Apple has announced a 4K set-top box

[Athart]

It's been over two years since Apple announced the fourth-generation Apple TV. Even in 2015, it was one of few set-top boxes on the market to not support 4K resolutions, and it was mocked for it. Two years later, Apple is the only major player in the set-top box space that doesn't offer an option for those with 4K televisions.

That all changes today, as the company announced the Apple TV 4K. The big new feature is - you guessed it - support for 4K and HDR. Other than that, there's a bump in specs to an A10X Fusion chip and 3GB RAM, as was spotted in a recent leak of the tvOS 11 GM seed.

Apple says that CPU performance is two times what it was in the previous generation model, and GPU performance is four times as much. This is compared to the A8 that was included in the fourth-generation Apple TV.

And as you'd expect, the device will ship with tvOS 11 pre-installed, which has been in beta since WWDC. It really doesn't contain much in the way of front-facing features, and you'll still get the update if you've got the fourth-generation Apple TV.

The company will continue to sell its existing model as a more budget-friendly option. After all, there really isn't a difference between the fourth-gen and the Apple TV 4K if you haven't yet upgraded your television to 4K.

You'll be able to purchase the new set-top box on September 22 at $179 for the 32GB model and $199 for the 64GB variant, although pre-orders kick off on September 15. The fourth-generation model will continue to be sold for $149.

[Athart]

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