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Apple TV 4 hardware revealed: A8 chip, black remote, 8/16GB storage, same ports, no 4K

AppleTVStaggered

The fourth-generation Apple TV, set to be unveiled at an event on September 9th and released in October, will feature a mix of new and familiar hardware, according to reliable sources. While the new device will sport a much faster processor than the current Apple TV, a color-matched remote control, and a somewhat larger body, it will lack support for 4K video streaming and have the same basic ports as the third-generation model…

The current Apple TV design, first released in late 2010, has 8GB of internal storage for caching media, and the fourth-generation boxes in testing surprisingly range from 8GB to 16GB of storage. We are told that Apple has considered two pricing strategies: the simultaneous release of a $149 base model with 8GB of storage alongside a $199 16GB model, or the release of the 16GB Apple TV alone at $149. In either case, Apple will offer a $149 Apple TV.

While the new Apple TV will include an App Store for deep support for gaming, sources say that the limited storage offered by 8GB and 16GB flash memory is appropriate for the new model, as all content outside of applications will be streamed directly from the Internet. Additionally, the new Apple TV runs an iOS 9 core, and iOS 9 includes several new features for reducing the file size of App Store apps, including the ability to load games in level-sized chunks and stream rather than store videos within app binaries.

Sources indicate that the new Apple TV will be powered by the A8 chip found in the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, coming in behind the A9-based iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus. In iPhones, the A8 is notably less powerful than the A8X chip found in the iPad Air 2, which includes an additional processing core and improved graphics. Still, the A8 is a substantial upgrade from the single-core A5 chip in the current Apple TV, and may have been tweaked for improved performance given the presence of guaranteed wall (rather than battery) power.

Besides touch support and motion control, we now know a bit more about the new remote control. Unlike the silver remote that comes with the current box, the new remote will be a dark gray/black color to better match the new box’s aesthetic. It will still be made of metal. Below the touchpad are a pair of tactile buttons (for Siri and the Home button), in addition to rocker buttons assumed to control volume levels.

We’ve also learned that the new box includes the same ports as the current Apple TV box: including a plug for power, a standard HDMI connector, and a small USB port for troubleshooting and connecting to iTunes on a Mac. We reported previously that the new Apple TV would look similar to the older model, but will be taller and thicker. We’re also told that Apple is omitting 4K support for content streaming, as BuzzFeed earlier reported, and AirPlay, despite the new iPhones being able to shoot video in that ultra high-resolution format.

The new Apple TV will also include system-wide Siri support for universal search, as we explained in early August:

Speaking of search, it sounds like one of the reasons behind making the new Apple TV software directly based on iOS 9 is for its new Proactive search support. In iOS 9, Proactive search brings new, more powerful and accurate system-wide search support. As Jeremy Horwitz also noted in March, one of the biggest omissions from the current Apple TV is system-wide search support. For example, a user cannot search for “James Bond” and see results across the iTunes Store, Netflix, the Crackle app, and the Apple Music library. Apple is said to be planning to fix that with the next-generation Apple TV software, but we are told that the company may wait to integrate the new search features until the Apple TV is populated with third-party applications.

Altogether, the new Apple TV will be the first major update to the device in a long time, including a revamped operating system, Siri support, App Store, gaming focus, and all-new touch-based remote. Stay tuned as we’ll have more details leading up to the September 9th event, where the new iPhones with Force Touch will also be announced.

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Comments

  1. Alex Moran - 9 years ago

    2 things

    1. Was really hoping for a USB port to play media off my flash drive and external drive

    2. WordPress can go eat shit and die

    • paulywalnuts23 - 9 years ago

      Totally agree with your wordpress comment.

      • 2is1toomany - 9 years ago

        Me three!

      • kijijigod - 9 years ago

        Love the WordPress-hate hijack! In other news, WordPress kinda blows….

    • irelandjnr - 9 years ago

      WordPress is seriously junkie, and even more so the WordPress comments system. Buggy trash.

      • Ryan - 9 years ago

        You can add Disqus or something to any wordpress site. WordPress isn’t the problem, it’s website creators who may not know how to use it

      • rnc - 9 years ago

        The problem is that Disqus is not SEO-friendly, and attracts trolls.

      • Jake Goldman - 9 years ago

        So is your spelling. What exactly is your problem?

    • You can definitely count on the usb port NOT supporting media off flash drives etc. Tim doesn’t want it happening that way. Nooo way!!! Everything has to be controlled by them.

      Having said that, yes, I would love it if the ATV could read stuff off a NAS (I have a lovely Synology Diskstation), but again I don’t see it happening either.

      • netputing (@netputing) - 9 years ago

        If they allow VLC as an app on the ATV 4 then you will be able to stream all you want from your NAS ;-) I hope they won’t restrict to games category only.

