Default
Door staff@engadget.com (Luke James) - 13 Oct 2026
Apple has swapped out the A15 Bionic chip from the 2022 model and replaced it with the A19, claiming that it's up to 50 percent faster at CPU tasks and twice as fast at graphics. In iPhone terms, it's like jumping from an iPhone 13 to an iPhone 17. The A19 also comes with double the RAM and a dedicated decoder for AV1, a newer video compression format that lets services stream at high quality over less bandwidth. Wireless networking has also seen a boost, with Wi-Fi 6 upgraded to Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5 upgraded to Bluetooth 6. Thread support remains unchanged.
Away from the chip upgrades, three new mics are built into the box and can hear a Siri request over whatever's playing. In contrast, the 2022 box has no mics, and using Siri features requires holding a button on the remote and speaking to it. The remote for the fourth-gen also adds Precision Finding, which lets an iPhone lead you to wherever you've lost it, and can play a sound. That feature does need an iPhone 17 or later, an iPhone Air or an iPhone Duo, though. It doesn't work on the 17e. The new Siri remote costs $59 when purchased separately and supports all Apple TV 4K models plus the 2015 Apple TV HD.
For the first time, you can hook up four HomePods to work as a surround sound system, two in front and two behind. To do that though, you'll need the fourth-gen box and either HomePod mini 2 or second-gen HomePod speakers in matching pairs. Previously, you could only connect HomePods to an Apple TV 4K in a stereo pair.
Away from the chip upgrades, three new mics are built into the box and can hear a Siri request over whatever's playing. In contrast, the 2022 box has no mics, and using Siri features requires holding a button on the remote and speaking to it. The remote for the fourth-gen also adds Precision Finding, which lets an iPhone lead you to wherever you've lost it, and can play a sound. That feature does need an iPhone 17 or later, an iPhone Air or an iPhone Duo, though. It doesn't work on the 17e. The new Siri remote costs $59 when purchased separately and supports all Apple TV 4K models plus the 2015 Apple TV HD.
For the first time, you can hook up four HomePods to work as a surround sound system, two in front and two behind. To do that though, you'll need the fourth-gen box and either HomePod mini 2 or second-gen HomePod speakers in matching pairs. Previously, you could only connect HomePods to an Apple TV 4K in a stereo pair.