The Apple TV 4K is my favourite streaming field available on the market by a superb margin. The Apple TV 4K can also be the oldest streaming field I personal. I am nonetheless utilizing the first-gen field that dates again to 2017, and this implies it is near a decade outdated. It nonetheless works, however it’s positively exhibiting its age. I’ve needed to pressure shut apps far more than I did a number of years in the past, so the writing feels prefer it’s on the wall.
I plan to maintain on utilizing my Apple TV 4K till it lastly bites the mud, however I used to be seeking to improve it in 2025. I had my eyes on the third-gen mannequin, however rumors stored indicating a brand new, fourth-gen mannequin was proper across the nook. Because it seems, that wasn’t the case, and I used to be left holding the bag for one thing that wasn’t coming. The rumor mill has already began up once more about this elusive fourth-gen Apple TV 4K, however I am completed ready for it. I do not plan on shopping for a third-gen mannequin straight away since mine is working effective, however I do not see myself ready round for brand new tech like this once more. There isn’t any level in ready, particularly because the third-gen mannequin would’ve been a giant improve. With the good thing about hindsight, I actually ought to’ve simply grabbed that new Apple TV 4K once I needed to.
Ready round is not price it
They will not get me once more
My Apple TV 4K stopped receiving notable updates. It would not have Liquid Glass. It would not have extra side ratios. It someway did not get the Snoopy backgrounds both. Though it nonetheless works with all my apps, it feels prefer it’s been left behind in a approach that the third and second-generation Apple TV 4K fashions have not. I’ve a superb motive to improve, and I might’ve completed it months in the past as a substitute of being locked in a cycle of ready. My drawback was that I stored seeing articles and totally different individuals saying {that a} new Apple TV 4K was deliberate for 2025. I had no motive to not belief that info, however right here we’re in 2026 and there is not any new mannequin to talk of.
What I ought to’ve completed to ease my issues is look towards the second-generation Apple TV 4K. It is nonetheless getting updates, so it isn’t like Apple has simply deserted it. The third-gen mannequin will seemingly be very related for years to return, so I might’ve simply gotten that one and known as it a day. A fourth-gen mannequin could be quicker, however it’s not just like the third and even second-generation fashions are slouches. My first-gen gadget nonetheless feels quicker than the 2024 Roku Extremely I’ve in my bed room.
New tech all the time feels prefer it’s on the way in which, so it is simple to get paralyzed by all the time ready. I’ve discovered over time, particularly with this Apple TV 4K state of affairs, that it is higher to only get what you need straight away. I might’ve been utilizing this gadget for a 12 months now and have been completely blissful. As an alternative, I am caught utilizing one thing that is nearly a decade outdated and wishing it have been one thing newer.
This line of considering will be utilized to all expertise. I see it typically within the PC gaming area the place someone asks if they need to improve to the newest CPU or GPU solely to be instructed that the brand new era is only a few days away. It is good recommendation on the floor, however you run the danger of the present state of affairs we discover ourselves in the place the RAM costs skyrocketed, and now it is a dangerous concept to construct a PC. Should you had simply purchased one thing while you wanted it, you won’t have run into this subject.
Principally, for those who’re taking a look at one thing you intend on utilizing straight away, there is not any sense in ready until you are a number of days earlier than Black Friday or one thing like that. Should you wait round, you may simply run right into a state of affairs like I discovered myself in the place you are simply ready all 12 months for completely nothing to return. I do not wish to have that feeling once more, so the subsequent time I need one thing, I am simply going to purchase it with out considering too laborious about it.
A brand new Apple TV 4K is nowhere in sight
What may very well be taking so lengthy?
I do not wish to say the rumors have been flawed as a result of it isn’t just like the details about a brand new gadget did not come from credible sources. There might really be fairly a bit happening behind the scenes that led to a delay, and it is perhaps the identical factor inflicting the next-gen consoles from being launched.
With RAM costs being the way in which they’re, it might simply make the value of a brand new Apple TV 4K shoot up as nicely. The Apple TV 4K is already the most costly streaming field by a superb margin, and bloated RAM costs might make that even larger. Coupled with tariffs elevating the value of all the pieces, it would simply be a continuing state of dangerous timing for the discharge of latest {hardware}.
This is not affecting simply Apple, however it’s an issue throughout all of tech. Graphics card costs are extraordinarily excessive, and we have already seen the worth of the Xbox get raised due to the tariffs. I am not sure that is what’s occurring with Apple and the discharge of the Apple TV 4K, however it is sensible to me.
Should you’re keen to stay it out and keep affected person, you would possibly see a brand new launch a while this 12 months. With what number of rumors there have been, it actually appears like there is a smoking gun, however there’s actually no option to know for sure. Each time someone was adamant there could be an announcement on the subsequent Apple occasion, it all the time got here and went with none launch.
I hope Apple drops a brand new mannequin out of nowhere so I will not immediately really feel burned if I choose up a third-gen gadget. Based mostly on my luck, I am going to purchase a brand new Apple TV after ready for over a 12 months for a brand new one, after which Apple will announce the fourth-generation. If I took my very own recommendation, I would not even be upset about that, because the third-gen can be supported for years to return.
