A hardware refresh for the Apple TV 4K set-top box is coming soon. The current generation was released in spring 2022, and is powered by an A15 Bionic chip.
The new generation is expected to feature a new Apple-designed WiFi and Bluetooth chip, as well as a CPU upgrade. A report from MacRumors today cites code references that indicate the box will actually get an A17 Pro chip, the same processor that powers the iPhone 15 Pro.
The jump from A15 to A17 obviously will provide a nice boost to CPU and GPU performance, approximately 15-30% increases as tested by synthetic benchmarks.
However, the bigger breakpoint is the A17 Pro chip was the first A-series chip to support Apple Intelligence and all of the associated large language model features that brings.
As Apple Intelligence is a combination of on-device and server infrastructure, it requires compatible devices to have relatively powerful computational power, as well as ample RAM. As such, the current Apple TV is not powerful enough to run Apple Intelligence features, but a new Apple TV powered by A17 Pro could be.
However, even if the chip is technically capable, it’s currently unclear what Apple’s plans are for Apple Intelligence in the living room. Most of the current suite of Apple Intelligence features do not really translate to a set-top box environment.
For instance, flagship Apple Intelligence features like writing tools, notification summaries, and visual intelligence do not make sense for Apple TV.
Perhaps Apple could upgrade tvOS with TV-specific AI features, like the ability to jump to a particular scene in a TV show just by describing it with natural language. You can also imagine how a significantly upgraded Siri could make the Apple TV experience much better. But Apple is currently in the process of overhauling Siri with new foundations, a project that won’t ship until the spring of 2026 at the earliest.
As such, I don’t really think the next Apple TV will be marketed based on Apple Intelligence features. The A17 Pro chip will give the Apple TV better performance for games, and future-proof it so that it might be able to take advantage of new Siri capabilities down the road.
Assuming the new Apple TV launches in 2025, it will probably be presented as a relatively low-key spec-bump refresh. Maybe the remote will finally add a speaker so you can use Find My to make it beep when you inevitably lose it down the back of the couch.
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