This Apple TV 4K rumor fooled so many individuals, together with me

The Apple TV 4K is my favourite streaming field available on the market by margin. The Apple TV 4K can also be the oldest streaming field I personal. I am nonetheless utilizing the first-gen field that dates again to 2017, and this implies it is near a decade previous. It nonetheless works, but it surely’s positively displaying its age. I’ve needed to drive shut apps far more than I did a number of years in the past, so the writing feels prefer it’s on the wall.

I plan to maintain on utilizing my Apple TV 4K till it lastly bites the mud, however I used to be trying to improve it in 2025. I had my eyes on the third-gen mannequin, however rumors stored indicating a brand new, fourth-gen mannequin was right around the corner. Because it seems, that wasn’t the case, and I used to be left holding the bag for one thing that wasn’t coming. The rumor mill has already began up once more about this elusive fourth-gen Apple TV 4K, however I am executed ready for it. I do not plan on shopping for a third-gen mannequin straight away since mine is working nice, however I do not see myself ready round for brand new tech like this once more. There isn’t any level in ready, particularly for the reason that third-gen mannequin would’ve been a giant improve. With the advantage of hindsight, I actually ought to’ve simply grabbed that new Apple TV 4K once I wished to.

Ready round is not value it

They will not get me once more

My Apple TV 4K stopped receiving notable updates. It does not have Liquid Glass. It does not have extra facet ratios. It in some way did not get the Snoopy backgrounds both. Though it nonetheless works with all my apps, it feels prefer it’s been left behind in a method that the third and second-generation Apple TV 4K fashions have not. I’ve purpose to improve, and I might’ve executed it months in the past as an alternative of being locked in a cycle of ready. My drawback was that I stored seeing articles and completely different individuals saying {that a} new Apple TV 4K was deliberate for 2025. I had no purpose to not belief that info, however right here we’re in 2026 and there is no new mannequin to talk of.

What I ought to’ve executed to ease my issues is look towards the second-generation Apple TV 4K. It is nonetheless getting updates, so it is not like Apple has simply deserted it. The third-gen mannequin will seemingly be very related for years to return, so I might’ve simply gotten that one and referred to as it a day. A fourth-gen mannequin could be sooner, but it surely’s not just like the third and even second-generation fashions are slouches. My first-gen gadget nonetheless feels sooner than the 2024 Roku Extremely I’ve in my bed room.

New tech at all times feels prefer it’s on the way in which, so it is simple to get paralyzed by at all times ready. I’ve discovered over time, particularly with this Apple TV 4K state of affairs, that it is higher to simply get what you need straight away. I might’ve been utilizing this gadget for a 12 months now and have been completely blissful. As an alternative, I am caught utilizing one thing that is virtually a decade previous and wishing it had been one thing newer.

This line of pondering could be utilized to all know-how. I see it typically within the PC gaming area the place anyone asks if they need to improve to the most recent CPU or GPU solely to be advised that the brand new technology is just some days away. It is good recommendation on the floor, however you run the danger of the present state of affairs we discover ourselves in the place the RAM costs skyrocketed, and now it is a unhealthy concept to construct a PC. For those who had simply purchased one thing while you wanted it, you may not have run into this problem.

Principally, when you’re one thing you propose on utilizing straight away, there is no sense in ready until you are a number of days earlier than Black Friday or one thing like that. For those who wait round, you may simply run right into a state of affairs like I discovered myself in the place you are simply ready all 12 months for completely nothing to return. I do not wish to have that feeling once more, so the subsequent time I would like one thing, I am simply going to purchase it with out pondering too exhausting about it.

A brand new Apple TV 4K is nowhere in sight

What might be taking so lengthy?

I do not wish to say the rumors had been mistaken as a result of it is not just like the details about a brand new gadget did not come from credible sources. There might truly be fairly a bit occurring behind the scenes that led to a delay, and it is perhaps the identical factor inflicting the next-gen consoles from being launched.

With RAM costs being the way in which they’re, it might simply make the value of a brand new Apple TV 4K shoot up as effectively. The Apple TV 4K is already the costliest streaming field by margin, and bloated RAM costs might make that even larger. Coupled with tariffs elevating the value of every thing, it’d simply be a relentless state of unhealthy timing for the discharge of latest {hardware}.

This is not affecting simply Apple, but it surely’s an issue throughout all of tech. Graphics card costs are extraordinarily excessive, and we have already seen the price of the Xbox get raised due to the tariffs. I am not sure that is what’s occurring with Apple and the discharge of the Apple TV 4K, but it surely is sensible to me.

For those who’re keen to stay it out and keep affected person, you would possibly see a brand new launch a while this 12 months. With what number of rumors there have been, it definitely seems like there is a smoking gun, however there’s actually no option to know for sure. Each time anyone was adamant there could be an announcement on the subsequent Apple occasion, it at all times got here and went with none launch.

I hope Apple drops a brand new mannequin out of nowhere so I will not immediately really feel burned if I decide up a third-gen gadget. Based mostly on my luck, I will purchase a brand new Apple TV after ready for over a 12 months for a brand new one, after which Apple will announce the fourth-generation. If I took my very own recommendation, I would not even be upset about that, for the reason that third-gen will probably be supported for years to return.