The new Apple TV launched in October after a three year chasm of silence stagnating with outdated hardware. According to Digitimes, Apple is upping the pace of its Apple TV hardware iterations. The Chinese report indicates that Apple is preparing to start test production of a new fifth-generation Apple TV in early 2016. The new device would apparently feature significantly faster internals to ‘drastically improve the hardware performance’ and ‘add new functions’.
Coupled with the usual disclaimers about Digitimes’ spotty track record, the report is very vague on exactly what ‘new functions’ a new Apple TV could offer. The Digitimes report implies a launch within six months of the current generation’s debut. This may upset buyers of the 4th generation product but Apple has done stuff like this before (remember the iPad 3 -> iPad 4 six month gap).
It is also unlikely that the product will ship so soon anyway; in general, take the report as an indicator that there will be new hardware of some kind in 2016. The long-rumored streaming Apple TV channel service is expected in 2016, so perhaps Apple will have new hardware ready to be released alongside it. This would allow the company to drop the price of the 4th generation box slightly, once again hitting the magic $99 price point in combination with a ~$20-30 streaming cable service offering.
It is also worth remembering that the 4th gen Apple TV was delayed multiple times with many accounts suggesting it was intended to be launched at WWDC in June. This would explain why Apple is already preparing new hardware for circa June 2016, matching Apple’s usual yearly refresh cycle. Whether the device will be released then or held until the fall will obviously be up to the company’s own plans.
Digitimes says the new hardware will go into trial production runs before the end of the month with ‘volume’ manufacturing planned for first quarter 2016. Although it seems unlikely, if the report is to be believed, Apple could launch new hardware at a spring media event in the March/April timeframe.
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No. The new TV just came out. Devs have just started making apps for it. This rumor is BS. No surprise coming from Digitimes which has no track record of accuracy at all.
BTW, our “other site” AI is going to be pretty selective about re-enabling previous forum accounts so it’s looking increasingly like I won’t be seeing you over there.
Doesn’t look like anyone will be joining you at that site. After they switched their forum software vendor most posters left. The articles, regurgitated (or shamelessly copied) a full day after news broke out, get hardly any comments anymore. You may very well end up discussing things with the staff and trolls.
@PhilBoogie, I was referring to myself but someone in admin approved my account after a lengthy delay. In any event I think you are correct. It’s going to be quiet there. Huge change.
That’s weird; I simply clicked on the ‘request new pw’ and got the email (in my spam folder but whatever) and changed it after signing in again. But when I saw the new forum layout (or lack thereof) I quickly closed the Safari tab – what ah…can’t find the words. I did go back to leave a little feedback, but no one replied.
I’m seeing many people have left to another place, which is quite understandable. The stories now get very few comments and I wonder if anyone at that site will take action.
No way it will be released at WWDC 2016. After waiting 3 years to refresh the third gen, why would they only wait 9 months to refresh the fourth gen? Once again, Digitimes is shooting in the dark.
It wasn’t long after 4th gen got released that people realized it was underpowered and had zero future proofing. Most (again most people aren’t 9to5 comment posters so save you “I bought it” replies) are holding off from this new Apple TV until its juiced up to be able to handle when Devs start pushing its limits of performance.
“Most are holding off from this new Apple TV until its juiced up to be able to handle when Devs start pushing its limits of performance.”
Citation?
Common sense requires no citation….3rd grade level term papers taught me that.
Underpowered? Based on what?
The year old A8 chip obviously…..You like new products with year old chips? Good to know, you’ll really like that performance when Devs are coding for the A10 in a less than a year.
It’s a different version of the A8so it’s not a year old.
@chrisl84 the age of the chip has nothing to do with it being “underpowered”. The A8 is still an absolute beast of a chip, and will be adequate for years to come.
The hell you blabbering about? The best part of the AppleTV 4 is that it went from an A5 to an A8 processor, and is now ridiculously fast and smooth at doing tasks that were slow, laborious and downright frustrating on 3rd gen.
Who gives a damn if its better than the A5….its freaking outdated! You are batcrap crazy! Devs arent making apps for the A5 devices you freaking idiot! They will be making them for the A8 device when the chip is OLD! EVEN 9TO5 noted upon release how they went with an out of date chip! It was a pisspoor move to do so and you are too self righteous of an Apple love to admit the fact that it will be a 2 year old chip very soon!
Find me ONE iOS style device that is butterly smooth after 2 years of software updates…..you damn well effing cant. They A8 in that device will be a laggy mess on tvOS 2 and you damn well know it.
My iPad Air 2 and 6 plus will still feel buttery smooth in September and that will be 2 years. That was not the case on my iPad Air which never had enough ram. I have never had a problem with the processing speed on an idevice.