      • shareef777 - 9 years ago

        I have a Synology DS1813+ and am able to stream all my videos to my Apple TV gen2 and gen3. DS Video on my phone even allows me to start a video from anywhere in the world to the Apple TV in my home (comes in handy when my wife wants me to start some videos for the kids while I’m at work).

      • You can use Plex through your ATV to read stuff off a NAS.

    • nemesisprime - 9 years ago

      Don’t so much care about a USB port for external media AS LONG AS they don’t remove the ability to stream content over AirPlay (is the article suggesting this? or Airplay for just 4k content?) – I’ve never had a problem with AP and it seems like a better approach when it worked (which was the majority of the time for me). The only caveat was with OS X since prior to El Cap we had to stream the entire display for anything except iTunes content, but thankfully that will be fixed soon.

      • Bill Streeter - 9 years ago

        I think they mean no Airplay for 4k content. Bad wording made it sound like they were dropping support for Airplay. But I gotta say I’ve been pretty disappointed with airplay. It’s super buggy for me and won’t stream anything for very long without crashing.

    • Jake Goldman - 9 years ago

      Mature. What exactly is your problem with WordPress, the CMS that powers 22% of the web, including 50%+ of the top 1000 websites?

  2. Javier Huerta - 9 years ago

    Any improvements to HomeKit remote gateway support? Will we see a HomeKit Apple-provided user interface or it that still going to be AWOL or only 3rd party?

  3. applegetridofsimandjack - 9 years ago

    149$ really? I’m not paying over 79$ for this thing.

    • flaviosuave - 9 years ago

      Then I suppose you won’t have one.

      • vandy75 - 9 years ago

        LOL and you won’t have one and other people will have 2

    • The pick it up off the shelf, throw $80 bucks at the clerk and run.

    • PhilBoogie - 9 years ago

      Some people pay $179 for a programmable remote. Which I think is a shyte product if Apple indeed released the remote described here. In short, if you want cheap, Apple doesn’t sell it to you. Because they don’t know how to create a solid product for little money. (others think they do, but it always turns out not to be a solid product, and not loved by many)

      • Smigit - 9 years ago

        I have a Logitech Harmony setup and it’s fantastic, and will continue to be so regardless of what Apple releases. Unless the Apple remote includes activity support to trigger input switching on the TV, amplifier etc, including support for my other devise, then the Harmony remotes will still be useful. I cringe at the thought of teaching my partner how the Onkyo Receivers remote works and which of the 8 inputs she has to be on for device X to work.

        Got it for much less than the $299 price which really is the biggest issue with the device.

        As it stands, $149 for an Apple TV doesn’t seem bad to me.

  4. danbridgland - 9 years ago

    Something doesn’t stack up.

    • danbridgland - 9 years ago

      Looking purely from a hardware perspective, if the ports remain the same as the previous gen, the internals are to receive only a CPU and storage spec bump (requiring no additional, internal real estate over the previous gen), Why are the exterior dimensions increasing?

      • chrisl84 - 9 years ago

        aesthetics

      • Michael Perry (@Alticus) - 9 years ago

        Heat dissipation footprint. Remember this is using an A8 that is supposedly clocked much higher than current devices that use this chip… It will produce heat and the need the space for thermal headroom… especially if they are trying to produce graphics on part with a PS3

      • Jim Phong - 9 years ago

        They need an A8X with the fastest PowerVR 7 GPUs or A9X to be able to achieve same as or faster than Cell 3D rendering…

    • Me In LA - 9 years ago

      Indeed. But that’s the issue with believing BS posted by “insiders” on the web!

  5. bennynihon - 9 years ago

    as long as it can handle 24p video output, so movies or film are shown in their native 24 fps frame rate, than all is good with me. Amazingly, a feature present on 10 year old DVD players, has been lacking in media boxes like the Apple TV, Fire TV, Chromecast, etc.

    • irelandjnr - 9 years ago

      I have a funny feeling you’re getting confused along the way. It’s probably your TV with one of those gimmicky modern settings turned on.

      • bennynihon - 9 years ago

        nope. do some research. I’m amazed at how few people are aware of this. Film or movies are shot at 24 frames per second. Historically, TV’s VSYNC ran at 60 Hz in order to match the AC frequency at the outlet (in North America), and the first content was shown at 60 interlaced fields per second. So VCRs and the first DVD players needed to fit 24 fps into 30 fps (and then interlaced to make it 60 fields per second). This requires adding some frames more than others to fit 24 nicely into 30 (a process called Telecine or 2:3 pulldown). This leads to judder, which is most prominent in scenes that pan from side to side. Eventually DVD players came out that offered 24p output (or 24 progressive fps), the native rate of the movie. This of course still requires a TV that can properly display the 24 fps without needing to apply its own Telecine. TVs that have a 120 Hz panel work (as 120 is exactly five times 24), as do 240 Hz panels. Problem is, the Apple TV, Fire TV, Chromecast, and others always output at 60 Hz. They don’t support 24 fps output, so we’re stuck watching movies with crappy Telecine applied. Again, this is a feature that has been available for 10 years on DVD players. No excuse not to have it with the modern boxes, as I’m sure the video chipsets they’re using already allow for that video frequency.

