I only wanted an Apple TV with a better chip and full HDMI audio passthrough.

Instead we got a ton of useless stuff.

Old chips cost Apple more money now not less. The A15 and 64GB NAND probably have low volumes and cost Apple more money going forward. So apple likely just upgraded to what the supply chain can reliably do for a while. Prices might go up even in six months to a year. So instead of buying a 200$ bumped to 250$ A15 Apple TV in six months they are probably upgrading it to make sure future price bumps remain relatively low and justifiable for upgraded hardware.

Very interested to know what TV manufacturers are doing who have heavily advertised their Android UIs which are bread and butter of collecting data. TV panels themselves have no reason to have price increases in memory shortage.

I have the last gen Apple TV 4K and I just don't see enough reason to upgrade.

It doesn't even look like this supports 120hz, which would've been nice since my OLED TV does.

yea, this is a non-starter for me, and that is not even considering the price bump which is too much. I do not want ANY internet connected devices in my machine with far field microphones just listening. There needs to be a hardware switch disabling them. I would settle for software settings that completely disables them though as I almost trust Apple. almost... I likely will just look for yesterdays version.

The last thing I want is a TV powered by Siri..

The existing Apple TV was already way overpowered for a media device. Who was complaining about their Apple TV being slow?

Does anyone else force their Apple TV into 1080p mode because they don’t like soap opera mode? I hope this unit lets me do that. I have no need to upgrade but eventually my current Apple TV will die and I’d hate to lose the ability to downgrade.

Can this new Siri handle TV-specific questions?

Play the next unwatched episode of X. What is new this week? (across all the services I'm subscribed to) What service is show X on? (localized to my country) When will the next season of X be released?

I'd pay for that (grudgingly, given the big hike). Otherwise don't see much reason to replace my 2021 model.

"Apple TV 4K is more than just a way to watch — it’s a home essential that transforms the living room to reflect what users want in the moment"

I wonder what model wrote that lol

Roku 4K with HDR10 and Dolby Vision is going for $53 on Amazon. A tough sell for Apple, to say the least. I use Roku for Apple TV (the streaming service) and works great.