Apple TV began as a hobby box after several failed living-room gadgets
Before the Apple TV, Apple tried the living room and flopped. The 1993 Macintosh TV sold just 10,000 units, and the 1995 Pippin console around 42,000. The streaming box that finally stuck launched in 2007, and one model, the Apple TV HD, has received eleven major software versions, more than any other Apple device.
Apple first announced the device as iTV in September 2006, then renamed it after a trademark clash with the British broadcaster ITV. Shipping in March 2007, it ran a variant of Mac OS X Tiger on an Intel Pentium M chip, stored media on a 40 GB hard drive and output up to 720p. It depended on a Mac or Windows PC running iTunes until a February 2008 update, nicknamed Take 2, let it buy and stream content on its own. Hobbyists even discovered they could turn it into a makeshift Mac Mini.
A second generation in September 2010 changed direction completely: a black box a quarter of the size, powered by Apple's own A4 chip, running a variant of iOS and swapping the hard drive for 8 GB of flash storage. Netflix became its first streaming service, and AirTunes became AirPlay, able to send video from iPhones and Macs. The 2012 model added 1080p, and an icon grid that Steve Jobs had reportedly rejected five years earlier arrived on the home screen.
The fourth generation, announced on 9 September 2015, brought an app store, Siri and a touchpad remote, and its software was renamed tvOS. A 2017 version handled 4K, HDR10 and Dolby Vision; a 2021 model added high frame rate HDR, and it can use an iPhone's light sensor to tune its colours. The 2022 edition dropped its fan and became lighter.
Memory costs have since bitten. On 25 June 2026, amid a global RAM and SSD shortage, American prices for the two current models rose to 199 and 249 dollars, up from 129 and 149 at launch.
Source: Apple TV (device)