    • Ryan - 9 years ago

      That’s your TV man. Just turn off any of the “true motion” or similar features.

      • megalev - 9 years ago

        Nah he’s right. Some people just don’t notice and most don’t care

  6. Paketstorm (@Paketstorm) - 9 years ago

    no 4k is unacceptable, even my Vizio has 4k and it rocks with Netflix!!

    • PhilBoogie - 9 years ago

      The world hasn’t moved to 4k so Apple doesn’t either. Heck, the world hasn’t moved to 1080. Without content in 4k, there isn’t enough incentive for companies to support it. When I watch the news on my ‘HD TV’, most footage is in 576. I applaud Apple for not doing what TV makers are doing.

      • srgmac - 9 years ago

        But Apple is releasing two brand new iPhones that shoot in 4K by default!! Why applaud them for that then?

      • Nicholas Coyle - 9 years ago

        The content is there. It’s in the form of practically every film and TV show ever shot on 35mm. Many of which have already been mastered at 4K.

      • Smigit - 9 years ago

        “The world hasn’t moved to 4k so Apple doesn’t either.”

        And Apple not moving forward will be a reason for the world not moving forward in that direction and makes them part of the problem. They own the primary content distribution channel for the Apple TV as well as half of the hardware pipeline (the other component being the TV).

        As noted, the iPhone will supposedly film in 4K too so it’d be nice for those with a TV set to be able to AirPlay to it at full resolution, not to mention they’ve made the transition to higher resolution displays on their Mac lineup. Ideally the Apple TV should add support for 4K content and it becomes an option on the iTunes store for those using Macs and other devices capable of playing it back.

        There’s absolutely nothing to applaud by them holding 4K back. At $149 the device will be among the most expensive on the market and it’s not like those that can’t use 4K won’t be able to output 1080p instead. Given they were the first to jump onto high resolution displays for phones and amongst the first to do it in their laptop and now desktop line up, I don’t see why they’d want to hold back from moving to higher resolution multimedia. The ‘HD’ content doesn’t suddenly disappear just as SD streams didn’t go away when HD became an option.

      • PhilBoogie - 9 years ago

        Good points on film and AirPlay; that certainly is 4k (and beyond since film can’t be compared to pixels) As for ‘rolling out 4k globally’ I think we are a long way from that happening. Yes, many movies are shot in 4k (or higher) but buying a 4k TV won’t result in watching 4k content, unless you shoot it yourself or handpick it online. There’s an abundance of 4k out there, see 4k dot com, but it looks like it’s mainly budget movie makers, GoPro and slow-mo content. And time-lapse, gotta see time-lapse.

    • irelandjnr - 9 years ago

      There’s nothing wrong with 1080p on a living room TV at all. There are many more areas that need improvement in modern TVs over pure pixel count. Black levels, a more naturalistic motion engine, user interface design and greatly out of the box sound quality among other things. Those are areas where TVs need improvement, but they are also much harder to achieve then nearly throwing more pixels at the thing.

      • irelandjnr - 9 years ago

        Ignore my typos, I hate WordPress.

    • nutmac - 9 years ago

      Agreed. I would even tolerate $299 4K (ideally with higher capacity storage) version.

    • Blaine Brown - 9 years ago

      I’m still holding out hope that it will either come with 4K (H.265 for better bandwidth) or be added via future firmware, but still announced. A8 can handle it. And there are android set-top boxes (Minix), about the same size as ATV that have dedicated 4K H.265 decoders, in the same price range. Along with 4K iTunes store support (for a limited but growing selection of movies & TV) and support for any other app that wants to do 4k (Netflix). This would be one more thing to put it ahead of the competition.

      • Blaine Brown - 9 years ago

        Also, I can’t imagine they’d let you record 4k on the iPhone 6s and not be able to play it back on ATV.

      • taoprophet420 - 9 years ago

        Apple never pushes the envelope on new technology. 4K barely has any content. For the streaming you want, most people internet is not fast enough or data caps would be ate up by 4K streaming. Apple never included Bluray on any Mac, so jumping to 4K with just a handful of shows and movies in 4K. A,Es no sense at this time.

      • Smigit - 9 years ago

        “Apple never pushes the envelope on new technology”

        I wouldn’t call 4K support pushing the envelope. Netflix and other services already support it, with some of those including Netflix being a big reason why people buy Apple TV’s in the first play.

