Patrick O'Rourke is XDA's News Editor and Entertainment Segment Lead. Previously, he was Pocket-lint's Editor-in-Chief, the Editor-in-Chief of Canadian tech publication MobileSyrup, and earlier in his career, he worked as the technology editor at the Financial Post and Postmedia. He's based in Toronto.
Over the past 15 years, he's written thousands of articles. Patrick has also interviewed dozens of tech industry executives and covered GDC, E3, Gamescom, WWDC, Apple keynotes, Samsung Unpacked events and more.
Patrick has a BA in journalism from Toronto Metropolitan University.
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Summary
- The Apple TV 4K (4th-gen) adds far-field mics for hands-free Siri and built-in Find My on with Siri Remote to more easily locate it.
- The four-speaker pairing works with HomePod (2nd-gen) and the new HomePod mini 2. It's also auto-calibrated and exclusive to 4th-gen TV.
- The streaming box's A19 chip delivers 50% faster CPU and 2× GPU performance compared to the Apple TV (3rd-gen)'s A15 chip.
Alongside its flashy new HomeView smart home screen, Apple revealed its refreshed Apple TV 4K (4th-gen) with a few notable upgrades.
First, the streaming device features built-in far-field microphones that let users talk to Siri hands-free. Find My is also built into the Siri Remote now, which should make it easier to find when you lose it in your couch cushions. Lastly, the new Apple TV 4K now lets you use four compatible HomePod speakers in pairs, up from the two you can use with the current Apple TV.
Unfortunately, the new speaker feature only works with the HomePod (2nd-gen) and the HomePod mini 2, which Apple also just announced (the HomePod Mini 2 features Apple's S10 chip, Siri AI integration, and a new feature called Sound Glow, where the illuminated top animates to music.
The Apple TV 4K (4th-gen)'s four-speaker pairing feature is also exclusive to the 4th-generation Apple TV 4K. Apple says the speakers automatically calibrate to the Apple TV 4K's location to understand where they are in a room.
The Siri Remote's new Find My integration might help you lose it a bit less
The streaming device also features the A19 chip
On the Find My side, you can now say, "Hey Siri, can you find my remote," and the Siri Remote will play a ringing sound so you can find it. You can also use Apple's Find My app to track the remote's location if it somehow strayed from the comfort of your couch cushions.
The refreshed Apple TV now features Apple's A19, the same chip in the iPhone 17, delivering 50% faster CPU performance and 2x faster GPU performance than the A15-powered Apple TV (3rd-gen) released in 2022.
More to come...