Matt Talks Tech wanted one feature from the fourth-generation Apple TV 4K, HDMI passthrough, and Apple's announcement doesn't have it. Nor 8K, nor 4K at 120 fps. The channel's verdict, 12 minutes later: anyone with a 2022 model that runs tvOS 27 should keep it.
What Apple did add is mostly in service of Siri. The A19 replaces the A15, with up to 50 percent faster CPU and twice the GPU performance by Apple's numbers, and three far-field microphones behind a front status light let you talk to the box without the remote. The channel never found the 2022 model slow, and the A19 does nothing it can see for picture quality, with no upscaling on Apple's list. Hands-free Siri isn't how it watches TV either.
The argument that lands hardest is Apple's own footnote: Siri AI also comes to the Apple TV 4K from the 2nd generation on, through the remote you already own. That leaves the four-HomePod surround setup and Precision Finding for the new Siri Remote as the hardware-only extras, and the video calls a room of four HomePods answering one Siri request "a little bit odd."
I'd add one wrinkle. The Apple TV 4K leaks pointed at a chip and memory bump, and that's what shipped, so the missing passthrough was never on the table. iPhoners on a 1st-generation box are the ones the upgrade suits, since Siri AI skips that model. It's available November 13.
