The first Apple TV 4K reviews are out ahead of the November 13 release, and reviewers praise the picture and sound while faulting the $299 price and the Siri AI beta. Owners of the 2022 model have little reason to upgrade, since Apple says the new Siri Remote and Siri AI work with older models too.
The one feature tied to the new box is four-HomePod surround, which needs HomePod 2 or HomePod mini 2 speakers in matching front and rear pairs. Reviewers who tried it liked the sound, but the four speakers cost more than the box itself.
TechRadar Rates It 3.5 Stars
TechRadar’s Matt Bolton gave the Apple TV 4K 3.5 stars, down from the 4.5 stars the previous model received. He tested it for 10 days on an OLED TV running tvOS 27.2 with the Siri AI beta, and found very little meaningful improvement over the 2022 model, which launched at $129. He lists picture quality, format support and iPhone password entry as strengths.
Siri AI drew the most criticism. It said it could not see Netflix content until playback was paused, needed three attempts for a Jason Statham search, ignored John Grisham films he already owned and played the wrong Taskmaster episode. Bolton calls Siri AI “half-baked” and also faults the missing cloud gaming.
He still rates it the best streamer for heavy Apple users and privacy-focused buyers. Owners of the 2022 model should skip it, and anyone chasing value can look at the $84.99 Fire TV Stick 4K Max.
Tom’s Guide Compares It With Rivals
Tom’s Guide reviewer Mike Prospero tested the Apple TV 4K against the Google TV Streamer and Fire TV devices, and calls it the most expensive streaming device by far. The A19 chip and Wi-Fi 7 are new, while the design matches the 2022 model apart from the status light moving to the middle.
Siri AI missed in several requests. A search for scary movies good for kids returned Poltergeist, Alien and Seven for an 8-year-old, and a request for an Audrey Hepburn movie set in Rome returned Christmas movies, where Alexa+ found Roman Holiday. Netflix gaps also showed up, since Top Gun: Maverick appeared only on Paramount and KPop Demon Hunters was not found.
The new lost-remote finder worked best on an iPhone Air, which buzzed, showed the distance and said the remote was here, while an iPhone 14 Pro only said to look around once close. Prospero paired two HomePod 2 speakers with two HomePod mini 2 speakers for surround, which cost about $1,000 in total, and says a soundbar may be the better buy at that price. Prospero recommends the Apple TV 4K for people with an iPhone 17 or later and HomePods, and suggests a Roku Ultra, which costs half as much, for everyone else.
What Hi-Fi? Praises Picture and Sound
What Hi-Fi? gave the Apple TV 4K 5 out of 5 for picture, sound and features, and Tom Parsons calls it the best video streamer you can buy. The $299 price is $100 more than the entry-level 2022 model cost when Apple discontinued it.
The picture is cleaner, especially with lower-resolution content, and an SD episode of Peep Show on Disney+ upscaled strikingly clean. Native 4K HDR gains were subtle, while sound through a Denon AVC-A1H receiver and KEF R Meta speakers came out clearer and more dynamic.
Siri AI must be switched on in the General menu, and it handled natural-language follow-up requests well but wrongly said a Spurs match was on Paramount+. The Apple TV 4K supports 26 of the 32 apps What Hi-Fi? checked, and it lacks DTS and Dolby TrueHD support for Blu-ray rips.
In early tests of the four-speaker surround setup with two HomePod 2 speakers and two HomePod mini 2 speakers, the bass was surprisingly good but the sound felt front-heavy, with rear speakers that seemed detached. Owners of the previous model have little reason to upgrade unless Siri AI or HomePod surround appeals.
Man of Many Calls It a Clear Yes
Man of Many reviewer Ben McKimm used an Apple-loaned Apple TV 4K for a week as the main entertainment hub on an XGIMI Aura 2 projector. He gives a clear yes without a numeric score, and calls the four-speaker HomePod setup “a genuinely compelling alternative to traditional soundbars”.
He says the A19 chip alone is not reason enough to upgrade, while the four-HomePod setup is reason enough for many Apple ecosystem die-hards. Hands-free Siri uses three far-field microphones, and the Apple TV 4K recognizes the voices of up to six family members.
