Apple has released a ton of new products this year, including its iPhone 17 series and plenty of new iPads, but unfortunately, the one I've been waiting for the longest, and I'm sure many others have been as well, didn't arrive: the new Apple TV 4K.
All year long, rumors circulated that the new Apple TV 4K would launch this year, but now that only a few weeks remain until the clock strikes 2026, it's very unlikely the new Apple TV 4K will arrive in 2025. Instead, Apple is probably holding off until early next year.
This is no doubt a bummer for me. I recently upgraded my TV to the OLED LG C5, and one of the things I wanted to pair it with most was a new Apple TV 4K. Currently, I use a Fire TV Stick 4K Max, which is good enough, but since I'm so heavily ingrained in the Apple ecosystem with my Mac, iPad, and iPhone, I was looking forward to pairing my new TV with the Apple TV 4K this year.
While I could pick up the current third-generation Apple TV 4K, buying one now feels wasteful, given that a new model is expected in 2026. Yes, I admit, it's usually not ideal to sit around waiting for the next big tech upgrade — as there's always something new on the horizon — but in this case, I think it makes sense.
The existing Apple TV 4K launched in 2022, and spending over $100 on hardware that's likely to be replaced very soon by something significantly more powerful doesn't seem like the best use of money, especially when my Fire TV Stick can get the job done in the meantime. With that in mind, here are the three big reasons I'm holding out for the new Apple TV 4K — and why you might want to as well.
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