Apple TV
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Apple TV
The Apple experience. On the big screen.
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| Official Apple TV 4K site — Apple |
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Apple TV is Apple's television box — the small black puck that puts tvOS, the App Store, and the company's services on a TV. Introduced in 2007 as a self-described "hobby," it grew into the premium end of the streaming-box market and the living-room anchor of the Apple ecosystem, complete with AirPlay, SharePlay, and smart-home hub duty.
The name is Apple's most overloaded: the hardware shares it with the Apple TV app and with the streaming service (Apple TV+, renamed simply "Apple TV" in 2025). This page covers the hardware.
1 History✎
The original Apple TV (2007) was an iTunes syncing box; the 2010 redesign made it a $99 streaming puck. The fourth generation (2015) added tvOS, the App Store, and the Siri Remote — Jobs-era hobby becoming platform — and Apple TV 4K (2017) went ultra-high-definition. The 2021 model fixed the remote; the current third-generation Apple TV 4K (2022) runs the Apple A15 with HDR10+, a USB-C Siri Remote, and a lower $129 entry price.
The 2022 box has had the line's longest run without a successor; a new model with Apple Intelligence-class silicon and Apple's N1 networking chip is widely expected, reportedly held — like the HomePod refresh — for Siri's overhaul.
2 Current lineup✎
| Model | Chip | Role |
|---|---|---|
| Apple TV 4K (3rd generation) | A15 (2022) | 4K HDR streaming, gaming, home hub — Wi-Fi and Wi-Fi + Ethernet |
3 Position✎
Apple TV is the ecosystem's living-room outpost: the most polished way to watch the renamed Apple TV service, the thread-border-router backbone of many Apple smart homes, and — through tvOS and controller support — Apple's quiet console. It has never chased the $30 streaming-stick market, holding the premium position instead.