In an effort to justify the new Apple TV 4K’s price tag, the company blamed the AI boom. As it explained in a statement shared with MacRumors, data centers are buying up so much memory and storage that chip prices have spiked, and Apple said it couldn’t keep absorbing the cost.
On MacRumors, a website dedicated to Apple products that features an online community with more than a million members, one disgruntled member who’d planned to order the new Apple TV 4K backed out at $300.
New Apple TV 4K has new features
The new Apple TV 4K features Siri AI, its rebuilt assistant that runs on Apple Intelligence, the company’s AI platform. One of Siri AI’s features allows you to ask a question about whatever you’re watching and get the answer in a small box on screen as you’re watching continues.
Siri AI itself is still a beta on every model — the new one included. It’s coming to the 2021 and 2022 versions of the Apple TV 4K through the tvOS 27.2 software update, but not to the 2017 model or the older Apple TV HD. On any Apple TV 4K model that gets Siri AI, whoever is set up as the home’s owner in Apple’s Home app needs an iPhone or iPad that supports Apple Intelligence, and Apple says it caps how often some features can be used each day.
The new Apple TV 4K also features built-in microphones, three of them, and it’s the only model you can talk to directly without picking up the remote. Older boxes have taken hands-free Siri requests through AirPods since Apple’s 2022 model.
The new Apple TV 4K can also drive a surround sound setup, but only with four HomePod mini 2 or second-generation HomePod speakers. The front and back speakers also have to be the same model, and older HomePod minis don’t qualify.
Why Apple fans are passing on the new box
One Reddit user took a poll of sorts on the r/appletv subreddit, asking whether anyone in the group planned to pay $300 for the new Apple TV 4K. “Its obvious now that Apple believes they can increase the costs of their products by a lot and still make a killing on them from their loyal fans,” the user wrote. And many of those who shared their thoughts have no interest in buying the latest Apple TV.
Even Mike Wuerthele, managing editor of AppleInsider, a site that tracks Apple news, is sitting this one out. After collecting a long line of Apple TVs over the years, Wuerthele wrote that the upgrades over the 2022 model aren’t worth $299 and that he’ll keep using his current boxes as long as they hold up.
Is the new Apple TV worth $299?
If you already have a 2021 or 2022 Apple TV 4K, the latest version is likely not worth the cost, at least not yet. Those who already have a 2021 or 2022 model will soon be getting access to Siri AI, but owners of the 2017 model or an Apple TV HD have a tougher call to make, since their boxes won’t get Siri AI.
