Apple Announced the Apple TV 4K (4th Generation)--A19 Chip, Siri AI, Far-Field Microphones and a Siri Remote Find My Can Locate, One 128GB Model at $299 After a Start at $129 in 2022, Shipping November 13

What is new in the box

Apple says the A19 gives up to 50 percent faster CPU performance and up to twice the GPU performance of the previous generation, and adds a dedicated AV1 decoder. Apple's tech specs page lists Wi-Fi 7 (802.11be) with 2x2 MIMO, Bluetooth 6, Thread, HDMI 2.1, Gigabit Ethernet, 128GB of storage and a three-microphone array with voice isolation. The tech specs of the 2022 model had Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.0. MacRumors notes that apart from the microphones and a status light now centered on the front there is no other obvious external change.

The three microphones let the box listen for "Siri" or "Hey Siri" with no remote in hand; Apple lists nine languages for it, English among them. The Siri Remote keeps its design and its USB-C port and gains Find My support with Precision Finding and the ability to play a sound so you can find it. Precision Finding needs the new remote paired with an iPhone 17 or later (not the iPhone 17e), an iPhone Air or an iPhone Duo. 9to5Mac reports the remote sells on its own for $59 and works with every Apple TV 4K and the Apple TV HD.

Siri AI, on the new box and the old ones

Siri AI on the television is a full-screen conversation. Apple's examples are "What Apple TV shows won at the Emmy Awards this year?" and, during a show, "Where was Pluribus filmed?" answered in a small overlay; with an Apple Intelligence iPhone in the house it takes personal context, as in "Play the show Alinda recommended." Siri AI arrives as a beta in tvOS 27.2, in English, in the U.S., Australia, Canada, India, New Zealand, Singapore, South Africa and the UK; the owner of the home in the Home app needs an Apple Intelligence-enabled iPhone or iPad on the latest software; features that use server-side models have daily usage limits; and Apple says it will not be initially available in the EU.

The same beta runs on the Apple TV 4K (2nd generation) and later, so the 2022 box and the generation before it get the new Siri without the new hardware, minus the far-field microphones.

Surround sound and the home hub

For the first time four speakers can surround an Apple TV: four HomePod mini 2 or four HomePod (2nd generation), in matching front and rear pairs. The HomePod mini 2 is $149, on pre-order from October 13 and in stores Friday, October 30, Apple says; four of them come to $596 on top of the $299, by our arithmetic. As a home hub the box keeps Thread and adds Apple Intelligence descriptions of HomeKit Secure Video clips, processed locally, and summarized notifications in the Home app.

What it costs, and what it cost

Apple's October 18, 2022 release introduced the third generation with the A15 Bionic at a starting price of $129 for the 64GB Wi-Fi model, with the 128GB Wi-Fi + Ethernet model above it, shipping November 4, 2022. On June 25, 2026 Apple raised the two to $199 and $249, as MacRumors recorded, with a statement blaming memory and storage costs: "We have never seen a component price increase this much, this quickly." John Gruber wrote on Daring Fireball the next day that the June prices only made sense as prices held for new hardware due in September or October, and wondered whether the new hardware would cost even more. It does.

MacRumors puts it in one line: the starting price has gone from $129 to $299 in 2026. By our arithmetic that is $170 and 132 percent above the 2022 starting price, and $50 above the June price of the 128GB model it replaces. Apple offers $49.83 a month for six months on Apple Card.

Then and now

The first Apple TV, which Steve Jobs introduced at Macworld 2007, also cost $299, and our 2008 hands-on report said the 40GB box was not worth that until rentals arrived. Before either, the iMac G5 of October 2005 put Front Row and a six-button remote in the living room. If you own a 2022 Apple TV 4K or the generation before it, wait for the tvOS 27.2 beta and see what Siri AI does on it before spending $299; we would.