Apple TV 4K is getting a new generation built around Siri AI, a new version of the assistant, with a $299 price and in-store availability from November 13. Pre-orders opened October 13 in the U.S. and 29 other countries and regions, and the U.S. price can also be paid as $49.83 a month for six months.
Apple says the A19 chip makes Apple TV 4K up to 50 percent faster on the CPU and up to 2x faster on the GPU than the previous generation, and adds a dedicated AV1 decoder for streaming at lower bandwidth. The more visible change is audio input. Apple TV 4K now has three far-field microphones, so Siri answers to "Hey Siri" or "Siri" without anyone picking up the remote, and Apple credits echo cancellation for isolating a voice while a show is playing.
On screen, Siri AI works as a search layer for the Apple TV app. Asking which Apple TV shows won Emmys returns poster art plus follow-up suggestions, and a question asked mid-episode appears in a small overlay while the show keeps playing. With an Apple Intelligence-enabled iPhone nearby, the assistant can also draw on personal context, such as a request to play a show a friend recommended. A television that can read a phone's context is a different product from a remote with a search button.
The speaker setup is the other headline. For the first time, the box can drive four-speaker surround from HomePod mini 2 units, and four full-size HomePod (2nd generation) speakers work as well when the front and rear pairs match. The speakers calibrate themselves to the room. As a home hub, Apple TV 4K now shows Apple Intelligence-generated descriptions of camera activity and summarized Home notifications, and a compatible doorbell can put a notification on the TV showing who is at the door.
Older boxes are partly covered. Siri AI arrives as a beta on Apple TV 4K from the second generation on, and it launches in English in the U.S., Australia, Canada, India, New Zealand, Singapore, South Africa and the U.K. The updated Siri Remote, which adds Find My with Precision Finding and a play-sound option, is sold separately and works with Apple TV HD and Apple TV 4K.
Microphones that listen for a wake phrase raise a privacy question. Apple says microphone data is processed in Secure Exclaves, compartments of the A19 that tvOS, apps and Apple itself cannot read, and that Siri requests run on the device or in Private Cloud Compute, where data is not stored. Those are Apple's own descriptions.
Since Siri AI also reaches earlier boxes, an owner of a recent model can get the assistant without buying anything. What the new unit adds, going by Apple's description, is the A19 chip, the built-in microphones for hands-free use and the four-speaker audio mode.
