The Apple TV 4K landed back in April 2021, and while the company hasn’t exactly had a regular pattern for releasing upgrades to its streaming box, new rumors suggest its successor could be right around the corner. Here’s everything we know so far about the new Apple TV for 2022.
When will the new Apple TV be released?
We’ve had no official confirmation from Apple at time of writing, but a few rumors have already started doing the rounds that suggest it may only be a few months away. Most notable of these was from industry analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who has a steady track record when it comes to Apple-related predictions.
In a tweet last May, he stated that Apple “will launch a new version of Apple TV that improves cost structure in 2H22.” While this might seem somewhat vague, it translates into the simple fact that he expects a new Apple TV to arrive in the second half of 2022.
Looking to the past few models doesn’t really give us any firmer ideas or when exactly this might be, as you can see from the rather scattergun approach outlined below:
- Apple TV 4K (2nd gen): May 2021
- Apple TV 4K (1st gen): Sep 2017
- Apple TV HD: Oct 2015
Apple tends not to launch much hardware in the summer, so we’d expect to see something emerge around September.
How much will the new Apple TV cost?
Again, this is all unconfirmed at the moment, but in his tweet above Ming-Chi Kuo uses the term “improves cost structure” which could be translated along the lines of “will be cheaper.” At the moment, the Apple TV 4K HD sells for $179/£169 if you want the 32GB version, while the 64GB model is $199/£189. This makes it pretty much the most expensive streaming box on the market, with most of its rivals from Amazon and Roku dropping the set-top-box design in favor of streaming sticks. There are a few exceptions, such as the Amazon Fire TV Cube and Roku Streambar, but they still tend to come in a bit cheaper.
Here’s the current prices of the main alternatives:
If the rumors about a cheaper version are true, then it could help Apple’s streamer get more hold in a marketplace that currently sees Amazon, Google and Roku rule the roost.
New features and tech specs
Applying the caveats mentioned earlier, we have seen rumours from solid sources that suggest Apple is going to beef things up with the new update. Mark Gurman from Bloomberg, who also has an excellent track record when it comes to Apple, wrote recently about new specs that we might see in the Apple TV (2022) model.
He stated in his Power On newsletter that “The new Apple TV, codenamed J255, is in development with an A14 chip and an additional gigabyte of RAM. That compares with the A12 chip announced as part of the 2021 Apple TV last year and could be useful for additional gaming capabilities rolling out in tvOS 16.”
The A14 processor is the same one found in the iPhone 12 range as well as the iPad Air (4th gen), which does seem like overkill for a simple streaming box. It appears that Apple wants to keep pursuing the gaming angle on the Apple TV.
There were rumors a while back that we might see a new hybrid device that combined the Apple TV and HomePod, but Gurman seems to have scotched this by writing about an update to the latter. “The HomePod, codenamed B620,” states Gurman, “will run the same S8 chip coming to the watches and will be closer to the original HomePod in terms of size and audio performance rather than a new HomePod mini. The new HomePod will have an updated display on top and there’s even been some talk of multi-touch functionality.”
Further reading
So far, that’s all the information we have on an update to the Apple TV range. Whether it’s a cheaper streaming stick of a more powerful hockey puck, we’ll just have to wait and see. Thankfully, it shouldn’t be too long.
Until then, you can take a look at our guides to the best shows coming to Apple TV+ and best Apple TV+ exclusives streaming now.