Rumors suggest that a new Apple TV box will be launched later this year. Code references have now been found pointing to the same A17 Pro chip from the iPhone 15 Pro.
The current Apple TV 4K was launched in late 2022 and is equipped with an A15 Bionic chip.
Both Bloomberg and MacRumors' sources claim that a new box will be launched in 2025 – three years after the last one.
Also read: Guide: These features are exclusive to newer Apple TV 4K models
A17 Pro chip in Apple TV?
MacRumors has now found references to a new box in leaked software from Apple. This one appears to feature the A17 Pro chip, the iPhone chip from 2023, which paved the way for AAA console games including ray-tracing. It also supports Metal 4.
A17 Pro delivers a graphics performance of approximately 2 – 2.2 TFlops, surpassing PlayStation 4 and Xbox One S, but not matching Nintendo Switch 2 (approx. 3 TFlops in docked mode). The A17 Pro is about 75% faster (single-core) than the CPU in PS5 but slower in multi-core (-10%).
A17 Pro would be a significant upgrade for the Apple TV 4K, but by the time it launches it will be a 2-year-old chip.
A15 Bionic vs. A17 Pro
| A15 Bionic (in iPhone 13 Pro) | A17 Pro (in iPhone 15 Pro) | Improvement |
|---|
| CPU benchmark (single-core) | 2265 | 2908 | 28.4% |
| CPU benchmark (multi-core) | 5515 | 7238 | 31.2% |
| GPU benchmark (metal) | 19653 | 27531 | 40.1% |
| NPU (Neural Engine) spec | 16-core, 15.8 TOPS | 16-core, 35 TOPS | 121.5% |
| RAM | 4GB | 8GB | |
| Ray-tracing | Software | Hardware | |
| MetalFX Upscaling | No | Yes | - |
| Mesh Shaders | No | Yes | - |
| Chip design | 5nm | 3nm | - |
FlatpanelsHDWhat else?
Previous rumors have suggested that the next Apple TV will again focus on 4K – not 8K. It will reportedly feature Apple's first in-house WiFi+Bluetooth chip.
A17 Pro can also run Apple Intelligence, but this would require a software upgrade, too.
Apple is reportedly also working on its own TV screen and a version of the box combined with a HomePod speaker. However, these do not seem to be products we can expect this year.
This fall, tvOS 26 will be released with new software features. Here is FlatpanelsHD' wishlist for the next Apple TV.
