Apple TV 4K Review: Great for Apple Homes, Hard to Justify

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Overview

Four years after launch, the 2022 Apple TV 4K (the third generation) is still Apple’s current model, and it is still the one to beat for a home that runs on iPhones, AirPods and HomePods. Its timing is the problem. Apple raised the price of both models in June 2026, the biggest percentage rise anywhere in its lineup, the Amazon.com listing had no new stock in October 2026, and MacRumors has reported signs that a fourth-generation model is close.

What still sets it apart is how little it gets in the way. The A15 Bionic chip keeps the menus and apps quick, the home screen is a grid of your own apps rather than a wall of promotions, and it plays every major HDR format, Dolby Vision and HDR10+ included, with Dolby Atmos sound. This review covers the 128GB Wi-Fi + Ethernet model, which adds a Gigabit Ethernet port and a Thread radio for smart home devices that the 64GB Wi-Fi model lacks.

Key Specifications

Apple TV 4K Speed and Interface

Speed is still one of its strengths. Engadget’s 2026 guide, reviewing the newer Google TV Streamer, notes that the Apple TV 4K is still the fastest streamer its tester has used. Tom’s Guide timed app launches when the box was new: Netflix opened in about a second, matching the Fire TV Cube, against 10 seconds on the Roku Ultra of the day, and Disney Plus took 4 seconds against the Roku’s 9. It wasn’t a clean sweep: Sling TV opened faster on both Rokus, and the same review concluded that the Fire TV Cube had caught up with Apple on speed. CNET’s pick for the fastest streaming device is the Fire TV Stick 4K Max.

For anyone upgrading from the 2021 model, the gain is small. Expert Reviews timed both generations opening four streaming apps and a game, and the total gap was about two seconds. The extra power shows more in games and in how long the box should stay quick.

The interface is the other half of the appeal. The tvOS home screen is a grid of your own apps, and Tom’s Guide counted far more of them on screen at once than on Fire TV, Roku or Google’s interface, with no advertising taking over the top of the screen. The weak spot is the Apple TV app itself, whose home page leans heavily on Apple’s own shows, as Engadget points out. There is also no built-in channel guide for live TV services, which Google TV and Fire TV both had in Tom’s Guide’s comparison.

Software support remains strong. It runs tvOS 27, released in September 2026, which Apple doesn’t offer on the original 2017 Apple TV 4K or the Apple TV HD; Apple says apps launch up to 30 percent faster on it, as MacRumors reports. The year before, tvOS 26 brought this model the full Liquid Glass redesign, and its option to use an iPhone as a microphone for Apple Music Sing karaoke works only on this third-generation box. The open question is Apple’s next round of Siri features: MacRumors expects the rumored successor to get more memory partly to support Siri AI, and this model has 4GB.

Picture and Sound

It covers every major HDR format at up to 4K and 60 frames per second: Dolby Vision, HDR10+, HDR10 and HLG. HDR10+ was new on this generation and matters most to owners of Samsung TVs, which don’t support Dolby Vision, Expert Reviews notes. Match frame rate and match dynamic range settings send video out in the format it was made in, and Apple now lists Quick Media Switching (QMS), which lets a compatible TV change frame rates without the screen blanking.

Expert Reviews singles out a feature rivals don’t have: the box can calibrate its colour output using an iPhone’s camera. On the audio side, it supports Dolby Atmos and can send Spatial Audio with head tracking to compatible AirPods, and two sets of AirPods can listen at once. Apple Music’s Hi-Res Lossless plays only on the third-generation model or later, according to the Apple support document MacRumors reported on.

With a HomePod pair as its speakers, it can also take sound back from the TV over HDMI eARC, so a game console plugged into the TV plays through the HomePods too, as TechRadar describes.

iPhone, AirPods and the Smart Home

Setup is quick with an iPhone: hold the phone near the box and your Apple Account and Wi-Fi details carry over. Afterwards the iPhone’s keyboard handles app logins, and Control Center turns the phone into a spare remote. SharePlay lets friends watch together over FaceTime, and Fitness+ workouts and Photos play on the big screen. You don’t need other Apple devices to use it, but these features are the main reason to choose it over another streamer.

The 128GB Wi-Fi + Ethernet model is also a smart home hub. Apple’s support page lists it, with the HomePod mini, as a Thread-enabled hub, which Thread-based Matter devices need unless you have a supported third-party border router, and as a home hub it runs automations and remote control from the Home app. HomeKit camera feeds can also open in a window over whatever you’re watching. The 64GB Wi-Fi model has no Thread radio, so it can’t play this role for Thread devices.

The Siri Remote and the Ports

The Siri Remote is aluminium, with a clickpad that also takes swipes, and it can control a TV’s power and volume over infrared or HDMI-CEC. Its battery lasts months between USB-C charges, Apple says. It has no lost-remote finder, a gap Tom’s Guide singled out as the one thing it hated about the box, while Roku’s Voice Remote Pro for the Roku Ultra includes one.

Around the back there are only the power input, HDMI 2.1 and, on this model, a Gigabit Ethernet port, faster than the 10/100 ports on the Roku Ultra and Fire TV Cube. There is no USB port and no HDMI input of the kind the Fire TV Cube uses for a cable box. Budget for an HDMI cable as well, because Apple doesn’t include one.

How Does It Stack Up Against the Competition?

All five play Dolby Vision and HDR10+, so the real differences are the platform, the ports and how much storage each one has.

Apple TV 4K: Still Worth It for iPhone and AirPods Homes

If you already own this model, keep it: it runs the current tvOS 27 and remains among the quickest boxes you can plug in. If you own the 2021 model, the stopwatch gains are too small to justify replacing it now. If you’re buying new, the timing argues for patience. Apple raised the price of both models in June 2026, Amazon.com had no new stock in October 2026, and MacRumors reports that the rumored successor has a faster chip, more memory and Wi-Fi 7 and could arrive within weeks, so waiting for Apple’s announcement costs little.

Outside an Apple household the case is weaker. The Google TV Streamer suits Android and Google Home users and has Gigabit Ethernet too. The Roku Ultra works across the main smart home ecosystems, adds a USB port and comes with a remote that has a lost-remote finder. The Fire TV Cube adds hands-free Alexa and an HDMI input for a cable box. If the TV only needs faster apps, the Fire TV Stick 4K Max covers Dolby Vision, HDR10+ and Wi-Fi 6E in a stick. And if you want the streaming box itself to run a Plex media server, look at the NVIDIA Shield TV Pro, which BGR said in 2026 is still the only streaming device that can host one natively.

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Marcus WebbSenior Editor 𝕏

Marcus has been hunting for the best tech and gear for over 40 years — as a coder, gamer, and lifelong outdoors enthusiast, he knows the gap between a good spec sheet and something that actually holds up.

How this was made: Built from the 20 sources listed above, including 11 independent reviewers such as Engadget, Tom's Guide and Expert Reviews. Written with AI, then fact-checked against those sources by a separate AI. We haven’t tested this product ourselves. How we review →