It took 4 years, but a new Apple TV 4K is here with Siri AI and a new remote

Apple announced a new Apple TV 4K on October 13, four years after the last update of its streaming box. The biggest upgrade to the streaming box is Siri AI – borrowed from the iPhone 17 – which brings the new assistant to the living room device for the first time thanks to the A19 processor. The Apple TV 4K also now has its own microphones, allowing you to talk to it without using the remote.

From the outside, however, the Apple TV 4K looks identical to its predecessor. The new model retains the same small black box design as the 2022 version, right down to the dimensions and ports on the back. The Siri remote, however, has been revised and finally includes a speaker inside that helps you find the item as it slides across the back of the sofa. Many users have been requesting this feature for years.

The Apple TV 4K starts at $199 in the US. Pre-orders open today (October 13) and the streaming box will ship and arrive in stores on November 13, alongside HomeView, Apple’s new smart home display, announced at the same event.

The outgoing Apple TV 4K launched in October 2022 with an A15 Bionic chip and 4GB of memory. BGR reviewer praised it as the best streaming box for everyone in the Apple ecosystem. The device’s internals were reasonable in 2021, but they have become the main thing holding the device back against its competitors in 2026. The new Apple TV 4K upgrades to the A19 processor and increases the memory to between 8GB and 12GB depending on your configuration. Siri AI needs a large pool of RAM to keep its models loaded, which is why the feature never reached the old Apple TV via a software update.

Apple’s A19 chip should also offer speed improvements across the board. Apps that take a while to open on the current streaming box should now appear immediately, 4K videos should stream smoother, and Apple Arcade titles will be better readable. Games on Apple TV have always run on a chip two or three generations behind the current iPhone, but the A19 is newer. The new processor also supports more speakers: up to four HomePods or HomePod mini 2s instead of just a stereo pair.

Apple’s N1 wireless chip handles connectivity, moving the case to Wi-Fi 7 from Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 6 from Bluetooth 5.0, with support for Thread carried over. Wi-Fi 7 is only really cost-effective if you have a Wi-Fi 7 router. The main benefit will be stability rather than speed, since the new Wi-Fi standard resolves congestion better. Thread allows the box to function as a border router for the HomeView and LG-made cameras and locks, which Apple announced at the same time as the new streaming box. The Ethernet port is still there, although Thread support is no longer locked to it.

Talking to your Apple TV 4K used to mean pressing and holding the Siri button on the remote or shouting at a HomePod in the same room. The new streaming box can listen on its own, so a query works just like it would on a smart speaker. Plus, you can now talk to him with your hands full or from across the room. Rather than talking about what you’re watching, Siri’s responses will appear in the bottom corner of your screen.

Your Siri requests can also be more flexible thanks to Siri AI. The old Siri on Apple TV could only handle a narrow set of phrases around reading and searching. Anything outside of that would usually redirect you to your iPhone. Siri AI takes everyday language, tracks what you said a moment ago, and builds on your personal context. In theory, this means you should be able to ask it to continue the show you started on your iPhone at lunchtime without naming the episode, or to stream the show a friend messaged you about.

Siri AI is still in beta on Apple’s other platforms; It also launched in English first, and some of its cloud features have daily usage limits. The HomePod mini 2 announced at the same time won’t get Siri AI until later, making the new Apple TV 4K and HomeView the only two new devices shipping with the updated assistant. If you want to get more out of your setup in the meantime, there are plenty of iOS features that work well with your current TV and plenty of Siri AI features that work better on an iPhone 18 Pro.

The revamped Siri Remote finally contains a speaker. Its job is to make noise when you can’t find the remote, a feature users have been asking for for years. The current Siri Remote will only show a proximity display on your iPhone if you lose it, which means searching around the room to find it. A remote that beeps under a cushion solves this problem in a much simpler way. You can always use the Find My app on your phone if you prefer.

Roku has offered a find my remote button on its high-end players for years, and the feature is one of the practical reasons to opt for one of its more expensive devices, as our comparison of Roku’s simple remote with its voice remote shows. Replacing a lost Siri remote will cost you at least $59, so the incentive to find the one you already own is considerable.

Apple hasn’t detailed any other changes to the remote, and the exterior appears unchanged from the aluminum version introduced in 2021. It remains one of the most minimalist TV remotes you can buy, which you’ll likely either love or hate. Although Apple hasn’t confirmed it, I imagine the Siri button could be removed from the remote in future releases.

The Apple TV 4K starts at $299 in the US. Pre-orders begin today (October 13), with shipping and in-store availability beginning November 13.

This $299 price tag isn’t new. Apple raised the price of the previous Apple TV 4K by $129 in June as memory chip costs rose across the industry. The new model raises that price further, which could sting anyone who was hesitant about buying an Apple TV 4K over the summer. But, for anyone who owns a second-generation HomePod or is considering getting the new HomePod mini 2, the four-speaker surround support is a great upgrade.

But that price still leaves Apple charging several times what most of its competitors sell for. Roku and Amazon sell capable 4K streamers for less than $50, and Google’s TV Streamer comfortably undercuts Apple, even after its own price increase this year. Apple is betting on the chip, Siri AI, and its ecosystem to justify the premium price, which will land differently depending on how much of your home already runs on Apple hardware. After using several streaming boxes, the Apple TV 4K is my favorite, but I already own several Apple devices.