        The Bluray argument was a different debate entirely driven by the fact that in Jobs eyes physical media was on the way out and the decision not to include Bluray drives (and pay the licensing costs) was a precursor to the Mac line up dropping built in DVD drives, starting with the MacBook Air. At the same time they were also pushing HD media through iTunes, something they could also do with UHD content (as minimal as it may be currently).

      • haydesigner - 9 years ago

        “Apple never pushes the envelope on new technology”

        Ah hahahahahaHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! HA!
        *whew* that was a good laugh. Thanks.

      • Vittorio D'Antuono - 9 years ago

        Totally agree with you buddy. Sadly Apple held its event today and none of the above was announced nor confirmed. The new Apple TV mainly features the new remote, Siri support and App Store with tvOS being its newly dedicated OS. It has the A8 chip inside as rumored but, no 4K support was announced and I don’t know if they’re going to add it via firmware update. The A8 has the power to handle 4K but Apple once again stepped on the brake paddle. They probably want 4K contents and TVs to get more mainstreamed before adding 4K support to Apple TV. I’m disappointed.

    • Joe - 9 years ago

      Odds are that it is easily capable of 4K, but it isn’t turned on yet. They could probably flip the switch at any time, but the number of 4K tv’s out there is probably very, very, small seeing as people buy tv’s maybe like once every 4-5 years. Most likely it will get jailbroken to run emulators and someone will figure out a way to enable 4K.

  7. BDKennedy (@BDKennedy) - 9 years ago

    At 8GB of storage, there is no room to store apps. The current gen Apple TV needs that 8GB to cache movies. Something isn’t right.

  8. chrisl84 - 9 years ago

    Be interesting to see what kind of Apps Apple allows….no web browsing, no chat, no Apple Music competitors. Just Doodle Jump stuff

    • Inaba-kun (@Inaba_kun) - 9 years ago

      There are plenty of Apple Music competitors on the current iOS App Store, so there’s no reason to think Apple would block anything.

      It might also mean that Apple TV owners can finally get Amazon Instant Video too.

      • chrisl84 - 9 years ago

        Lol, yeah right…because they were there before Apple Music existed. Just wait for all the nonsense rules Devs get stuck with.

      • rnc - 9 years ago

        He’s so hateful, that he’s hating even before Apple does something, betting on the worst…

  9. Albert Montijo Jr - 9 years ago

    I am still trying to figure out why some fanboys are so fixated on 4K support. It makes no sense in the grander scale of things since there is hardly any media out there, currently, that runs with 4K quality. It would be an unnecessary add-on that would just inflate the price and couldn’t be used by at least 90%+ of HD TV owners. Let it rest for a while.

    • bennynihon - 9 years ago

      exactly. while cool, very few have the TV to even enjoy 4K on (and even still, one big enough to notice the difference from typical viewing distances). Now, watching movies at their native frame rate and not a juddery mess, is something everyone can appreciate :)

    • chrisl84 - 9 years ago

      If the iPhone 6S shoots 4K then people might like to play that on their 60 in 4K TV…..or maybe they’d like to just watch it on their 5.5 inch phone

    • Me In LA - 9 years ago

      I thought I read that Netflix was going to start providing 4k content with their TV shows (and maybe others)? I’m with you. But at some point, 4k or 8k is going to break out…I think. But I’m not buying hardware for that purpose until it’s viable…

      • Inaba-kun (@Inaba_kun) - 9 years ago

        Netflix and Amazon already have a lot of content in 4K.

        The content is getting there, but persuading people to upgrade their TVs is going to take longer. I’m dubious if the difference is even noticeable from a normal viewing distance at sizes of 60″ or less anyway.

      • taoprophet420 - 9 years ago

        Netflix literally has a handful each of shows and movies. So there is not a lot of 4K content.

    • markm49 - 9 years ago

      I disagree – many of the newer TV’s are offering 4K now at a price that makes the purchase of one a no brainer if you are looking at a new TV. The TV companies are selling 4 million 4K TV’s a quarter now. Netflix on my LG looks absolutely stunning when streaming 4K video – admittedly we need more content but that is starting to happen as broadband speeds increase through the rollout of fibre platforms.

      Releasing a non 4K streaming device now makes no sense to me personally.

      • Joe - 9 years ago

        It will be 2 years before fiber get’s any type of significant penetration. Where I live the fast I can get is 6 down. Yeah, that’s extreme (and sad) but there are TONS of places that don’t even have double digit download speeds, much less 4 digit download speeds. We are still in the early stages of 4K and it’s just not quite big enough to be implemented on an AppleTV.

    • nutmac - 9 years ago

      You will change your tune if you have 4K TV (which starts at under $500). While the amount of 4K contents is small, it is growing at faster pace than you might think (Amazon, Netflix, YouTube, many smartphones, photos). And at the rate Apple TV hardware is updated, it may take a long time before Apple decided to update Apple TV to 4K.

