ThumperComet
New member
There is a roadmap piece going around saying Apple has a stack of home products lined up, an Apple TV, a HomePod and some kind of smart display, and that the reason we have been waiting is Siri rather than hardware. It is a pipeline story, not a spec sheet, so I am not going to repeat numbers that nobody has confirmed.
The age argument I cannot argue with. The Apple TV 4K and the HomePod mini in my living room have both been on sale for years with no real replacement, and the box in particular has been coasting. It still does the one thing it is genuinely good at, which is nothing. It does not nag me, it does not put a sponsored row on the home screen, it does not quietly get slower every autumn. That is exactly why nobody is screaming for a new one. A two generation old Roku or Fire Stick is a completely different daily experience.
What I want out of a refresh is boring. More storage so tvOS updates stop being a negotiation, and Ethernet on every model instead of only the top one. What I expect instead is that the whole pitch is Siri plus some on device model, and the price moves up to pay for it.
The smart display is the one that puts me off. That is the category where Apple would need a mic that is always listening and probably a camera, in a room where I currently have neither. Google and Amazon own that shelf and they own it by being cheap, which is not a fight Apple has ever chosen to have.
If the next Apple TV costs more because of AI features, do you upgrade, or do you sit on the old box until an app drops support for it?
The age argument I cannot argue with. The Apple TV 4K and the HomePod mini in my living room have both been on sale for years with no real replacement, and the box in particular has been coasting. It still does the one thing it is genuinely good at, which is nothing. It does not nag me, it does not put a sponsored row on the home screen, it does not quietly get slower every autumn. That is exactly why nobody is screaming for a new one. A two generation old Roku or Fire Stick is a completely different daily experience.
What I want out of a refresh is boring. More storage so tvOS updates stop being a negotiation, and Ethernet on every model instead of only the top one. What I expect instead is that the whole pitch is Siri plus some on device model, and the price moves up to pay for it.
The smart display is the one that puts me off. That is the category where Apple would need a mic that is always listening and probably a camera, in a room where I currently have neither. Google and Amazon own that shelf and they own it by being cheap, which is not a fight Apple has ever chosen to have.
If the next Apple TV costs more because of AI features, do you upgrade, or do you sit on the old box until an app drops support for it?
