Similar to the Apple Watch Series 3, the Apple TV 4K has one big new feature going for it. It’s not cellular; it’s support for 4K HDR video playback. Apple makes that very clear with the product’s name being Apple TV 4K.
If we take a quick look inside the box, we’ll find the same Apple TV remote with the exception of the menu button that has a white elevated ring around it to help you differentiate it from the other buttons simply by touch and there is the same looking rounded rectangular Apple TV as the previous generation.
Underneath, there’s some Apple TV paperwork and a Get Started guide. There’s also a USB lightning cable used for charging the remote included in the box.
Last but not least, there is the AC power cable for powering the Apple TV. Unfortunately, there is no HDMI or ethernet cable included in the box. We’ll see that the only ports are the power port, HDMI, and GB ethernet port, which has made a return thankfully.
The Apple TV 4K runs tvOS 11 out of the box and it brings a host of new features like the ability to sync your home screens across all of your Apple TVs, the ability to control the Apple TV via your iPhone and iPad, and new display languages.
We’ll see a very familiar aesthetic when scrolling through the TV for the very first time. If we head to the settings and TV and audio settings, we’ll see that the Apple TV has automatically cranked up the resolution to 4K to support my 4K Vizio P series television.
The Apple TV 4K does support Dolby Vision and HDR 10 and it will eventually support Dolby Atmos but it does not support it out of the box.
What’s also neat is that you can buy select 4K movies for $20 and rent them for $5. It only applies to select studios. Disney and Marvel movies are not available in 4K right now, unfortunately.
The new Apple TV is also much faster, sporting the A10X fusion chip. That’s the same processor that is in the most up to date iPad Pro models. It also features Bluetooth 5.0.
With that said, this has been a first look at Apple’s new 4K Apple TV. It starts at $179 for the 32GB variant with the 64GB variant available for $200.
Would you pay for the 4K Apple TV? Or is the previous generation still plenty capable for you?