As Slick As You'd Expect From Apple

FOR Huge library of 4K HDR content; good picture quality

AGAINST No Amazon Prime Video; lacks audio formats

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Apple talking about 4K and HDR as if it’s a new thing is bound to raise an eyebrow – after all, 4K technology was already around when the previous Apple TV launched in 2015, but Apple simply chose to ignore it.

But focusing on the past would be to ignore the bigger picture. Apple embracing 4K and HDR is great news because it shines a light on specs that we want to see become as popular as possible. What’s more, the Apple TV 4K box brings a whole load of 4K HDR movies to streaming for the first time.

Useful voice control

The Apple TV 4K looks identical to the previous Apple TV, but flip the black box over and you’ll notice a ring of small cut-outs on the 4K model that weren’t present on its predecessor. These allow cool air to get to the more powerful A10X chip. It gets quite warm to the touch while in action, but it’s extremely quiet, even when playing a game or streaming 4K content.

There’s just 32GB storage in the standard, £180 model, and 64GB in the £200 version we have on test here. That sounds paltry, particularly as it can’t be expanded by adding an external hard drive, but as the Apple TV 4K streams movies, TV shows or music, instead of downloading them, it needs storage only for the apps themselves. The apps tend to be pretty small – Netflix is just 41.6MB, for example – and the 32GB model should be sufficient for most people.

Once switched on you’re treated to a typically slick Apple experience. If you have an iPhone or other iOS device, that can be used to share all of your account and wi-fi info. The device then detects if your TV supports 4K resolutions and adjusts its output accordingly.