Of all our predictions about Apple’s “Surprise and Shine” event earlier this month, the Gizmodo team did get a couple of things wrong. One major refresh we expected to be announced there: a new Apple TV 4K, given many ongoing rumors about the upgraded device coming soon. Now we have further confirmation that Apple’s TV box is coming much sooner rather than later. We were only a few weeks off, really.
According to MacRumors, which unearthed an image file from Apple that depicts the new hardware, the 2026 version of the Apple TV 4K will look pretty much identical to the 2022 model—not that we expected much else for this piece of hardware. The image is listed as “Apple TV 4K (4th generation).”
New Apple TV 4K Leaked https://t.co/nSB1NEdK53 pic.twitter.com/q5jnAQJN3M
— MacRumors.com (@MacRumors) September 25, 2026
It is, of course, impossible to understand what upgrades this will include, but there are some solid rumors going around that provide some hints. We’re looking at an expected 8GB of RAM (double the 3rd generation’s), support for Apple Intelligence and Siri AI, the inclusion of Apple’s N1 chip with Wi-Fi 7, and a refreshed Siri Remote.
The chip and RAM upgrades, in particular, will provide a major boost to the Apple TV 4K, bringing it up to speed with improved graphics and even the capacity for ray tracing in games. Streaming speeds and bandwidth for TV and movies will theoretically be significantly better with the new chip, too, given its support for Bluetooth 6 and Wi-Fi 7.
One area we’re really unsure of is pricing on the new model. The 3rd generation Apple TV 4K currently retails for $199, with the Ethernet model (which has more storage, too) going for $249. Those both got more expensive this summer; the base model used to go for $129, while the Ethernet model used to be $149. Given the price of computing components these days—and the fact that just about every Apple product has seen a price increase in the last few months—there’s a solid chance the starting price will be even higher than $199.
As for when you’ll be able to purchase a new Apple TV 4K, the wait is likely coming to an end soon. October is one of Apple’s biggest months for announcing new hardware, historically speaking, so there’s a solid chance we’ll see this on the market next month.