    • srgmac - 9 years ago

      If you want to say 4K is dumb, fine — then don’t put it in the iPhones…To have the phones shoot in 4K by default, and then having the ATV not even being able to display them at native resolution, is just plain idiotic.

    • Because it makes sense for the future. Apple doesn’t update the AppleTV often, and by the next iteration they will be behind the curve on 4K content. Just because you don’t have a 4K TV doesn’t mean no one out there wants 4K support for AppleTV. Netflix is pumping out new 4K content at a good pace, and a 4K AppleTV would give content creators incentive to produce even more. This isn’t rocket science.

    • vboom90 - 9 years ago

      It hardly seems like the cost of 4k support is large cosidering the price of Android devices that can provide it.
      The argument that just because it isn’t widely adopted yet so why should they is ridiculous, 90% of the world’s population don’t have HD tvs so why make it support 780p let alone 1080p?
      Given the historical rate of Apple TV refresh dates 4K will be dead and gone by the time we get a new one so why miss out on a whole generation of video quality?

    • Netflix is a big supporter and is adding new content almost daily. Every time I launch Netflix and scroll the 4K category I see new shows. TV shows are Blacklist, Grace and Frankie, Chef’s Table, Marco Polo, Narcos, Daredevil, House of Cards, Video Game High School, Wet Hot American Summer, Bad Asses, Sense8, Bloodline and Breaking Bad. Movies are Hitch, The Patriot, Smurfs 2, What Happend Miss Simone, and My Best Friend’s Wedding.

      And that’s just Netflix. Amazon Instant also has 4K content. Currently the only way to play this content is the built-in apps. If AppleTV added 4K it would incentivize content creators to make more shows/movies available in 4K because 4K devices would be in more homes. Oh and I don’t have a crazy fiber connection either. 50Mbps cable internet is more than enough to stream 4K without problem.

  10. Paketstorm (@Paketstorm) - 9 years ago

    Netflix offers 4k, and DirectTV now offers 4k, I love 4k content on Netflix. Just cause you cant afford a 4k TV and have to wait like the rest of the 90%, we are the ones that shell out the $$ just like we did for 1080p while you sat back on your CRT monitors and TVs. 4k and 8k are the future, Apple has 4k on their 6s phone, no reason not to have it on the new apple tv,

    • taoprophet420 - 9 years ago

      4 tv shows, 3 movies and 3 documentaries is hardly 4K support on Netflix.

      • srgmac - 9 years ago

        What about all those 4K videos people are going to be creating with their new iPhones? You know, the ones that shoot in 4K mode by default..?

      • taoprophet420 - 9 years ago

        Well since must people shoot portrait videos on iPhones it does little good for it to be centered in the middle of a giant 4K tv.

      • Your data is old. There is more content, and movies on top of it. If you Google “Netflix 4K content” you will find articles that are out of date. Netflix recently launched the original show Narcos in 4K, and have Breaking Bad, Daredevil, House of Cards, and a couple of others I can’t think of at the moment. It was recently announced that The Shield is being remastered in 4K, that will certainly be in 4K on Netflix . On top of this whole discussion is how much a 4K AppleTV would incentivize content creators to make more 4K available. It’s a chicken and the egg problem, and Apple has the money to be the egg. Put boxes in customers homes and the 4K content will come.

      • taoprophet420 - 9 years ago

        Oh boy I’m off by 2-3 shows.
        The Internet backbone isn’t there test for 4K and so many providers have data caps.

        Very few movies and shows are natively shot in 4K. You will have to wait. I have a feeling we will see an Apple television that supports 4K before we see an Apple TV that supports it.

      • TV shows are Blacklist, Grace and Frankie, Chef’s Table, Marco Polo, Narcos, Daredevil, House of Cards, Video Game High School, Wet Hot American Summer, Bad Asses, Sense8, Bloodline and Breaking Bad. Movies are Hitch, The Patriot, Smurfs 2, What Happend Miss Simone, My Best Friend’s Wedding.

        What else you got?

      • Mad Max (@windstorm) - 9 years ago

        Maybe I am missing something but most of the “supposed” 4k TV’s being sold are not true 4K, but are what is being called UltraHD which is not real 4k. Like most of the people on here are saying most people do not have the bandwidth to download 4k content. If you are building a device for the masses then most people don’t have 4k and will not for several years.

      • taoprophet420 - 9 years ago

        Apple never adopted Bluray, what makes people think Apple will or should add 4K now. Some of the 4K tv’s come with hard drives with 4K movies, because of bandwidth problems.

        Apple waited on 3G and LTE on iPhone because of adoption and battery drain. Apple waits for texhnology to be. Pre developed before it puts it in products. Look at Touch ID, it is now. Ew texhnology just great intergration. Apple usually isn’t the first to the punch. The only exception is io like FireWire, Thumderbolt and USB c

  11. well, if this all is true and not much else, I am just fine with my current AppleTV…especially at the $150 mark that is a no-go for me.
    Apple saved me again from spending on something that’s not too much of anything for me.

