New Apple TV Expected Later This Year With These New Features

A new Apple TV is expected to be released later this year, and a handful of new features and changes have been rumored for the device.

Below, we recap what to expect from the next Apple TV, according to rumors.

Rumors Faster Wi-Fi Support

The next Apple TV will be equipped with Apple's own combined Wi-Fi and Bluetooth chip, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. He said the chip supports Wi-Fi 6E, which would be an upgrade over the current Apple TV's standard Wi-Fi 6 support. Wi-Fi 6E extends the capabilities of Wi-Fi 6 to the 6 GHz band with a compatible router. This can contribute to faster Wi-Fi speeds and lower latency compared to Wi-Fi 6.

The chip might even support Wi-Fi 7 instead, which can provide peak theoretical speeds of over 40 Gbps, a 4× increase over Wi-Fi 6E.

Newer Chip

The current Apple TV is powered by the A15 Bionic chip, which debuted in all iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 Pro models in 2022. It is very likely that the next Apple TV will have a newer chip, such as an A18 or A19 chip, and this would result in faster overall performance and potentially even Apple Intelligence support on tvOS.

FaceTime Camera and Gesture Controls

tvOS 17 added a FaceTime app to the Apple TV, allowing for video calls with the rear camera on a connected iPhone or iPad. If the Apple TV gained a built-in camera, users would no longer need to rely on an external device for video calls on the TV.

In April 2024, Gurman said Apple had "discussed" offering an Apple TV with a built-in camera for FaceTime and gesture-based controls, but it is unclear if Apple is moving forward with that plan for the next model in particular. He did not elaborate on the gesture aspect, but it sounds like the next Apple TV would recognize various hand movements.

Apple says tvOS 26 enhances FaceTime in several ways — fitting for an Apple TV with a camera:

Lower Price

On the same day as the current Apple TV was announced in October 2022, Apple supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said that he expected the next Apple TV to be "more affordable." He said that a sub-$100 price would be the "sweet spot" for the Apple TV, but he did not say if Apple will actually achieve that price point.

Both the 2010 and 2012 versions of the Apple TV were priced at $99 in the U.S. at launch, and Apple eventually lowered the price of the 2012 model to $69, so there is precedent for a sub-$100 Apple TV. Other companies like Amazon and Roku offer low-priced streaming sticks, with sale prices going as low as $19.99.

In the U.S., the current Apple TV starts at $129 with 64GB of storage, and a 128GB model with an Ethernet port for wired internet is priced at $149.

Timing

The next Apple TV will be released "toward the end of the year," according to Gurman. If so, it is likely that the device will launch in September or October, but November or December cannot be entirely ruled out at this point.

Here is when the previous four Apple TV models were announced:

Read our Apple TV roundup for more details.

...