The new Apple 4K TV is ready, here’s why you can’t buy it yet

Aside from the foldable iPhone, there’s one other unreleased Apple product that’s been rumored for what feels like forever now: a new Apple TV 4K.

The current third-gen Apple TV 4K launched back in 2022, and ever since, there’s been a steady stream of speculation about when Apple will finally release an updated model. 2025 was widely expected to be the year it would happen, but that never came to pass. Now, it looks like 2026 could be the year — but there’s one key roadblock in the way.

According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, the new Apple TV 4K and a new HomePod mini have reportedly been “ready since last year,” yet Apple has held off on releasing them. And the reason? You can probably guess: Siri.

While the hardware appears to be finished, the holdup is on the software side. Gurman reports that Apple is waiting until its revamped Siri and personalized Apple Intelligence features — first announced at WWDC 2024 — are ready before shipping the new devices. However, those new Siri and Apple Intelligence features have reportedly been delayed once again, leaving the new Apple TV 4K in limbo.

Plus, there’s also another interesting twist. Apple is reportedly running low on stock of both the Apple TV 4K and the HomePod mini at Apple retail stores worldwide. Typically, when an older Apple product starts disappearing from Apple Stores, it’s a strong sign that a refresh is imminent. However, that may not be the case here if Apple is dead set on waiting to release its next-gen Apple TV 4K with its new Siri.

Apple has a decision to make

Release now and update later, or wait?

It’s no surprise that Siri is the reason Apple hasn’t released the new Apple TV 4K. When it was originally rumored to launch last year, reports suggested Apple wanted to use the new Apple TV 4K and HomePod mini as a showcase for its revamped Siri and more personalized Apple Intelligence features.

But given how much Apple seems to be struggling to get this new version of Siri fully off the ground — even with help from Google Gemini — it looks like the company may have a decision to make if stock of the current Apple TV 4K is running low: release the new model soon and update it later with the new Siri (like it will do with all its other products), or wait until Siri is ready and just restock the existing one.

Releasing it sooner doesn’t seem completely off the table, either. Gurman notes that if Apple does decide to launch it soon, it could simply be because it “got tired of waiting.” On the flip side, if Apple sticks to its original hope to launch it when Siri is ready, we might not see it until the end of the year, with the new Siri reportedly pushed to iOS 27 in the fall.

Personally, as someone who’s been holding off on buying an Apple TV 4K because a new model is seemingly right around the corner, I’d rather Apple just release it already. Let people enjoy the new hardware now (rumored to be the A17 Pro and Wi-Fi 7), and roll out the revamped Siri later, when it’s ready.

That said, I think this will ultimately come down to marketing. Since the new Siri experience seems so closely tied to the next Apple TV 4K, Apple would probably prefer to launch them together to properly show off everything the device can do. And with competitors already leaning heavily into AI, such as Amazon’s Fire TV lineup with Alexa+ and Google TV with Gemini, that approach would make sense.

So while I’d love to see Apple release the new Apple TV 4K sooner rather than later, it feels more likely we won’t see it until the end of the year because of Siri. Though I’d absolutely love to be wrong here, and Apple just gives in and ships it before the summer.