Apple TV 4K Adds Mics for Siri AI, Find My for Remote — SkimNews
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- Apple TV 4K (4th gen) is the first Apple TV model to support Siri AI, adding built-in far-field microphones for hands-free voice queries and Find My support for the Siri Remote with Bluetooth channel sounding for precise location tracking.
- Apple priced the new Apple TV 4K at $299 — more than double the prior-generation model's debut price and $50 above the discontinued top-of-line model — with preorders opening October 13 and shipping November 13.
- Siri AI on Apple TV displays responses as on-screen text rather than speaking them aloud (unlike on HomePod or HomeView), launching in beta in English across eight countries: the US, UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, South Africa, and India.
- Apple TV's Siri AI adds "personal context" that pulls from a user's Apple Intelligence-capable iPhone — enabling commands like "play that show my friend texted me" — a capability the source says goes beyond Google TV Streamer's Gemini and Amazon Fire TV's Alexa Plus.
- The new Apple TV 4K supports expanded surround sound with up to four paired HomePod 2nd-gen or HomePod Mini 2 speakers and automatic room calibration, and runs on an A19 chip (first seen in the iPhone 17) with Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6, 128GB storage, and Thread and Matter support.
- Apple announced the streaming box as part of a broader smart-home push that also introduced the HomeView smart display ($299), the HomePod Mini 2 ($149), and smart home devices co-developed with LG Electronics and Schneider Electric.
Why it matters: At $299 — more than double the prior model's debut price — Apple is clearly repositioning the Apple TV as a premium smart-home hub rather than a budget streamer, and the iPhone-derived "personal context" feature gives Siri a data-integration edge Google TV Streamer and Fire TV lack. But as The Verge flags in its parallel coverage, the HomePod Mini 2 ships without Siri AI support at launch, which could undercut Apple's one-sunified-pitch if Apple fixes its speakers elsewhere first.
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