Alright, that headline might sound needlessly confrontational. It’s true, though, that in online circles, some people have become a little exasperated by the absence of a new Apple TV 4K. An update has been rumored since fall 2025, and even that launch date would’ve come three years after the last model. None of this might be a big deal except that if you’re in an Apple-centric home, an Apple TV is the obvious centerpiece for a home theater — and no one wants to spend $130 or more on a streamer that might be outdated in a matter of months. Apple’s slow refresh cycle is testing the patience of some of its most loyal customers.
The latest rumor is that after yet another delay, you’ll have to wait until fall 2026. I’m glad Apple isn’t rushing a new model out the door — if rumors are correct, the next model may be the most significant upgrade since the first 4K was released in 2017. Assuming Apple pulls off something it hasn’t so far, that is. Maybe Apple will even feel confident enough to bring back Bella Ramsey for an ad.
What’s going to be so special about the 2026 Apple TV?
Catch up with the Joneses
Naturally, the new model should have some significant hardware upgrades. It’s likely to support both WI-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6, and with luck, you’ll no longer have to spend extra to get one with support for Thread-based smart home gear. Apple might also bump up the base storage to 128GB, no matter that 64GB is already more than enough if you’re just watching Netflix and HBO Max.
What people are really eager for is a processor upgrade. The 2022 Apple TV is equipped with an A15 Bionic chip, dating back to 2021’s iPhone 13. A lot has changed since then, including the arrival of Liquid Glass in tvOS 26, and the announcements of Dolby Vision 2 and HDR10+ Advanced. While swapping in an A19 could be overkill in the short term, a newer chip is overdue, and it may be necessary to keep things glassy smooth for the next several years.
The biggest consequence of swapping in a new chip, however, may be support for Apple Intelligence. That tech requires an A17 Pro or later due to the amount of onboard processing involved, so we haven’t seen any related features on an Apple TV yet — despite every iPhone, iPad, and Mac offering some degree of support.
Nothing has been confirmed of course, but at a minimum, I’d expect more awareness of the content of movies and shows, and the ability to issue more elaborate voice commands.
You might rightly be thinking that Apple Intelligence has been a disappointment so far. Its best feature is probably Visual Intelligence, and even that ends up forwarding requests to ChatGPT most of the time. The company has been unable to deliver on promises like contextual awareness and deeper voice control of apps, despite the fact that Google Gemini has been making leaps and bounds in those areas. The deficiency in Apple’s products is hard to ignore.
The good news is that earlier this year, Apple finally flew the white flag and announced plans to integrate Gemini into Apple Intelligence. Sort of — with Google’s help, what Apple is really doing is developing Gemini-based AI models, instead of attempting everything solo. Outside help was needed one way or another, given that Apple has let Siri languish for years. This tech is claimed to be the reason for the new Apple TV’s delay. If the set-top shipped before tvOS 27, it would be a lot less impressive.
What sort of improvements could Apple Intelligence provide on an Apple TV? Nothing has been confirmed of course, but at a minimum, I’d expect more awareness of the content of movies and shows, and the ability to issue more elaborate voice commands. At the moment, you can ask Siri to do things like “find funny horror movies,” or “search for EUC videos on YouTube.” Conceivably, however, there’s no reason why you couldn’t ask a Gemini-enhanced Siri to “find that Stanley Kubrick movie about atomic bombs,” or start a movie from a particular timestamp while lowering the volume. Being able to issue commands in a conversational manner can be a real game-changer, as people with native Gemini and Alexa+ devices might tell you.
Apple’s greater ambitions
The push back into the smart home
What’s most interesting to me is that Apple is allegedly launching the new Apple TV alongside a renewed push into smart home tech. There’s always been a lot of potential in HomeKit, but Apple shot itself in the foot, initially, by making the tech difficult and expensive for third parties to support, and failing to offer much in the way of its own hardware to kickstart interest. There’s a reason Amazon and Google are dominant when you go shopping at Home Depot.
Universal Matter pairing has already helped a bit with the compatibility issue. One of the other products expected this fall, though, is Apple’s first smart display, sometimes nicknamed the “HomePad.” This should be somewhat similar to an Amazon Echo Show or Google Nest Hub, but more advanced — and potentially shipping alongside one or more other accessories, like a Face ID-equipped doorbell.
The more Apple fleshes out this ecosystem, the more value Apple Intelligence is poised to have on an Apple TV. Instead of just being able to see a live doorbell feed onscreen, for instance, you might be able to ask Siri if a package was delivered today, and have that footage pop up in a few seconds. You could also set elaborate lighting, sound, and cooling scenes without having to spend several minutes tinkering in the Home app — issuing natural-language descriptions of what you want, no matter how many accessories that involves controlling simultaneously. At the moment, you can only ask Siri to adjust one accessory or group at a time, and you have to use careful wording to get it to respond.
The more Apple fleshes out its revamped smart home ecosystem, the more value Apple Intelligence is poised to have on an Apple TV.
Admittedly, I’m probably more invested in smart home tech than the average person, having reviewed it for about a decade at this point. But I think more people will finally appreciate the potential I’ve always seen in the tech once it’s easier to use. An Apple Intelligence-infused Apple TV could be a gateway, in that regard.
The catch, as always, is in the execution. Gemini is hardly flawless on its own, never mind trusting Apple to get a modified version right. I’m thinking though that Apple is aware of how badly it botched Apple Intelligence at launch, and how much is riding on keeping up with rivals in the AI space. Arguably, support on the Apple TV should be one of the easiest things to get right — it’s less complex than the iPhone, where people expect responses tied to the web, location data, and health and fitness tracking, among other things. If Apple does pull this off, an Apple TV could quickly become a must-have for Apple fans rather than an optional nice-to-have. That’s worth waiting a little longer for.