  12. Inaba-kun (@Inaba_kun) - 9 years ago

    Gaming isn’t going go go beyond the lightest of causal games with those specs. It’s well below Xbox 360 level of power and that’s a 9 year old system, and 16 or even 8gb of storage is utterly laughable. Many of the most popular games now are open world, and so require access to most of their data at any point. Good luck streaming 40gb worth of The Witcher 3 on demand, not that the feeble GPU Apple are using could ever hope to render a modern game like that anyway.

    But hey ho, you’ll be able to play Candy Cruah on your TV. What a revolution.

    • o0smoothies0o - 9 years ago

      I agree, it’s an embarrassment. Not giving it capability to have developers make some simple hardcore games, and not making their own controller make it utterly useless for gaming. I sorry but casual games belong on a mobile device, playing candy crush on a TV screen should warrant floggings for everyone involved.

    • lowtolerance - 9 years ago

      Games can ONLY be good if they cost $60 and can only be played on a machine costing upwards of $500. Xbox 360 had no good games, because it didn’t have the graphics capabilities for it. Games are only as good as the graphics capabilities I have or want. Anything less is for closed-world-playing lightweight casuals. PS 4/Xbox One/My Gaming Rig is revolutionary.

    • This I agree with. I think gaming on the AppleTV is the wrong way to go. Adding support for casual games, sure. I’m afraid they will make this next update gaming centric to justify the huge price increase. I want AppleTV for movies and TV.

  13. ipeefreelyagain - 9 years ago

    What about a $35 Raspberry Pi 2 or even a $35 Fire Stick? What am I missing here?

  14. rtd5943 - 9 years ago

    I cannot believe they are omitting 4K. I will have to continue to use the native apps on my TV for 4k viewing. I was really hoping for one device to replace all the input switching I currently have to do.

  15. chuckisbusy - 9 years ago

    what about optical audio??

    • nutmac - 9 years ago

      Can’t you just use HDMI for audio as well as video?

      • galley99 - 9 years ago

        Yes, but in my case, I use an optical cable to run AirPlay through my stereo without needing to turn the TV on.

    • I would assume it will still have optical out. I hope so, anyway. Some of us still use older receivers that don’t do HDMI.

  16. macnificentseven48 - 9 years ago

    What is with Apple not wanting to support external drives on AppleTV? I’d at least like some explanation why. Every streaming box available except AppleTV supports external drives. I’m always putting files on thumb drives and playing them directly with my Roku even though I have PLEX on it to stream those files. I just like the choice of doing what I want. I simply don’t see how AppleTV supporting external drives hurts Apple. It won’t stop me from purchasing AppleTV but Apple’s decision seem rather puzzling to me.

  17. Jim Phong - 9 years ago

    If this is going to be confirmed then Tim Cook did another huge mistake like the iPhone 5C nonsense of his.
    The new AppleTV has to be the most powerful iOS device ever with an enhanced A8X with PowerVR 7 GPUs or A9X at 2.5GHz or 3GHz and 30Watt to 50Watt TDP, 64GB SSD or 128GB SSD, a good proper gamepad and sold at $299 and $359 for example.
    That would be able to deliver better 3D graphics at 1080p and higher than the obsolete AMD APU Jaguar on the PS4 and XBoxOne crap consoles.

    • o0smoothies0o - 9 years ago

      Here’s the thing. There should have been ‘Apple TV’ and ‘Apple TV Play’ or ‘Apple TV Plus’ the former being what they will release, and the latter being much more expensive with an included Apple designed controller and gaming focus. Why not? They did it with the Apple Watch essentially, except the Apple Watch was for prestige, and not actual function.

  18. 4K is a hoax. Unless you have a ginormous living room that seats 20 people — you don’t need it.

  19. Brandon Butkowski - 9 years ago

    But seriously though, if this actually is what Apple ends up releasing, it’s a shame it won’t have HDMI input support… what a great opportunity for Apple to become the default interface for all your TV entertainment needs without the need of having to switch inputs… maybe they’ll finally get it right with Apple TV 5?

  20. lkrupp215 - 9 years ago

    Oooooo, the spec mongers will go ballistic if this is true. All those fake techie wannabes yammering about 4K this, USB that, CPU this, and memory that will solemnly declare the new device anathema and a flop. Then Apple will proceed to sell millions of them. So go buy your miracle machine somewhere else IF it even exists.

    • chrisl84 - 9 years ago

      4K, USB….haha yeah those are some real tall orders to ask for at the tail end of 2015. Where do you live, 1995?

    • srgmac - 9 years ago

      The new iPhones are going to be able to shoot in 4K video, and they’re going to shoot in that resolution BY DEFAULT! Why the fuck would you want to watch the brand new videos you just shot on a device that downscales them?

