Thursday, 15 October 2026<\/p>\n
Apple Newsroom, Tuesday morning<\/a>:<\/p>\n The new Apple TV 4K features three far-field microphones, letting This is nice, but I don\u2019t think it buys me anything, because my existing Apple TV 4K is paired with 2nd-gen HomePods, and the HomePods each have a \u201cfour-microphone design for far-field Siri\u201d.<\/p>\n The A19 chip in the new Apple TV 4K delivers up to 50 percent The new AV1 decoder seems like it might be meaningful, but does anyone think UI navigation and animation smoothness is improved by going from the A15 to the A19 SoC? I mean navigation is going up\/down\/left\/right. I\u2019m sure the graphics and CPU improvements matter for gaming, but the only mention of gaming in Apple\u2019s own Newsroom announcement is this sentence: \u201cWith Apple Fitness+, the living room becomes a workout studio, while Apple Arcade and the App Store\u2019s library of games turn it into a home arcade.\u201d I wish it were otherwise, but gaming is such an afterthought on Apple TV that it only garnered the second half of a sentence that started with Fitness+, a service that has only been in the news this year because Mark Gurman says Apple laid off part of the team<\/a>.<\/p>\n The new Siri Remote keeps its familiar design while adding Find My That\u2019s my single favorite feature in the announcement. I hate to say it though, but the previous remote should have supported these features. The 3rd-gen Apple TV 4K came in 2022, but Apple launched AirTags with Precision Finding in 2021<\/a>. Remote controls are right after keys on the list of things people misplace most frequently, and Apple\u2019s remote controls, because they\u2019re small and thin, are particularly susceptible to being snatched by couch-cushion gremlins. Speakers, so the remote can play a sound to help you find it, were invented even earlier than 2021.<\/p>\n Pairing HomePod with Apple TV 4K already offers users an immersive This is tempting to try. In other words, in addition to the two 2nd-gen HomePods I already have paired in my living room, I can add two of the new HomePod Mini 2\u2019s behind the sofa for surround sound.<\/p>\n The elephant in the room, though, is price. Before this week, Apple sold two models of the 3rd-generation Apple TV. On a percentage basis, they were hit the hardest of any products Apple sells by the company\u2019s across-the-board price increases this summer<\/a>:<\/p>\n BeforeJune 25Change<\/p>\n HomePod$300$35017%<\/p>\n (Old) HomePod Mini$100$13030%<\/p>\n (Old) Apple TV 64 GB$130$20054%<\/p>\n (Old) Apple TV 128 GB$150$25067%<\/p>\n The new Apple TV 4K announced this week only comes in one model, and it costs $300. It\u2019s great that there\u2019s only one model for simplicity\u2019s sake, but the number one complaint when the previous generation cost $130\/150 was that it was too expensive compared to set-top boxes and sticks from Amazon and Roku. (Or the \u201cfree\u201d option of using the \u201csmart TV\u201d software that comes with every TV set.) Now, with the new Apple TV, it\u2019s twice as expensive\u2009\u2014\u2009and Apple is not keeping the 3rd-gen models around as lower-priced options. I still think it\u2019s worth it, personally, but the general consumer market thought the old prices were too high and I don\u2019t see any of the new features making Joe or Jane Consumer think \u201cSure, I was skeptical about the old one at $130, but this new model, which looks exactly the same, this seems worth $300.\u201d<\/p>\n HomePod Mini 2 now costs $150. That\u2019s not too much of an increase over the new-since-June-25 $130 price for the old HomePod Mini, but it\u2019s a stiff 50 percent increase from the old HomePod Mini\u2019s $100 price from November 2020 through June 24 this year<\/a>. I generally round Apple\u2019s prices up from their \u201c99\u201d values, but it\u2019s worth noting that what I\u2019m calling $100 was actually $99, and going to just two digits does have a psychological effect on buying behavior<\/a>. Again, I think $150 is a reasonable price for the HomePod Mini 2, but it doesn\u2019t feel as much like a lark as $99 did. $99 was a bit of a \u201cSure, let\u2019s get another one\u201d price; $150 is more of a \u201cDo we really need another one of these?\u201d price.<\/p>\n At the old pre-June prices, you could buy a 128 GB Apple TV and a pair of HomePod Minis for $350 ($150 + $100 + $100). Four short months later, with today\u2019s new models, that combination would cost $600 ($300 + $150 + $150). That price difference is much more striking than any of the new and improved features in the products.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Thursday, 15 October 2026 Apple Newsroom, Tuesday morning: The new Apple TV 4K features three far-field microphones, letting…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":934712,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[49,48,61],"class_list":["post-934711","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-technology","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/934711","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=934711"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/934711\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/934712"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=934711"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=934711"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=934711"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nusers control what they\u2019re watching and discover new shows
\ncompletely hands-free. Advanced echo cancellation intelligently
\nisolates a user\u2019s voice from background sound to deliver
\ncrystal-clear \u201cHey Siri\u201d or \u201cSiri\u201d recognition, even while audio
\nis playing.<\/p>\n
\nfaster CPU performance and up to 2\u00d7 faster GPU performance than
\nthe previous generation, for greater responsiveness, faster
\nnavigation, and smoother animations. The A19 chip also includes a
\nnew, dedicated AV1 decoder, enabling more efficient, high-quality
\nstreaming while using less bandwidth.<\/p>\n
\nsupport with Precision Finding and an option to play a sound on
\nthe remote\u2009\u2014\u2009making it far easier to locate.<\/p>\n
\nviewing experience that\u2019s easy to set up, and the new Apple TV 4K
\ntakes it even further. For the first time, users can create a
\nfour-speaker surround sound experience with Apple TV 4K (4th
\ngeneration) and HomePod mini 2. The four speakers work together
\nwith Apple TV 4K to intelligently recognize their position in the
\nroom so audio timing and levels are automatically calibrated to
\nthe space. HomePod (2nd generation) can also be used in this
\nfour-speaker setup for the ultimate audio experience, as long as
\nthe front and rear speaker pairs match.<\/p>\n