Most streaming devices are damn sticks now a days and they have plenty of power. What fucking apps are crashing your Apple TV or not running smooth? Apple is over locking the version of a8 in the Apple TV. Apple is good at customizing a chips for its different devices.
Chris is right here — The reason why they didn’t go with the A9’s is because they needed them for the iPhones. The 4th gen ATV was delayed, IMHO, at LEAST twice. It *should* have launched a long long time ago. That’s why it doesn’t have 4K, despite the new iPhones both having 4K video recording. Apple screwed up — and they are making their own customers pay for their mistakes and delays.
Wow, this kidnis mad.
What are you 12?
Absolutely right. They should have had the A9’s in the ATV3, but because of the delays and the need for A9’s in the new iPhones, they had no choice — it was either launch a crappy 4th gen like they did, or scrap everything and wait even longer for the actual 4K capable model that can do advanced 3D gaming like the Nvidia Shield, etc. It makes NO sense at all to release phones that can record 4K video while at the same time releasing your TV STB that doesn’t support 4K — no sense at all. Also, when the iPad 3 came out — I bought one as a gift for someone. Today, it is largely unusable because it’s so laggy and slow. It also heats up like crazy. The iPad 3 is the best comparison here — the ATV4 is the “iPad 3” of the ATV lineup — ie. a total mistake, and a mistake for anyone to purchase one.
I’ll only buy an Apple TV when it will feature 4K and 4K content in the iTunes Store and App Store. Until then, my current Apple TV 3 will do.
What? No “digital audio out or bust”¿
Why? That’s even a good reason. At all. You obviously don’t understand how much better this one is than the 3rd gen. Then again, you haven’t used one, so that is no surprise.
This Apple TV is not a successor to the 3rd Gen Apple TV. It is a new product, saying its better than the 3rd Gen is like saying a 1982 car in the year 2015 is better than riding a horse. Yes that 1982 Honda is pretty nice compared to a horse but it is outdated on launch especially when you know that the manufacturer could have released a 2015 Honda but chose not to.
Interestingly, I tried the new Apple TV at the Apple store today and the thing that surprised me, was that I didn’t like the remote. I find the old remote superior in that moving from icon to icon is more definite and the feel of the controls are more logical to the touch.
I slightly agree. I was excited to get one this holiday season and then I used the remote. I don’t think that touch is the issue its the material they used for it. I would argue the remote app (which doesn’t work on the new Apple TV for some unknown reason) is the best remote I’ve used. It’s the resistance of whatever coating is on the iPhones display that makes it work. The remote just seemed too effortless to glide around on.
I would also argue that the home button is useless as a long press on the menu button works fine and that the play/pause button could easily just be clicking the trackpad during playback. Just seems really cluttered compared to the old one button wise.
Interesting. I didn’t even get a chance to try one out – the two times I’ve visited Apple stores, some kid is playing on it, and wouldn’t let me touch it – I wasn’t interested enough to get a store employee to help me.
Will try it out sometime – but my concern is more about a) not having a way to speak entries in apps, b) not being able to attach a BT keyboard or the iOS remote app. Those are software/design issues – but I won’t replace my ATV3 without being able to avoid hunting and pecking in usernames/passcodes for the apps.
Why yes, yes I do remember when Apple released iPad 4 just six months after iPad 3…
Indeed. History is not an indication on future products, or their release schedules. Apple releases products when they are ready. (cough, well, usually that is)
Considering the long delay between TV 3 and 4 I find it highly unlikely Apple would have rushed something out there. Devs are just now starting to write apps for the device. This is more nonsense from DigiTimes.
Has to be to add 4K capabilities to play catch-up.
No consumers give a shit about 4K.
I know I don’t give a damn about 4K but some people do even just for future-proofing their hardware.
Must not have a 6S or 6S Plus in you pocket that films 4K….but I guess Apple put that 4K shit on there for no reason…..or that the iPad Pro edits 4K…..but yeah no one cares about 4K except Apple apparently.
It’s not future proofing when the contrnt distribution, content, data caps and broadband speeds are not ready for 4K. By the time that is true in 2-4 years there will have been 2 Apple TV refreshes.
> content distribution, content, data caps and broadband speeds are not ready for 4K
That would only be true is 4K wasn’t accompanied by HEVC/h.265 which is twice as efficient as MP4part10/h.264. It would depend on content and compression parameters if 4K’s 4xHD would require any more bandwidth.
@PMZanetti. – Evidence please. Given that it’s becoming increasingly difficult to buy a TV which isn’t 4K he industry is clearly all in on 4K whether you like it or not.
I do. And I’m a consumer. : )
Lol very interesting comments since my thoughts of an average person cant even tell between 1080p/i vs 4k.
