Let’s be clear, I didn’t want to write this. I wanted to buy the new Apple TV and replace the Apple TV HD and 4K Gen1 that were left behind by tvOS 27. Nevertheless, here we are. As a high end flagship, the 4th Gen Apple TV is phenomenal hardware. It’s super fast with an A19 and the included mics are a welcome addition to make it your living room’s hub. In a vacuum, it’s a great follow up to the last gen 128GB high end Apple TV. There’s a a huge catch. First between hardware changes and the supply Armageddon, it’s double the price of the previous 128GB model at $299. That’s alright because you can just get the entry level Apple TV, right?.
About that, the 64GB version was discontinued with the previous version. That means, the lowest priced, higher priced, and only way to get a tvOS device is $300 in October where the entry level was $129 in January. That’s a problem. While it’s certainly capable of being a gaming console, and certainly priced like one, the lack of any of the AAA games released for the iPhone puts the kibosh on that.
The most damning thing might be the actual user experience. I can’t tell a real difference in day to day operation between my 2nd Gen Apple TVs running an A12 and the 3rd Gen which has the A15. Yes, there is a difference in gaming, but how many actually do that on an Apple TV? Both of these are also getting Siri AI support.
Apple wins the specs game, but let’s look at the competition. Most are using something like the Onn Google TV devices from Walmart, Fire TV, Roku, and most likely just whatever interface came with their TV. This is where Apple loses, because you don’t need a A19 or 128GB of storage for what people actually do with these which is watch TV. An A-series is honestly overkill for most of the customer base. Instead of buying the new Apple TV 4K, customers will stick with their existing old Apple TV because even the A8 powered HD is still usable on tvOS 26 or If they die probably replace them with a competing product that’s a fraction of the cost or just use their phone because most TVs are AirPlay enabled, even the Google TVs.
So what could Apple do? The logical move if they wanted to compete is use something off the shelf like a Amlogic S905X5 used in tvs and streaming boxes. Alternately, for a HD stick model, the S10/11 would fit the bill and if Apple wanted to make its own midrange TV chip, the formula is pretty easy, 4 efficiency cores and one or two GPU cores. Essentially it would be a doubled up S11 with the same 64GB of storage. Would it be good for any kind of gaming? No, but it’d do the job for watching TV without the influx of ads in other platforms.
End of the day, if the only Apple TV is $300, the Apple TV as a platform has an uncertain future. These are the highest end streaming devices that don’t say Playstation, Xbox, or Switch on them but without the huge games library. To paraphrase the movie the Pentagon Wars, the Apple Apple TV has become a streaming device that’s too expensive to stream, a game console with no games, but has as much power as the iPhone 17.