Apple reveals fourth-generation Apple TV 4K with a hefty three-hundred dollar price tag

Apple has announced the fourth-generation Apple TV 4K streaming box, arriving four years after the previous model with a steep price tag of three hundred dollars.

Key Features

The new device includes more processing power, built-in far-field microphones for talking to Siri, and Find My support to help locate the remote. It also adds a dedicated AV1 decoder for higher-quality video streaming on supported apps like Netflix. However, Apple removed the cheaper sixty-four gigabyte, Wi-Fi-only model and left only the one hundred twenty-eight gigabyte Wi-Fi and Ethernet version.

Missing Upgrades

Many users and home theater fans were hoping for audio passthrough, which lets a separate audio and video receiver decode raw audio streams instead of the Apple TV. The new box also lacks one hundred twenty frames per second output, which would have helped users streaming games through Moonlight. Other advanced hardware additions like an HDMI input or a digital optical out were also left out of the design.

Context

Streaming devices connect to a television to let users watch video apps from the internet, and most major competing brands cost half the price of this new Apple model or even less. The device sits in the home entertainment market as a high-end option, though missing features at this price point leave it facing tough competition.