I do not care what options your sensible TV has, this is why you continue to want an Apple TV

Taking a fowl’s-eye view, media streamers are loads much less essential than they was once. Again within the early 2010s, they had been a revelation, for the reason that apps on TVs had been typically badly designed and powered by weak chips. When you even had a wise TV — many individuals had been nonetheless utilizing “dumb” TVs, and fortunate to have one thing with an HDMI port.

As of 2026, apps and platforms have standardized, and most TVs are moderately well-equipped for duties like 4K HDR and spatial audio. You should purchase a set with Google TV or Roku OS and by no means assume twice about including a streamer later. However in order for you a deluxe expertise, it’s best to nonetheless put money into an Apple TV 4K — even should you by no means purchase every other Apple units. Quite a lot of its qualities are byproducts of the corporate’s general enterprise technique.

What makes the Apple TV 4K so particular?

Slicing via the nonsense

On paper, lots of the 2022 mannequin’s specs are so frequent as to be pedestrian. It helps Dolby Imaginative and prescient and HDR10+ amongst its HDR codecs, and varied flavors of Dolby encompass sound, up via Atmos. The most costly mannequin helps gigabit Ethernet, and acts as a Thread border router for smart homes. But even these options aren’t that uncommon. It is truly a little bit outdated in some respects — it is nonetheless utilizing Bluetooth 5.0 and Wi-Fi 6, regardless of these requirements first arriving in 2016 and 2019, respectively.

The place Apple decimates the competitors is in velocity. You see, the corporate as soon as had ambitions of treating the Apple TV like a recreation console, which meant giving it an unusually quick processor. These ambitions have flopped — Apple by no means commits strongly sufficient to win over players or studios — however customers have nonetheless come to count on that degree of efficiency, so it retains equipping new fashions with iPhone processors.

The 2022 mannequin is supplied with an A15 Bionic chip, first present in 2021’s iPhone 13. You would possibly assume that may make it really feel historical, however in observe, it is grossly overpowered. tvOS is a stripped-down platform in comparison with iOS — so when it isn’t working video games, an Apple TV is glassy easy. Not like most TVs and add-on streamers, which have slight delays when launching apps or scrolling via menus, the Apple TV gives nearly zero friction. Generally, it is truly too easy — on any mannequin, it is really easy to swipe via issues utilizing the Siri Distant that you could often overshoot your goal. It is higher than the choice when all you need to do is loosen up after an extended day of labor.

Aiding that is the design of tvOS itself. Whereas there’s a separate “TV” app with a watchlist, retailer, library, and suggestions, the software program defaults to an easy homescreen stuffed with your apps. There aren’t any recommendations, no classes to kind via, and extra importantly, no advertisements besides perhaps the occasional Apple promotion up high. This uncluttered method is feasible partly as a result of the Apple TV 4K is not a low-margin product — the corporate turns a revenue on each unit it sells, so it would not want jam advertisements in your face or continually nudge you to purchase, hire, or subscribe to one thing. The bar should not be so low, maybe, however I believe it is nicely value paying to make use of a product as a substitute of turning into one.

Longevity is an underrated benefit. I’ve a 2017 field in my eating space, and performance-wise, you’d hardly understand it was that outdated with out evaluating it to a later one. It continues to get the newest app and OS updates too, regardless of that it may possibly’t deal with issues like Liquid Glass or HDR10+. This contrasts with the likes of Amazon’s Hearth TV platform, which is infamous for slowing units down over time. Whereas that software program is because of get an overhaul in 2026, I would nonetheless put extra belief in Apple’s tech.

I have never even touched on the perks for individuals within the Apple ecosystem. When you’ve obtained an iPhone, iPad, or Apple Watch, you should utilize these as remotes with out a lot problem. The machine helps HomePods and different AirPlay audio system for wi-fi audio, and it is built-in with a variety of free and paid Apple providers, starting from HomeKit and iCloud Pictures to Apple Fitness+. Some individuals will purchase AirPods simply to have the comfort of shortly switching from their cellphone to their TV.

Are there the reason why somebody ought to keep away from an Apple TV?

Coping with the mixing query

Apart from its larger pricetag — beginning at $129 — there aren’t many points. Some individuals discover the Siri Distant too simplistic, or its touchpad too finicky, though you may all the time faucet arrow buttons as a substitute. Siri itself can also be a mediocre voice assistant in its pre-Gemini kind, although I discover it really works nicely sufficient for TV instructions. It is simple to look, open an app, or fast-forward and rewind.

The better concern tends to be platform integration. For casting, it is designed round AirPlay, not Google Solid, in order that’s an inherent restriction for Android and Home windows customers. And should you’ve obtained a wise residence primarily based round Amazon Alexa or Google Residence, there is not any solution to combine an Apple TV into these ecosystems’ automations or voice instructions. That may not sound vital on the floor — but it surely’s immensely helpful to have the ability to arrange one thing like a “film evening” routine that dims the lights, closes the blinds, and switches the TV to the appropriate app. Siri and HomeKit do assist these sorts of capabilities, however HomeKit is such a locked-down and Apple-centric ecosystem that it may possibly typically be arduous to seek out appropriate equipment if they don’t seem to be geared up for common pairing through Matter.

Maintain off on shopping for an Apple TV should you can, although

The refresh is coming

When you want a media streamer proper now, there is not any actual hurt in shopping for the 2022 mannequin. It’ll be helpful for the following a number of years, a minimum of, and there is not any signal it is about to be outdone by any of Apple’s rivals.

The true subject purpose to attend is an imminent refresh. A brand new mannequin is anticipated within the subsequent few months, if not the following few weeks, with up to date specs throughout the board. These embody issues like Wi-Fi 6E or Wi-Fi 7, and most significantly, a brand new processor quick sufficient to deal with Apple Intelligence. Sure, that tech has been a bust to this point on different Apple units — however with an improve primarily based on Google Gemini across the nook, Siri would possibly lastly be helpful for dealing with advanced duties and questions, together with looking down one thing to observe. Whether or not or not this lives as much as expectations, it will be a disgrace to overlook the chance to seek out out.

Apple can also be probably so as to add assist for the 2 latest HDR requirements, Dolby Vision 2 and HDR10+ Advanced. It’ll be some time earlier than appropriate TVs change into commonplace, by no means thoughts content material to observe — however Apple’s assist may truly assist spur the remainder of the trade.