The Apple TV 4K (4th Generation) is raising eyebrows and dropping jaws, but not with amazing new features. It’s the price: $299. Fortunately, owners of older versions of the streaming box can get many of the biggest upgrades without buying new hardware.
And for a small investment, the improved Siri Remote can also upgrade a current Apple TV 4K.
Here’s how you might save yourself almost $300.
Why you might not need to buy the new $299 Apple TV 4K
The headline feature of Apple TV 4K (4th Generation) is Siri AI, a vast upgrade over the previous version. Instead of simply searching for titles or opening apps, the AI assistant on the streaming box can make recommendations on what to watch, answer questions about movies and shows and suggest related entertainment.
For example, viewers can ask which Apple TV shows won Emmy Awards, find out where a series was filmed or check whether a program is appropriate for a teenager.
And the really good news is, these useful new features aren’t restricted to the latest hardware. Siri AI is compatible with every model going back to 2021.
“Access to Siri AI is also available on Apple TV 4K (2nd generation) or later,” is buried in the fine print of Tuesday’s Apple TV 4K (4th Generation) announcement.
The feature is arriving as a beta in tvOS 27.2, which is itself currently in beta testing. And take note that for Siri AI to work on an Apple TV 4K, the owner of the home in Apple’s Home app must have an Apple Intelligence-enabled iPhone or iPad running the latest software, with Siri AI enabled and set to a supported language.
New Siri Remote is backward compatible, too
Image: Apple/Cult of Mac
Another welcome improvement to the latest Apple TV 4K is the fourth-generation Siri Remote. Apple finally gave the controller a built-in speaker so you can make it play a sound when it goes missing. It also supports Precision Finding, which can guide you toward the remote with the iPhone’s Find My app.
These are useful additions for anyone who regularly loses a remote between couch cushions or somewhere else in the house. But there’s no need to replace your whole Apple TV to get them.
Apple sells the new Siri Remote separately for $59, and it works with Apple TV HD and older Apple TV 4K models. That means an owner of a previous model can spend $59 on the controller rather than $299 on an entirely new streaming box.
What you miss by keeping your old Apple TV 4K
Of course, Apple isn’t asking $299 for nothing. The fourth-generation Apple TV 4K includes hardware improvements that older models can’t gain through a software update.
The biggest reason to upgrade might be the new four-speaker surround sound system. The latest iteration of the streaming box can coordinate four HomePod speakers to create an immersive experience. The setup uses two speakers at the front of the room and two at the rear, with the system automatically calibrating audio timing and levels based on their positions.
Owners of older Apple TV 4K models won’t get this capability just by installing tvOS 27.2. It’s exclusive to the 2026 model.
And four-speaker surround sound isn’t the only such improvement. Only the fourth-generation Apple TV 4K includes three far-field microphones that let you talk to Siri from across the room without picking up the remote.
Also, Apple’s new streaming box uses an A19 processor that the company says delivers up to 50% faster CPU performance and up to twice the GPU performance of the previous generation.
The $299 question
The new Apple TV 4K arrives November 13, with preorders opening October 13. The only version available includes 128GB of storage and costs $299. For reference, the previous version with that capacity cost $149 a year ago, which helps explain some of the resistance to the new model.
For owners of Apple TV 4K (2nd generation) or later, the smartest move may be to wait and see how well the new AI-enabled version of Siri performs on their device. You can potentially get the headline feature without replacing a streaming box that still works well.
Or if the remote is the problem, the $59 fourth-generation Siri Remote is a much cheaper fix.
Ed Hardy has been writing full-time about tech for 26 years, and using it for much longer than that. His intro to Apple was a Macintosh SE/30 (which he still has), but now he uses a 13-inch iPad Pro as his primary computer.
That’s because he’s a “tablet first” type of guy. Rather than use a Macbook, he connects a keyboard case to the iPad. And instead of a desktop Mac, he connects his tablet to a 27-inch display and full-size keyboard. (So don’t try to tell him that everyone has to use a Mac to be productive.)
Before coming to Cult of Mac, Ed wrote for NotebookReview, TabletPCReview and Brighthand, as well as other sites.
One response to “Save $299: Your old Apple TV 4K gets the best new features”
Since all new TVs contain the same features, why would anyone pay for a streaming device? And an Apple TV for $299? LOL! I’ve been using Apple products since the Apple //e came out, but Apple is losing this fanboy over its ridiculous prices.