Apple TV 4K gets an A19 and a single $299 model, and output still stops at 4K60

Apple announced the fourth-generation Apple TV 4K on October 13. The newsroom post leads with Siri AI; the spec sheet is where the hardware story is. There is now one model, it costs $299, and the box that carries an A19 still outputs the same 4K at 60 frames per second that its predecessor did.

One model, one price

Apple's spec page lists a single configuration: Apple TV 4K (4th generation) with 128GB of storage, Gigabit Ethernet and Thread. The newsroom post gives the price: "Apple TV 4K (4th generation) is available for $299 (U.S.)." Pre-orders opened on announcement day, "with availability in stores beginning Friday, November 13."

For comparison, Apple's 2022 announcement of the third generation said it "will be available starting at $129 (US)." That generation came in two configurations, per Apple's support spec page: a Wi-Fi model with 64GB, and a Wi-Fi + Ethernet model with 128GB that alone carried Gigabit Ethernet and Thread. The new lineup drops the cheaper tier. Every unit now has Ethernet and Thread, and the entry price is more than twice the 2022 starting price.

What the A19 buys

The newsroom post makes two performance claims: "up to 50 percent faster CPU performance" and "up to 2x faster GPU performance than the previous generation." The post names no baseline model and gives no testing conditions; "the previous generation" is the A15 Bionic box from 2022. (For scale, Apple's 2022 post claimed the A15 model's GPU was "up to 30 percent faster than the previous generation.")

The concrete media change is a codec: "The A19 chip also includes a new, dedicated AV1 decoder." The spec page lists AV1 first among supported codecs, ahead of VP9, HEVC and H.264. The rest of the radio and port list moves up a generation: Wi-Fi 7 (802.11be, 2x2 MIMO; the footnote says "Wi-Fi 7 available in countries and regions where supported") replaces Wi-Fi 6, and Bluetooth 6 replaces Bluetooth 5.0.

What did not change

Output. Both the third-generation support page and the new spec page list HDMI 2.1 and video "up to 2160p, 60 fps" in SDR and HDR, and the new page's HDMI footnote reads "Support for up to 4K 60-fps HDR video output". Dolby Vision (Profiles 8.1 and 5), HDR10, HDR10+ and HLG are all listed. A faster GPU and an HDMI 2.1 port did not bring 4K at 120Hz.

And the feature the event was built around does not need the new chip. The newsroom footnotes say Siri AI is "available as a beta on Apple TV 4K (2nd generation or later)" in tvOS 27.2. It also "requires the owner of the home in the Home app to have an Apple Intelligence-enabled iPhone or iPad," and launches only in English in the U.S., Australia, Canada, India, New Zealand, Singapore, South Africa and the UK. What the new box adds for Siri is hardware for hands-free use: "three far-field microphones," with far-field Siri support that "varies by region and language."

The remote and the speakers

The new Siri Remote adds "Find My support with Precision Finding" and, exclusive to the new remote, a sound you can play to find it. Precision Finding has its own requirements: the footnote limits it to "iPhone Duo, iPhone Air, or iPhone 17 or later (excluding iPhone 17e)."

Home theater audio grows to four speakers. The requirement, from footnote 5: "four HomePod (2nd generation) or HomePod mini 2 speakers in matching pairs (front and rear), paired with Apple TV 4K (4th generation)." Owners of the original HomePod mini cannot join the surround set.

The short version

If your Apple TV 4K is a second- or third-generation unit, you get Siri AI without buying anything. The new box is worth its price if you need AV1 in hardware, Wi-Fi 7, the far-field microphones, or the four-speaker surround setup. It is not the box that moves Apple TV past 4K60.

Primary sources: Apple Newsroom: Apple unveils the new Apple TV 4K, Apple TV 4K technical specifications, Apple Support: Apple TV 4K (3rd generation) tech specs, Apple Newsroom, 2022: Apple introduces the powerful next-generation Apple TV 4K, read 2026-10-16.