What the new Apple TV 4K tells us about Apple’s living room strategy

Plus all of the important details about this new, just-announced product.

We were all eagerly anticipating the announcement of new iPads today, but Apple had an additional surprise in store for us: a new Apple TV 4K device with an updated Siri Remote. It’s an interesting update to one of my favorite Apple products both for what’s new with this device specifically, as well as for what it says about Apple’s living room strategy.

The Price

The most frequent longstanding complaint levied against the Apple TV is that it has been quite expensive relative to other streaming media boxes in the market. Prior to today’s announcement Apple sold two SKUs of its Apple TV 4K, differing only in capacity, at $179 and $199. They also continued to sell the ancient (in terms of the tech landscape) Apple TV HD at $149. The new 3rd generation Apple TV 4K is priced at $129 to start, a full $50 below its predecessor’s starting price, and the Apple TV HD is no more. This makes the Apple TV a much more affordable device, though you can still find competing products for significantly less money. I’ve always suspected that Apple kept the price what it was because they were moving lots of units despite the cost, and they no doubt expect to move lots of units of the new Apple TV at its lower, but still high price.

The way they’re differentiating the two SKUs with the latest Apple TV is interesting too. They’re now referred to as “Wi-Fi” and “Wi-Fi + Ethernet.” In the past, all Apple TV models had built-in ethernet. Removing it on the low-end model certainly helps keep the price lower, and it’s an acknowledgment of the fact that most Apple TV customers just connect via wi-fi anyway. The ethernet-equipped model also has double the onboard storage (128 GB versus 64 GB) and also supports the Thread smart home device protocol, which enables smart home devices to interoperate seamlessly. The Apple TV 4K can act as a Thread hub, something you have to have to make a Thread network work. I would have preferred that both units had Thread support, but it’s worth remembering that most buyers of a product like this aren’t thinking about stocking their homes with smart home accessories. The ones who know what Thread is are also probably the ones connecting their Apple TV to their home network via ethernet anyway.

The Chip

The new Apple TV 4K comes equipped with the A15 Bionic system-on-a-chip introduced last year with the iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 Pro. Unlike prior models, the new Apple TV doesn’t have a cooling fan, something Apple attributes to the power efficiency of the A15 Bionic. Eschewing the fan has enabled the new Apple TV to actually shrink slightly compared with its chunky predecessor, and weight quite a bit less.. Apple also says CPU performance on this model is 50% faster than on the old model, and GPU performance is 30% faster.

The Remote

The Siri Remote was redesigned with the release of the 2nd generation Apple TV 4K last year, and it was received gratefully by the corporate tech press, who had spent the prior six years griping about the design of the original Siri Remote. Personally, I liked the original Siri Remote, though I agree that the new design is an improvement on it. Unfortunately there’s not much new with the Siri Remote. It replaces the prior unit’s Lightning port with a USB-C port. (More on that below.) But it doesn’t add the one thing that everyone has long wanted from the Apple TV’s remote: compatibility with Apple’s Find My app. Despite the AirTag now being a year and a half old, you still can’t locate a missing Apple TV remote with your iPhone.

HDR10+

Most of us don’t have a TV that supports HDR10+, but it’s good that the Apple TV is keeping up with the latest TV formats.

The Narrative

Given all of the above, I think there’s a few things we can take away regarding Apple’s product strategy. First, Apple is moving toward USB-C in a big way, and the Siri Remote is the next domino to fall toward the end of the Lightning era. Apple is treated in the press as if it hates USB-C, despite doing a lot to push the entire industry toward the adoption of USB-C when the MacBook Pro moved to all USB-C in 2016. Now the rest of Apple’s devices and accessories will start adopting it in place of Lightning.

Second, Apple still isn’t serious about gaming on Apple TV. It’s great that Apple Arcade games are compatible with Apple TV, and it’s great that so many third-party controllers are compatible with Apple TV. But if Apple really wanted to make the Apple TV a credible home console, they would design and sell their own controller, and they would release a higher end Apple TV running on an M-series chip. Upgrading the Apple TV’s chip to the A15 Bionic is good, but that’s likely just to maintain reasonable game compatibility across the iPhone, iPad, and Apple TV. I’d still love a gaming-focused Apple TV.

Lastly, by lowering the price, Apple is conceding to market forces that its previous price points were unsustainable. However, by keeping the price above $100, it’s signaling to the market that the Apple TV is a premium home streaming box and is priced as such. I think that’s valid, but I understand that many disagree. Regardless, I expect Apple to move a lot of these. If you already have any generation of Apple TV 4K, you probably don’t need to upgrade to this new model. If you’re an owner of an older Apple TV or have never owned one, this is a great time to buy one.