McKimm finds the price too high, and he notes that Siri AI personal context needs an Apple Intelligence iPhone or iPad in the home. Apple includes no HDMI cable, and Precision Finding for the remote needs an iPhone 17 or later, iPhone Air or iPhone Duo.
T-Break Gives It 8 Out of 10
T-Break reviewer Ammara Rounaq gave the Apple TV 4K 8 out of 10 after comparing it with a 2022 Apple TV 4K on tvOS 27.2. Rounaq concludes that the faster chip and far-field microphones do not justify replacing a 2022 model, and the A19 works as insurance for the future.
Hands-free Siri picked up commands from the sofa, nearly 10 feet away, and from the hallway, although an open MacBook triggered it once. Playback commands such as back 10 seconds, skip 2 minutes, subtitles and pause worked quickly, but asking for The Gilded Age showed its page and still needed a click to play.
Rounaq found no bitstream passthrough, so TrueHD Atmos and DTS:X cannot reach a receiver, and output is capped at 4K at 60Hz. The fanless box gets warm, the remote buttons are not backlit and gaming gains were small, with some stutter in Oceanhorn 3.
Stephen Robles Tested Every HomePod Mix
Stephen Robles compared every HomePod combination against his Sonos Arc, Sonos Sub Gen 3 and Sonos Era 100 setup. He found the four-HomePod sound very good and did not miss a center channel, since dialogue stayed clear, but he missed a subwoofer on Interstellar, Dune: Part Two, Avengers: Infinity War and Top Gun: Maverick.
You set it up in Settings under Video and Audio, where Create Surround Group plays tones and glows each HomePod to identify it. The maximum is four speakers, large HomePods in front with minis in the rear still sound good, and a HomePod added during playback only gets stereo.
Siri AI needs personal content turned on in Settings under Profiles, and it found Dark Matter when he asked about a TV show he had texted himself. He says Gemini on the Google TV Streamer edges out Siri AI because it offers YouTube links.
Robles puts the four-large-HomePod setup at about $1,500 with the Apple TV 4K, and recommends it only if you already own or plan to buy HomePods. He points out that the new remote, which costs $59 on its own, and Siri AI come to older models, and he will upgrade one box and move the others down.
Apple Home Authority Likes Home Theater
Jon from Apple Home Authority tested a loaned Apple TV 4K for seven days as the replacement for his third-generation Apple TV 4K and Apple Home hub. The A19 feels noticeably faster, including with a Jellyfin library on his NAS and in Apple Arcade, while the picture is unchanged.
Home Theater is his favorite feature. With four HomePods in matching pairs, a rain scene in Game of Thrones made him think it was raining outside his house.
Siri answered general questions, filming locations and similar-show requests quickly, but on Netflix, Disney+ and HBO Max it says it can only see a black screen. The microphones only work while the Apple TV 4K is on, not in standby, and two-way audio with his doorbell did not work.
He calls it a nice upgrade and says $299 is a lot. He does not recommend upgrading from a third-generation Apple TV 4K unless you own four compatible HomePods.
Apple TV 4K Reviews Agree on Price
Every reviewer above comes back to the $299 price, which Apple also offers as $49.83 a month for six months. The Apple TV 4K comes in one 128GB model and goes on sale November 13, and the price is up from $199, one of Apple’s 2026 price increases.
Siri AI is a beta in tvOS 27.2 that launches in English in the United States, Australia, Canada, India, New Zealand, Singapore, South Africa and the United Kingdom. It needs an Apple Intelligence iPhone or iPad in your Apple Home, and Apple says it also runs on the Apple TV 4K 2nd generation and later. The same Siri AI beta runs on the $299 Apple HomeView, where reviewers raised similar complaints.
The four-speaker surround setup needs HomePod 2 or HomePod mini 2 speakers in matching front and rear pairs. Apple says Precision Finding for the new Siri Remote needs an iPhone Duo, iPhone Air or iPhone 17 or later, excluding the iPhone 17e.
