Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Rumor Suggests New Apple TV 4K With A12X Chip is 'Ready to Ship'
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
The problem is that it’s crap.
[automerge]1588890721[/automerge]
What’s this particular bug? Haven’t heard of it.
I’m still waiting for mine to better process sound orrrrrr let my receiver do the decoding.....there’s a tremendous difference between the sound my ATV puts out vs the same apps on my Xbox one X
I buy everything Apple and I’m a fanboy till the day I day but unless there’s some big improvements in this Apple TV I really see no reason to buy it I hardly even use mine anymore especially in my home theater room
I buy everything Apple and I’m a fanboy till the day I day but unless there’s some big improvements in this Apple TV I really see no reason to buy it I hardly even use mine anymore especially in my home theater room
The memories feature of the Photo's app processes way too slowly, even on the 4k model, not an out and out reason to buy but nice to have
Tongue in cheek but maybe not - A decent remote?
you mean those are someones opinions.
To rebut:
it is never going to be a great game controller. Show me the remote that is. if you are really into games then you can and will want to use a PS or X1 or other game controller with the ATV.
Anyone ever hold a car key fob? Same difference here. Has all the basic buttons you need. I am never needing more buttons. It powers on and off, selects input, controls volume, has a back button, a play/pause button, a multi Use trackpad that can scroll and be tapped in 4 directions, can edge Scroll on left or right edge, be left or right edge clicked or just be clicked and it has a voice button. Buttons can also be long tapped or double clicked for additional functions. A double click of the home button button is the equivalent of alt-tab. Holding the play button brings up a sound output menu. Etc.
I pick it up the wrong way sometimes. But minor issue and other remotes are not immune to that. Picking up the remote the wrong way won’t cause the trackpad to scrub thru a show you are watching because you have to pause in order to scrub thru a show using the trackpad. You can attach a little piece of tape etc on the bottom half if you have trouble picking it up the wrong way.
easy to use in the dark because there are only a few butttons and it is done by feel. Might not be the case day one but a person has to be special to still have that issue weeks later.
Last edited:
A12X as shipped with iPad Pro 2018 comes with 4Gb of RAM (unless it was with a 1Tb SSD, then it was 6Gb). If Apple are smart they'd just ship it with 6Gb of RAM to allow games room to breathe.
In addition, while it's clear there's no point in planning for games to go above 60Hz there's a chance that Apple could use the GPU or Neural Engine to help with upscaling 1080p content to look nice on 4k screens - kind of like what the current generation Playstation Pro does with many of its games.
And it can be built to a cost because the A12X is still essentially the A12Z from the iPad 2020 with one core that didn't meet quality control.
A14X would have been ideal but releasing AppleTV at or prior to WWDC gives developers a chance to target it for the holiday season, plus using the A12X would enable a cheaper AppleTV. I can't see a $400 AppleTV launching in November attracting too many people this side of Christmas.
And you'd have a visible upgrade path in 2 years time too with an A14X asking to be used in a refresh unit at some point.
Launching it now for $200 for the 128Gb model gives developers a fighting chance to port some iPad apps over in time for Christmas, and if Apple continue to dish out a year of free Apple TV+ that would be a win too.
If Apple sacrifice the so called Siri remote (available separately in the Apple Store for $59) to add in the basic Apple Remote instead ($19) they could possibly afford to give the unit the 6Gb of RAM it deserves to give 4k upscaled gaming a really good go for under $200 - just add (compatible) Xbox or Playstation controllers.
If the games on it are technologically on a par with Xbox One S or Playstation 4, only with some decent upscaling tech to make HD assets look good on a 4k screen then you couldn't really argue.
I will still use an Apple even though my tv comes with smart tv functionality. For one, I don’t want the manufacturers to get my viewing data, and there’s integration with my Apple devices, such as support for Apple Music, podcasts, photos, airplay mirroring, plus I do genuinely prefer the Apple TV remote for scrubbing through content. It’s just a much better streaming experience all round for a little bit more cash.
I own the device as well, and bumping up my storage on my streaming device and minor speed increases would definitely not convince me to upgrade.
People have said gaming, maybe that convinces some people. I don’t have stats on how many people use Apple TV for gaming, but anecdotally I know people who do, so that might be a good selling point.
What’s the point of this thing? Modern smart TVs already come with pretty much every popular streaming app and iOS games are a joke so if you want to game you’re better off getting a real console.
Apple’s 2020 Covid strategy seems to be following a pattern...tweak products.