Btw it seems 4k marrketing and cheaper 4k tvs seems to be working for otger streaming devices but apparently not for Apple this time. Also where is the 4k content for the new fire tv with 4k? Is there a sepearate section under 4k?
For reals can an average consumer even tell between a 1080p/i versus 4K?
It seems that 4K marketing is working for example on the Amazon fire TV 4k version and many TV sets with prices dropping but apparently this is not the case with the new Apple TV. Also the content is very lacking even for the new Fire TV.
There’s hardly any 4k content out there, which is why no one gives a fuck about it. Sure there are people who have a 4k TV, a 4k cam so they can create content themselves. Just don’t point out there is 4k content on YT; that’s mostly crap content, like landscape, Time Lapse. We’re years away from a global 4k rollout, likely is going to used by the next generation, but not me.
I dont see it happening around WWDC 2016. But i could see it happening around the next iPhone launch. Thr Apple Tv being Apples hobby for so many years. And with the launch of the revamped Apple tv in September it could turn to be a yearly upgrade cycle for the Apple tv. That is if Apple truly really want to change the way we view our tvs, and make it a proper revolutionary product.
They realised it didn’t make any sense to release it so underpowered. It should have the most powerful A9 chip available (even more than the iPad pro, as it’s always plugged and has no battery and less heat issues), to give developers enough powers to develop a grade video games; it should also have 4K. Current Apple TV has no place in the market, hopefully 5th generation will be better.
WTF are you talking about – it’s not underpowered at all. Show me a cite.
Almost every high-end Android streaming box you can buy comes with a quad-core processor and 8-core graphics with tons of ports and Kodi. Almost all support 4K video. Apple’s recent AppleTV already seems somewhat outdated in terms of hardware. No user-enabled USB ports, no SD memory expansion, no 4K video, no optical connector. Apple really likes to barebones all their hardware which for a wealthy company like Apple makes such little sense to me. I’m not saying I need all that extra stuff but Apple should at least stay somewhat competitive with rival products. A few extra dollars spent on hardware shouldn’t hurt Apple all that much. I’m perfectly satisfied with my couple of Roku 3 units so I’m not griping. It just seems like AppleTV should at least be on par with Amazon’s Fire TV for crissakes. It shouldn’t have to totally be a features war but I just don’t quite understand Apple for leaving out what other smaller companies consider the basics.
You know, your “it’s outdated” argument gets a little hard to swallow when you rattle off a list containing “USB ports, SD Memory expansion”optical connector” – those technologies are in excess of a decade old minimum. The optical audio connection is over THIRTY years old. Also, the phrases “quad core processor” and “8-core graphics” are, in isolation, utterly and completely meaningless.
Dramatically faster than what? My new ATV has zero lag, I can’t possibly imagine why Apple would release a faster one so quickly. Absurd,
The task switcher is bizarrely slow to appear, but other than that, it’s relatively quick.
So this will be the 4K update I guess. A bit overdue, but its essential Apple catches up.
Perhaps by the end of next year the app store will look a little more appealing too, as right now it resembles communist era supermarket shelves from 1980s Moscow.
Built in wifi with tight HomeKit capabilities with the Apple TV serving as a router and easy control of all home devices would be a nice update. I don’t see Apple doing these 6 months after an update.
Apple is not building an Apple TV plus with 4K or better processor already. If they are doing anything it’s a version that makes the Apple TV a true hub for your home.
Apple needed to upgrade the iPad 3 really direly because: 1. The A5X was having the hardest time driving the beastly retina display; 2. Apple wanted every mainstream product to feature lightning connector so that the 30-pin connector can go obsolete asap. The iPad 4 fixed those two things and nothing more. It doesn’t seem to be the case for the new Apple TV this time. So a regular 1-year upgrade pace is my guess here with the Apple TV.
The problem is, the Apple TV was delayed twice. It should have launched a long time ago — That’s why it doesn’t have 4K. They needed all those 4K capable SoC chips for the iPhones. The new one will have 4K and be the one that should have come out recently — Apple is making everyone pay for their mistakes and delays.
“The problem is, the Apple TV was delayed twice”
Based on what evidence?
I have a 4K TV. With Roku and Fire TV supporting 4K, I would not but an Apple TV unless it also supported 4K. Hopefully they will catch up to the pack.
Ok cool, you have the 4K HW in place. Would you say there is a fair amount of 4K content available? And would that content go beyond TV series and movies? It est: is there any news being broadcasted in 4k, cartoons, animation, sports, old content et cetera?
For reals where is the 4K content for the Amazon fire TV 4k version? I can’t seem to find 4K content from this device. Is there like a separate section or category for 4K content?
I have a firetv4k but how do you know if a movie for example is in 4k? Is their a sepeate catagory/section for this?
