Wow, $299. That’s a pretty amazing price. For HomeView, Apple’s newest smart display, $299 seems surprisingly affordable. For the Apple TV 4K, $299 seems surprisingly painful.
HomeView for $299 seems like an invitation to try a new product category
HomeView looks like a success. Without actually seeing or hearing it, the verdict is still out. What we can judge now is the field.
In classic Apple fashion, the company is hardly the first to provide a smart display. Yet HomeView seems to have the sophistication and consideration that an iPhone user would expect.
At $299, it appears Apple is pricing HomeView more as an invitation to try a new product category. I’m intrigued.
Apple TV 4K for $299 seems like Apple already knows the customer
Then there’s the Apple TV 4K. At $299, it seems like a price more similar to specialized hardware. Unlike HomeView, the Apple TV 4K has a price history.
In 2021, Apple sold two Apple TV boxes: Apple TV HD for $149 and Apple TV 4K (2nd generation) for $179.
Both devices ran tvOS with an App Store, but customers didn’t like the fact that 4K support cost nearly $200.
By the end of the following year, the Apple TV 4K (3rd Generation) arrived in two versions: 64GB without Thread or Ethernet for $129, or 128GB with Thread and Ethernet for $149.
This was seen as a large cost correction compared to the previous generation. Better hardware and better price? It seems too good to be true.
But for a while it was true. Apple subsequently increased prices on a number of existing products in June. You may remember that the Apple TV 4K was one of the most painful price jumps, both due to the percentage increase and the age of the hardware.
The $129 model jumped to $199 and the $149 model jumped to $249.
The current Apple TV 4K replaces the $249 model with an even higher $299 price tag.
Now we’re back to the original starting price of the 2007 Apple TV. Boy, what a relief when Apple switched from local storage to streaming with the very different Apple TV (2nd Gen) disc for $99.
Apple TV 4K is the best experience, but now it’s for fewer people
Anyway, things are different in 2026. You can literally buy a 65-inch 4K LED TV with the Apple TV app (and all other streaming apps) built in for $299.
Where does the Apple TV 4K go? It’s increasingly positioned not as a way to add streaming apps to your TV, but as a very unique way to bring the full Apple experience to your TV.
But did Apple get the right feature set for the right price?
Adding microphones to the box itself is a nice touch, especially since other set-top boxes already do this. There is also the chip upgrade.
Another big new addition is support for creating a home theater experience beyond stereo speaker output with a pair of large HomePod speakers and a pair of new HomePod mini 2 speakers. It’s a $1300 experience between the set-top box and four speakers.
I personally stayed on the 2021 Apple TV 4K (2nd Gen) without any complaints. I don’t know how much I’ll use Siri AI from my TV, but having it already in the box I own is a nice surprise.
A specialized home theater experience isn’t a budget priority right now, so I’m very happy with my 55-inch 4K LED that cost me $168 on sale from Hisense. It’s not by far the best TV I’ve ever owned, but it’s good enough for me. Connecting a $299 Apple TV 4K would almost feel wrong.
But if a premium home theater experience is high on your priorities and cost isn’t an issue, the Apple TV 4K at $299 is a sure-fire upgrade over built-in TV experiences for Apple users.
For now, I’m just grateful to have gotten most of that experience from a purchase I made years ago.
I hope there is an Apple TV option that feels less overwhelmed and overpriced needs and budgets like mine in the future. At this point, even a version without the $59 Siri remote in the box would seem more appealing.
Share your thoughts in the comments.
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