Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman has provided an update on the next generation of the Apple TV 4K streaming box, and the expected upgrades include Siri AI, Apple Intelligence and a new chipset, as well as a redesigned remote control.
Gurman is one of the best connected “Apple insiders” and generally has a good track record when it comes to revealing new products that the company has in the pipeline, but his most recent claims about the Apple TV haven’t quite hit the mark. He previously claimed it would be launching a new TV device in 2024, then 2025, and now says 2026 is the year it will finally make its debut. So why the delay? Apparently, Apple has been waiting to get Siri AI up and running as the new centrepiece of the device.
Siri AI is expected to roll out across Apple’s broader ecosystem of devices in the autumn, alongside various Apple Intelligence enhancements, and if that does happen, it would make sense to launch a new Apple TV 4K that also gets the new features.
“The new Apple TV and HomePod mini with Apple Intelligence are both in very advanced testing,” Gurman wrote in his weekly PowerOn newsletter. “I’d be surprised if they didn't come this year as well. But don't expect major changes with those items, other than support for the new Siri and possibly a tweaked Apple TV remote.”
Siri AI is set to be a massively upgraded version of the existing Siri voice assistant found on iPhones and other Apple devices. Powered by Apple Intelligence, it will be able to understand users’ personal context across their Apple devices, the apps they use and more. It’s also set to come with “on-screen awareness,” which in the case of TVs means it will be able to know what you’re watching and make relevant suggestions based on that.
However, Siri AI is currently unsupported in the EU as a result of its Digital Markets Act legislation, which Apple says conflicts with the privacy protections built into the technology. Considering Siri AI is the main headline feature of the new Apple TV 4K, it seems that U.K. buyers may not be getting much of an upgrade.
Siri AI and Apple Intelligence will need a more powerful processor, Gurman said. Last year he reported that the new Apple TV 4K will probably come with the A17 Pro chipset that paved the way for AAA-style console games with ray-tracing-based graphics on Apple devices such as the iPhone and iPad. The A17 Pro chip also supports hardware-accelerated AV1 decoding, which should be useful for a TV device.
The Apple TV 4K will also come with an Apple-designed WiFi and Bluetooth chip, which should mean enhanced integration with other Apple devices. However, there are no plans to add support for 8K resolution content at this time, so that suggests any new hardware will just be a 4th generation version of the Apple TV 4K.
The device will, of course, ship with the new tvOS 27 platform that was made available to developers earlier this month. The software is notably not supported by the older Apple TV HD and first-generation Apple 4K devices.
Apple has not upgraded the Apple TV since November 2022, so it’ll be almost four years if the new device does launch this autumn. That’s quite a gap considering the company annually refreshes its smartphones and tablet devices. However, it’s also pretty standard for TV hardware. Google launched its rival Google TV Streamer two years ago and there’s no sign of an updated version coming any time soon, and Nvidia’s Shield TV box has not been upgraded since 2019.
