If you’ve been waiting for a new Apple TV player to arrive, the wait goes on. However, a new report now looks to confirm that the player is almost ready, still coming, and will arrive later this year.
What You Need to Know
- The new Apple TV hardware is reportedly finished, but Apple is holding the release until the autumn.
- Apple wants the next Apple TV to launch with its major AI‑powered Siri upgrade.
- While a new player is coming, the device is expected to look nearly identical to the current model.
According to the latest Power On newsletter by Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, the new Apple TV player is “nearly ready.” In fact, it has been for months, and is already actively being used by employees at the company’s headquarters in California.
While this would seemingly suggest that the device is also ready for release, Gurman says Apple has decided to wait until the fall to drop the new player.
One of the reasons for this is the company wants to wait to ensure the release of the new Apple TV player coincides with the release of the new Siri.
Recent reports have indicated that Apple plans to offer a massively redesigned Siri experience in the near future, in an attempt to better take on other AI chatbots like ChatGPT.
Considering Apple TV players also make use of Siri, it stands to reason that Apple would delay the launch of a new player to ensure it arrives running the latest version, rather than launching the player now only for it to get a big Siri upgrade soon after.
Gurman also indicated that the new Apple TV player won’t arrive with any major hardware changes. If that is the case, and the device is going to essentially look the same as the current model, then the software improvements are likely to be the most obvious changes.
With this in mind, it makes even more sense for Apple to delay the launch to guarantee the new AI features are the clear selling points at launch.
While no major hardware upgrades are expected, the exception here is a bump in the processor. This will not only help to improve general performance, but also help to ensure the new player is best positioned to take advantage of those new AI features.
According to the report, it is also possible that the new Apple TV player could arrive with an updated remote. However, this might also be an under-the-hood update, rather than one that’s obvious from the outside.
It is worth pointing out that reports this time last year pointed to the same fall release schedule for a new Apple TV player. Considering that release never happened as planned, no release is guaranteed until Apple makes the announcement.
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