For reals where is the 4K content for the Amazon fire TV 4k version? I can’t seem to find 4K content from this device. Is there like a separate section or category for 4K content?
It sounds like someone is trying to discourage people buying an AppleTV for christmas by starting a rumour that a new version will be out shortly after.
HAHA! I knew it. The latest ATV was delayed; TWICE! It should have launched LAST YEAR! That’s why it doesn’t have 4K. It was a total failure — the next one will be the one to buy. Apple is really turning their own customers into suckers here though…Wow!
Seems very strange, if this should be the truth. With the AppleTV 4 still missing so many important features and software upgrades, i see no reason to have a new one in just a year.
It sure would be cool with 4K if, streaming apps, games, iTunes store and so on supported 4K. But i doesn’t and i see no reason to do this before the eco-system really supports 1080p overall. There is still a long way for many apps to be good enough to the existing hardware, and actually a bit disappointing to see the lack of new apps to the AppleTV, as many of them is crap as it originally was on the first smart TV’s (and still are by the way).
If the reason should for the upgrade should be 4K, would it be possible to develop games in this resolution? or would it be video related only? I have still not seen a PS4 or Xbox that is running a 4K game. . . . .
Even super high end PCs struggle to run games at 4K.
I could envisage simple games, Tetris type things, running at 4K. Games with any demands on fillrate or complex shaders though (such as anything in 3D) are a no go area for many years. Remember that even the PS4, which is by some margin the most powerful game console available, struggles to run games consistently at 1080/30, let alone 1080/60.
So generally speaking the 4K monitor cannot handle games that well compares to non 4k monitor?
I have a dell P2415q 4k monitor and it does not seem smooth when streaming NBA games for some reason but havnt tries it with games yet.
New model comes in at the current price, and the 4th gen maybe gets knocked down to $99? That’s the only way I think this could work
At the moment there are 3 Skus of the AppleTV. A refresh of the 64GB level may be ok. The complete range may be upgraded with the 3rd gen being dropped for the 32GB 4th gen.
I think the 4th gen was late and the 5th gen is on time. A hardware update schedule of 2-4 years sounds good.
what do you expect of the actual gen of Apple Tv?.. It’s crap, nvidia with its shield Tv is unbeatable nowadays… so Apple must just realised about that, but the users are not idiots (of course most of them I though)… so let’s see if the next generation is powerful enough to be able to run serious Emulators (not just 16bit ones) and is more orientated for gaming and that stuff.
I really doubt the 4k. At least on mine Asphalt 8 drops frames like they are going out of style and thats started a week after it came out.
The A8 came out with the iPhone 6 and 6Plus and in the latter case, the screen resolution is the same as current Full HD TVs (1920×1080). So if the iPhone was no slouch (was it?), the Apple TV cannot be a slouch either because it needs to drive the same amount of pixels and has even better hardware: the 6Plus has 1GB, the Apple TV 4th gen 2GB (and the 3rd Gen had 512MB…)
Sure they could have used the A8X, which is used in the iPad Air 2, but that device has a resolution of 2,048 x 1536 (about 3Mpix), which is about 30% more pixels as a FullHD TV or 6Plus. And is more expensive.
Because 4K TVs are still quite expensive and not really mainstrean and since there is yet not so much content available from mainstream media at 4K (at least for what I can see here in Germany), apart content you create with your iPhone 6S that came out “yesterday”, having a new Apple TV with completely new iOS and Apps, where no developer had yet really the time to develop/port/improve to code, it made perfect sense to Apple to come out with the product as it is today.
They will likely come out with a faster 4K capable device, when the market and the developers are ready to support it. Apple does not launch devices where software is not really available.
So when the ecosystem of the Apple TV apps will be ripe, a 4K will come – with a suitable and fast transitions for apps for the 30% higher resolution.
If you can play a game on the iPhone 6 – you can play it on the Apple TV 4. The problem will come for games developed for the 6S – but because they are not developed with the Apple TV in mind, one could argue “get and iphone 6s if you want to play that game” (or get a PS4…!).
If they come out with a new Apple TV supporting 4K – it will be likely a Apple TV “s” with A8x chip supporting 4k res. And nothing more. They need the capacity for the A9s to sell 6s phones at 3 times the price (and revenue), not Apple TVs…
As for the optical out: what for?
As for the SD Card: what for? all media is streamed from servers or your Mac – the extra storage in the Apple TV is for games, and apps, not for content. If you can use a 64GB iPhone, which does *way* more and actually creates content, I don’t really see how an SD Card slot would matter with an Apple TV. You can also stream directly from your iPhone to the TV. And if you have made 4K video, you can see it downsampled on your HD TV. You have a 4K TV? don’t buy the Apple TV right now, wait, get yourself a 4K capable device and don’t complain here about it.