Apple TV: New model this year?

The rumor mill is largely agreed: the Apple TV will soon get an update. In fact, Apple recently updated its multimedia box in November 2022, i.e. almost three years ago. An overview of what an Apple TV 4K could look like – and which special functions Apple may be planning.

Old technology from iPhone 13

As is well known, Apple’s Multimediabox is not cheap if you compare them with streaming ticks with Android TV or Amazon’s Fire TV sets. At Apple in the small version for the device (WLAN, 64 GB), with Ethernet and double memory, Apple even pays 189 euros (Market prices (from € 165.99) cheaper). For this, there is a comparatively large amount of data protection and a well-filled own app store including streaming clients and other multimedia programs from almost every provider.

The current Apple TV 4K is already the third generation of a minimally improved hardware. The current variant comes with an Apple SoC of the A15 Bionic series from the iPhone 13 of 2021, in which a high-performance core was switched off. The GPU has five cores and now masters HDR10+ including HDMI 2.1 with QMS. The large model can be used as a thread station for HomeKit, the small variant is missing the necessary radio chip. It was also new that Apple supplied a Siri remote with USB-C for the first time and no longer used the proprietary Lightning.

Inner life plus camera

A fourth generation Apple TV 4K is likely to have improvements in the interior. Last announcements of well-known Apple rumors such as Mark Gurman von Bloomberg speak of a release to winter. First of all, Apple from the A15 Bionic should jump on something more current. It could be the A18 from the iPhone 16 – or, if Apple wants to be more future -proof, the A19 from the iPhone 17, which is not yet available, that is expected in September. When it comes to radio, Apple could install its own combination of Bluetooth and WLAN for the first time, where the company has been working for a long time. However, it could be that the maximum supported WLAN standard will only be Wi-Fi 6e, not the newer Wi-Fi 7.

At Multimedia, the Apple TV is already supporting Facetime video chats. To do this, however, you need an iPhone or iPad as a camera. Supposedly at Apple there is said to have been discussions at the last year to incorporate a camera directly into Apple TV boxes. This should also contain gesture recognition – conceivable, for example, for the device control. It is already clear that TVOS 26, the new operating system, contact posters such as the iPhone, also supports a live subtitle of Facetime talks plus call notifications also from conversations on the iPhone. All of this also speaks for improvements on the hardware page.