After a nearly four-year wait, a new Apple TV is expected on Oct. 13. Apple's Newsroom calls the day In the Loop: Welcome home, and MacRumors expects the new box in it. The day is set. The box is still an expectation, and there's no price on it.
The model you can buy was announced in October 2022, and in the US it still starts at $199. June's increase, tied to memory costs, moved that starting price up from $129 without swapping the hardware. If you bought one then, you've had a long run on the same box. If you passed at $129, you're looking at $199 for that generation, and the replacement is a few days out with no number beside it. Open the store this weekend and the only Apple TV price on the page is $199.
Two situations don't fit a casual weekend checkout. A box that's already failing leaves the 2022 model, at $199, as the only replacement you can take home. An older HD model is the other one. You're leaving pre-4K hardware, not trading the current 4K box for its replacement.
Expect a faster chip for on-device Siri, though that part is still a rumor.
The rest of the house arrives with it
This is a home launch, and the TV box shares the day. A smart home hub and a refreshed HomePod mini are expected in the same batch. The hub is the long-rumored home device. The mini is a refresh of the small speaker, not a new category. A later Mac round is only a rumor, and it's separate from this home launch.
If you came for the streaming box, the other products are context. You don't need the hub or the speaker to keep using an Apple TV, and nothing announced so far bundles them with the box. They don't set a price for it, and they don't tell you whether a new one is worth more than the model at $199. They do tell you this isn't a one-product premiere.
LG is in the batch as well, with doorbells, locks, and cameras under the LG name. The hardware isn't Apple-branded. Setup is meant to tie into Apple's home system, which is the link to this launch. Filings and leaked code have sketched some of those accessories. None of that is an order page.
If the Apple TV you have already plays what you watch, keep it until a new price is posted.
Photo: Justin Schüler / Wikimedia Commons, CC0.
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