The Apple TV 4K has started to show its age, having been released more than two years ago. The streaming box is due for an hardware upgrade and rumours suggest a 2025 refresh release. The upgrade will reportedly be minor and not major design changes.
For years, Apple has been working on designing its own cellular chips for the iPhone and this year, the company will reportedly release devices with its own WiFi and Bluetooth chip. The upcoming Apple TV will also be powered by the new WiFi and Bluetooth chip, supporting the newer WiFi 6E.
New Apple TV will have inbuilt camera and support faster WiFi
The newer WiFi 6E standard will support the 6GHz band which enables faster wireless speeds with reduced signal interference. Ofcourse, it would require a supported router for users to benefit from the latest wireless technology.
Mark Gurman, the noted Apple analyst at Bloomberg reported that Apple may be considering adding a camera to the Apple TV to enable seamless video calling. Currently, in case users wish to make video calls from the Apple TV are required to connect an external camera. It would be a useful feature for large gathering video calls from home.
The current generation Apple TV is powered by the A15 Bionic chip which was released in 2021, along with the iPhone 13. The upcoming Apple TV could get a faster chip capable of supporting artificial intelligence features which may also introduce Apple Intelligence (AI) on the big screen.
According to Ming-Chi Kuo, the noted Apple analyst at TF International Securities, the upcoming Apple TV will be priced sub $100 (USD). The lower pricing could increase sales of the streaming device, as Apple continues to push its efforts into increasing its user base for its services business. The Apple services business includes Apple Music, Apple TV+, iCloud, and more.
The current generation Apple TV retails at $129 and $149 for 64GB and 128GB storage respectively.