Apple today announced the second generation model of the Apple TV 4K media player. The new model comes with more powerful chipset, new remote, and smart color calibration features. Apple TV 4K now runs on the Apple A12 Bionic chipset. This is a custom Apple-designed silicon that first appeared on the iPhone XS and XR series. It's a six-core design with two high performance and four power efficient CPU cores along with a quad-core GPU.
This has allowed the Apple TV 4K to be
able to playback 4K HDR video in 60fps. Users can now AirPlay the 4K 60fps
Dolby Vision videos shot on their iPhone 12 directly to the Apple TV 4K. Apple
is also working with FOX Sports, NBCUniversal, Paramount+, Red Bull TV, and
Canal+ to support their high frame rate HDR content. The company is also
introducing a new Siri Remote for the new model. The previous remote was often
the most criticized aspect of the Apple TV experience as it was hard to tell if
it was the right way up in the dark due to its symmetrical design.
The new model fixes that with a brand new
design that should be easy to use even in the dark. The flat touchpad has been
replaced with a circular direction pad with five way physical controls. The
surface is touch sensitive and you can also swipe on it to navigate through the
UI. Moreover, users can also run their fingers around the ring to scrub through
content like the click wheel on the iPod. The Siri button has been moved to the
right side. The remote now also features mute and power button to directly
control your television, so you don't need to use the TV remote. Apple has also
incorporated a clever color calibration feature that takes advantage of the
sensors on your iPhone. All you need is an iPhone with Face ID running iOS
14.5. The way this works is that you start the Color Balance feature and then
hold the front of your iPhone within the marked area on your screen. After a
few seconds, the process is complete.
Apple didn't go into details but the way
this seems to work is similar to color calibration done using a
spectrophotometer. The Apple TV 4K sends color patterns to your TV, which are
then scanned by the sensors and camera on the front of your iPhone. It then
compares them against the reference image and produces a 3D LUT, which would
then be sent over to the Apple TV 4K. It would then simply apply that LUT for
all the content it sends to the TV, thereby ensuring at least some level of
color accuracy. This obviously wouldn't be necessary if your TV is already
professionally color calibrated nor can it compete against that. But most
people don't calibrate their televisions and this simple feature will ensure
they get some semblance of industry standard color accuracy, at least for the
content watched through the Apple TV 4K.
The new Apple TV 4K is priced at US$ 179 and
will be available to order beginning Friday, April 30, with availability
starting second half of May. It will be available in more than 30 countries and
regions. Apple will also be selling the old Apple TV HD with the new Siri
Remote for US$ 149. The new Siri Remote can also be purchased independently for US$ 59 and is compatible with current Apple TV 4K and Apple TV HD models.