Hopefully 2021 will actually bring new stuff.
Hopefully 2021 will actually bring new stuff.
Actually I added a post later to say 4 GB RAM. I had thought it was A12 so 3 GB RAM. But if A12X then I would guess 4 GB.
6 GB would be pointless for a 2020 Apple TV 4K.
Your assertions reinforces my point. Siri Remote is not good for watching video.
A car key fob is a poor analogy since you really don't need many buttons on a key fob (lock/unlock and maybe trunk). Siri Remote needs to a lot more than that.
My top 5 Siri Remote issues, for core functions:
- Power on/off: holding down Home for 3 seconds then choosing Sleep is tedious and not obvious.
- Play and pause: a dedicated play/pause button does the job, but not when you hold the remote upside in the dark. You will be triggering Home button instead.
- Rewind and forward: swiping or clicking left or right edges of the touch surface is great when the remote is held correctly. The problem is, it's all too easy to accidentally trigger them.
- Navigating menu: same issue as rewind and forward. Also, Menu button is used for back, but it isn't used consistently because, well it's called Menu. And swiping up/down to pull up language and other options to me isn't obvious and also not consistently implemented.
- Change volume: no mute button. Pausing isn't always ideal as the TV can emit sound when video isn't playing (e.g., games). Holding down volume down isn't as instantaneous and requires restoring volume state to unmute.
- Adding buttons for sleep, back, option, and mute.
- Less symmetric design so that people can use it in the dark. Your suggestion of attaching tape is ridiculous.
- Redesign the touch surface so that it isn't accidentally triggered. Maybe a variation of force touch where you need lightly click to activate the surface, then click more to select?
- Less slippery material.
- A bit larger to better fit most people's hand and to make it less easier to lose between the couch.
- Qi wireless charging.
- Find My Remote.
It takes at least a year to release new products, even when reusing parts. Some devices, like phones, need to be given to fcc 6 months ahead of release for testing. So there would be nothing coming out now that Apple wouldn't already have planned on releasing. Maybe small adjustments to release dates and obviously no big release parties.
You can say 2020 strategy, but nothing really because of covid.
If they are at all serious about games they need to get as much RAM as possible into a refreshed AppleTV - the likelihood of these devices having to drive a 4k screen - even if by upscaling apps - and the ongoing development of games as time goes on means more high performance RAM should be an obvious baseline.
An A12X powered AppleTV may match Xbox One S or PS4 performance but this year will see the release of Xbox Series X and PS5 - 2 generations ahead of the aforementioned benchmark consoles.
Obviously it's more likely that an A12X SoC is probably coming with 4Gb of RAM but games console design should play into Apple's thinking. High spec machine sold for years as a reliable target for developers - and since Apple don't slowly reduce RRP they would do mid life storage bumps only as their 'price cut'.
Ditch the God Awful remote would be a great start.
They are also infamous for collecting your user data to sell. Using an Apple TV (while ensuring my Smart TV never gets connected to the internet) means they never get access to my data.
As I mentioned above, there's also the iOS apps such as podcast, photos, airplay mirroring, Apple Music, the WWDC app (I still watch Apple livestreams) and well, I do genuinely prefer using the Apple TV remote for scrubbing though content. Tried to do the same with the d-pad on my Smart TV's remote and it was torture, plain and simple.
I still see the value in getting an Apple streaming box for the best Apple viewing experience.
Well, I'm tempted to but only because I have my old ATV2 in the bedroom needing an upgrade really badly. My current one can make its way to the bedroom if I get a new one for the living room.
6 GB is not necessary for their gaming market. Their main gaming target is iPads and iPhones with a baseline of 3 GB comprising most of the current market and 4 GB representing a smaller proportion, and 6 GB representing an even smaller proportion.
In that context, and given the likely price point of the Apple TV, 6 GB makes little sense.
A 6 GB model will come... in 2022... unless you envision this A12X model as a new 3rd gaming tier of Apple TV at an even higher price.
That core is typically fused out because it is defective. When the chips are created some have defects. Disabling certain portions is a way to increase yields (or number of salable chips from one wafer). Now that the iPad is shipping with the full unlocked die, they may have some that still have more defects here and there that they can use in the AppleTV instead of the previous iPad Pro. This is a very normal process in the silicon chip world. Everyone does it.
Homekit if it matters to you. With an ATV you can access homekit devices while not on the home wifi. There are other devices that do the same thing but you don't have to worry about battery or always on with the ATV.