  21. Jamar Champion - 9 years ago

    It makes absolutely no sense for Apple not to include 4K at this point. Just about every HDTV being sold today offers 4K. Yes getting people to adopt the format starts with content. No there isn’t lots of 4K available but streaming services are offering content and 1080 is a thing of the past. it’s time to get rid of this old technology. For a company like Apple to not add the technology of tomorrow to this box is in my opinion bogus and it offers nothing over the competitors so where the hell is the innovation? To hell with this little box that’s using left over processors from other devices, that will only do a hand full of things more than my 3rd gen device, and that will still only stream in 1080. give me a real freaking Apple UHDTV i can hang on my wall now that’s innovation. to hell with making more devices I can purchase more of your freaking apps on. I want to play my mobile games on my mobile devices not my TV and if so I’ll airplay using my 3rd gen Apple TV. wake up people stop buying Apples old tech covered with new features.

    • It’s a chicken and the egg problem. Content creators are waiting on more 4K devices to make their content available in 4K. Apple has the money and is poised to put out a 4K box to the masses, which in turn would give content creators a reason to go 4K. Not putting 4K in the next AppleTV would be a mistake. I love my AppleTV but if the new one is gaming focused with no 4K support I definitely will not be buying one.

  22. rtdunham - 9 years ago

    Mark, do you think this hardware would support for K with the software update?

    I like the specs. I’ll be buying one.

  23. yojimbo007 - 9 years ago

    Confirmed?

    Please.. Nothing is confirmed…!

    • srgmac - 9 years ago

      The more I think about this, the more it makes zero sense. It makes no sense to release two new phones that shoot in 4K by default, and right along side them to release the TV STB product that can’t even work with 4K TVs. I can not believe that any sensible product manager would go along with this, let alone the senior management at Apple. I am done believing this is true; it just makes no sense. If you say 4K is useless and dumb, that’s fine, but then why put it on the iPhones and have that be the default resolution? It’s just not logical for this to be true. Either it’s *not* on the new iPhones, or it’s on both the iPhones and the new ATV. That’s my stance…fuck it, if I’m wrong, then my head will explode lol O_O

  24. srgmac - 9 years ago

    Haha, what a useless upgrade — BOTH new iPhones can shoot in 4K but the new Apple TV coming out along side them, at the exact same time, cannot do 4K video? What an absolute joke…I’m not going to say Apple doesn’t know what they’re doing, because obviously they did this for a reason, but I just cannot imagine what that reason could be. Why would you want LESS cohesion in your product lines?

  25. Thomas Yoon - 9 years ago

    My one question is, will it finally come with an Apple HDMI cable? Always wondered why it never did and you had to go out and pick up another before using it. Not like HDMI cables are expensive in any way, but it’s an inconvenience for something that should be open up and play. Imagine the customers who have no idea and just buy it in the store and take it home.

  26. heelturn31 - 9 years ago

    Wasn’t the current Apple TV product released in mid-2012 and not 2010?

    • NatsJim - 9 years ago

      The 2012 update simply upgraded the processor from the iphone 4 era A4 to the A5 used in the iphone 4s and ipad 2. It allowed them to upgrade max resolution from 720p to 1080p but was otherwise identical to the atv released in 2010 as far as I know.

  27. scottkitts - 9 years ago

    iPhone 6s with 4K video, by default?!? Where are you people getting that?

    Apple hasn’t even announced the next iPhone yet, let alone its video recording specs. “Why would Apple let you record 4k video with the iPhone 6s by default and not let you see 4k video on the AppleTV?” The current iPhone 6 Plus has a 1920×1080, 401ppi screen (the iPhone 6 only a 1334×750, 326ppi screen). Why would Apple let you record a 4k video that you couldn’t even see on the device used to record it? Or are you expecting an iPhone 6s Plus with a 4096 x 2160, 800ppi screen?!? And just how much 4k video would a typically outfitted 16GB iPhone 6s Plus even store (my 16GB iPod Air 2 is already full and I don’t even have any music or video stored on it)? How long would it take the A series chip inside to compress that video into something actually storable? Or are you suppose to stream all these gigabytes over your metered LTE connection?

    These are just RUMORS, NOT facts!

    • o0smoothies0o - 9 years ago

      Letting you in on a secret: just because the iPhone’s don’t have anywhere near 4k resolutions, doesn’t mean the 4k videos they will shoot (which by the way are next to confirmed because Mark Gurman said it, and his sources are insanely reliable), won’t look much superior. The 4k videos these new iPhones will shoot, will look orders of magnitude better than current 1080p video they shoot. I guarantee you that. You’ll soon see the video comparison videos of iPhone 6s 1080p vs. 4k video, and you’ll see how much better the 4k looks, on whatever screen you watch it on.

