Apple has unveiled its first Apple TV update in three years, announcing at its “Spring Loaded” special event on Tuesday a next-generation model launching with an all-new Siri Remote.
The new Apple TV, available to order beginning Friday, April 30, with availability beginning in the second half of May, features an A12 Bionic chip that provides a significant boost in graphics performance, video decoding, and audio processing.
With A12 Bionic, Apple TV 4K now supports high frame rate HDR (High Dynamic Range) and Dolby Vision video, enabling fast-moving action at 60 frames per second (fps) to play more smoothly and appear more lifelike.
Through a new color balance process, Apple TV works with iPhone and its camera sensors to improve a television’s picture quality. Apple TV uses the light sensor in iPhone to compare the color balance to the industry-standard specifications used by cinematographers worldwide. Using this data, Apple TV automatically tailors its video output to deliver much more accurate colors and improved contrast — without customers having to adjust their television settings.
As rumored, Apple is launching a redesigned Siri Remote with the new Apple TV. The remote features an new clickpad control that offers five-way navigation for better accuracy, and is also touch-enabled for the fast directional swipes. The outer ring of the clickpad supports an circular gesture that turns it into a jog control — making it easy to find a scene in a movie or show.
Image: Apple
The new Siri Remote also has a power button that controls a TV’s power, and another for mute. Using Siri, customers can easily search for specific shows or movies, control smart home accessories, check sports scores or the weather, and much more. Siri now works on Apple TV in Austria, Ireland, and New Zealand, joining the 13 countries and regions that already support Siri.
The new Apple TV is priced at $179.
