out. I miss the far higher voice and other sound quality over the TV speakers, but they just had a mind of their own with playing music, lost sync to TV sound, etc., etc.

 

[DJHB1980]

I think going forward i will use Apple for 99% of my TV viewing (Apple TV, Disney+, Paramount+, Netflix etc...
and my Android devices for my Sideloaded apps

 

[dwrufus53]

I'm ready for the new Apple TV streaming box. We have 5 televisions with various vintages of the ATV/HomePod mini configs (2 HDs, 1 4K g1 and 2 4K g3). We use the ATVs for 100% of our TV viewing - YouTube TV and a plethora of streaming services (Apple, Netflix, Hulu, Paramount, HBO).

My real concern is that several of my devices are not getting the tvOS 27... so I am planning to upgrade those units with newer one for future-proofing.

The HomePods mini work well as audio for the televisions, and so far I have not experienced any of the reported ghosting/phantom issues.

 

[DJHB1980]

I'm ready for the new Apple TV streaming box. We have 5 televisions with various vintages of the ATV/HomePod mini configs (2 HDs, 1 4K g1 and 2 4K g3). We use the ATVs for 100% of our TV viewing - YouTube TV and a plethora of streaming services (Apple, Netflix, Hulu, Paramount, HBO).

My real concern is that several of my devices are not getting the tvOS 27... so I am planning to upgrade those units with newer one for future-proofing.

The HomePods mini work well as audio for the televisions, and so far I have not experienced any of the reported ghosting/phantom issues.

This is precisely why I think a HDMI Stick would be ideal.

Leverage the power of the main box.

Maybe forcing the sticks to only work with a box so the box can do the ‘heavy lifting’ and the sticks can do the basics.

Almost like a slave drive situation so only main box needed and sticks send requests and the box transmits to it back seamlessly?

Would that work for people

So for dwrufus53, that would be 1 box 4 sticks
Probably cheaper and simpler with much less cabling and mess.

 

[Te0SX]

The only reason I would buy a new ATV now is if it allowed bitstream audio, if not the current version is perfectly good enough even if the new version is full of AI, that nobody is really interested in.

tbh, the worst part has nothing to do with ai, but that the current model is 4 years old and at same price or 70% higher than when it was released after the recent rampant price increases. In 2-3 years, you will have a 7y old machine. And soon you'll wonder if Apple will support it for its next tvOS. That is what sucks. If it was -40% of its initial price, then yeah it would be still worth it for me too. But now, nah. I prefer keep waiting.