      • scottkitts - 9 years ago

        I don’t think you have avery good understanding of optics and photography. Yes, I higher resolution image sensor will potentially record more detailed images. However, how much light the lens lets in, how quickly and how sensitive the sensor is without generating artifacts is far more important, i.e. the maximum aperture of the lens and the relative ISO of the sensor. The quality of the lens will also have to be exponentially better at extremely high tolerances to get even a small increase in image quality (the lens and image sensors are ridiculously small as it is now, after all). Otherwise you’ll get high-res, dark, blurry videos (like the dark 1080 videos my iPad AIr 2 makes).

        Ever compare an iPhone photo to even an average DSLR photo? The larger optics of the DSLR almost always produce better results.

  28. Paul Van Obberghen - 9 years ago

    Lack of 4K streaming does not mean it wont be able to output 4K content at all. Just for displaying pictures we takes with our iPhones to 4K TVs would be enough of a justification to support 4K output. And what about games?
    That Apple would provide a new AppleTV now without any 4K support is just plain incomprehensible when they ship a 5K iMac for a year now, and the coming iPhone 6S will most likely feature 4K shooting as well. Where will we be able to display this 4K content we’ll be shooting on our iPhones if not through an AppleTV connected to a 4K set? On AppleTV’s competitors which are already supporting 4K output for monthes now. That’s where. And there _IS_ 4K content available now. It just for Apple to get it. Or produce it.
    That the iTunes Store wont be streaming 4K yet is understandable as few have an Internet connection that would support it (though others are doing it for quite a while now, so why not Apple?) but there are plenty of things to display on a 4K TV or PJ that doesn’t need to go through an Internet connection. And even so, why would Apple not doing it when YouTube and Netflix is aleady doing it for quite a while now. Why not Apple? Why is Apple always lagging behind where in this field when they should be leading the way?

    • NatsJim - 9 years ago

      Perfect summation, Paul – agree with everything you wrote.

    • srgmac - 9 years ago

      Maybe Gurman’s sources got the information wrong…That’s the only thing I can think of. Maybe the iTunes store won’t have 4K video content, and maybe it won’t work with Netflix 4K content and other 4K content *streaming* sources from launch, but maybe it will actually support 4K output and allow 4K videos to be streamed from the new iPhones that will support it by default. That actually makes a lot more sense to me…then a few months down the line, Apple updates iTunes store with 4K titles, and subsequently an update is pushed to the ATV that gives it 4K streaming. The ATV hardware release cycle is just so long, I can’t see them delaying 4K now on the ATV, especially with it coming right now on the iPhones. Samsung has had 4K video on their top tier android devices for a long time now; they also make TVs though; but Apple wants to be *the* go to STB for video entertainment though with the ATV.

    • Andrew John - 9 years ago

      A lot of words over a product that hasn’t even been announced let alone released. You people just fall for the clickbait and get all hot under the collar over a speculative report. Even if this speculation is half right, the speculated hardware would allow 4K streaming support anyway, which may indicate a software update will enable 4K when the content is better supported. Netflix barely has a handful of items while iTunes has none. Again, all this is pure speculation.

  29. NatsJim - 9 years ago

    It’s typical Apple non-sense, never give the consumer what they want when you can give them 80% of what they’re asking for and then charge them again for another 10% next year, another 5% in two years, and so on. They are shameless, and while as a shareholder I appreciate some of their business tactics as a consumer and tech junkie I despise them at times. We have waited 5 years for a true update to the apple tv and they’re going to give us something they could have (and should have) done years ago – an app store with siri and a touch remote. Another typically disappointing product upgrade that will sell well despite remaining inferior to competitors’ products.

    • Andrew John - 9 years ago

      You are aware these reports are just speculation? Everyone comments like its been released, yet it hasn’t. Faux rage over a product that hasn’t even been announced is just ridiculous.

  30. I wonder how this touch enabled remote’s battery does. Having to constantly plug the remote in sounds like a pain in the ass.

  31. Did I read that right: AirPlay is actually omitted in this iteration?!?

  32. CK Wong - 9 years ago

    It finally has partial functions of MI Box! But price at 5-10X. LOL.

  33. CK Wong - 9 years ago

    Another trash from apple.

  34. Leif Paul Ashley - 9 years ago

    No A9… no 4k? wtf Apple… seriously?

    • 4K movie rentals would be no problem for most people as you can use the “download now and watch later” option when renting.
      4K photos are anything taken on a 7 or 8 mp camera
      4K Netlix already
      4K Amazon Prime already (if there’s an App Store then surely Prime will be on it)
      4K YouTube already
      4K Go Pro’s and maybe the new iPhones record footage in 4K

      The only thing we need to hope for is that this new Apple TV has HDMI 2.0, the rest can be added by software updates.

  35. Jef Damen - 8 years ago

    Only optical audio out = fail