No 2025 Apple TV 4K Exists — Hands-On With the Real Hub

There is no Apple TV 4K 2025 hardware to review. The Apple TV 4K that still matters for a smart-home buyer in August 2026 is the 3rd-generation model Apple introduced on Oct. 18, 2022, while the rumored 2025 refresh never became a shipping product.[1][2] So this is not a hands-on review of a nonexistent box. It is a dated hub verification of the Apple TV 4K lineup people can actually buy.

The small SKU split is the whole compatibility story

Apple sells two versions of the 3rd-generation Apple TV 4K, and they are not interchangeable home hubs. Apple’s own technical specifications list Thread networking only on the Apple TV 4K Wi‑Fi + Ethernet model with 128GB storage; the 64GB Wi‑Fi model does not list Thread.[3] Apple’s Thread-enabled device list makes the same distinction: Apple TV 4K, 3rd generation, Wi‑Fi + Ethernet is included; the Wi‑Fi-only 3rd-generation model is not.[4]

That is the quiet difference that creates the expensive kind of confusion. A buyer sees “Apple TV 4K,” chooses the cheaper one because streaming apps do not need Ethernet or 128GB of storage, and only later discovers that a Thread lock, sensor, button, or plug is depending on a radio the box never had.

The words are similar enough to be dangerous. A HomeKit hub is the Apple Home anchor that lets automations, remote access, and home control keep working when an iPhone is not sitting in the house. A Matter controller is allowed to commission and manage Matter accessories inside the ecosystem. A Thread border router is the bridge between low-power Thread devices and the rest of the IP network. The 64GB Wi‑Fi Apple TV 4K can cover the first two roles, but it is not the same smart-home hub because it cannot perform the third.

What the hands-on hub check actually verifies

The practical test here is not whether the Apple TV 4K opens streaming apps quickly or whether the remote feels better than the last one. It is whether the hardware on the shelf can be trusted as the center of an Apple Home setup that includes Thread and Matter devices.

On the 128GB Wi‑Fi + Ethernet unit, the smart-home checklist lines up cleanly with Apple’s documentation: it is an Apple Home hub, it can act as a Matter controller, and it is the 3rd-generation Apple TV 4K SKU Apple identifies as Thread-capable.[3][4] Wired Ethernet also removes one avoidable variable. The hub still participates in Apple Home, but its own backhaul is no longer competing with Wi‑Fi conditions in the room where the television happens to live.

On the 64GB Wi‑Fi-only unit, the checklist stops earlier. It remains a valid Apple Home hub and Matter controller, but it is not a Thread border router. That does not make it a bad streaming box. It makes it the wrong primary hub for a home where Thread devices are part of the buying plan.

This distinction also matters during troubleshooting. If a home has several possible hubs, Apple Home may move active hub duty among them. When the active hub lacks Thread, a Thread accessory problem can look like a device problem, a Matter problem, or a vendor problem. Sometimes the first useful question is much simpler: which exact Apple TV SKU is currently carrying the home?

The preferred-hub setting finally makes the Ethernet model worth pinning

Apple documents a manual preferred-home-hub control: in the Home app, go to Home Settings, open Home Hubs & Bridges, turn off Automatic Selection, and choose the home hub you want to prefer.[5] For anyone with more than one Apple TV or HomePod in the house, this is not a cosmetic setting. It is the difference between hoping Apple chooses the best hub and telling Apple which hub should lead.

The most dependable version of that setup is obvious: put the 128GB Wi‑Fi + Ethernet Apple TV 4K near the router or a wired network drop, connect it by Ethernet, and make that unit the preferred home hub. The setting does not add a Thread radio to a Wi‑Fi-only Apple TV. It simply helps keep the right hardware in charge when the home already contains several eligible hubs.

1. Open the Home app.
2. Open Home Settings.
3. Choose Home Hubs & Bridges.
4. Disable Automatic Selection.
5. Select the wired 128GB Wi‑Fi + Ethernet Apple TV 4K as the preferred home hub.

The setting is especially useful in mixed homes: an older Apple TV in a bedroom, a HomePod in the kitchen, and the better Apple TV near the router. Without the override, the house can still work, but the person debugging a flaky accessory has to treat hub selection as another moving part. With the override, at least the primary hub choice is deliberate.

The 2025 rumors do not create a 2025 box

MacRumors’ Apple TV buyer’s guide noted on Aug. 18, 2026 that a new Apple TV expected in 2025 failed to appear and that expectation had shifted to 2026.[2] That is useful search-result housekeeping, not a reason to pretend a 2025 unit exists.

A future Apple TV could have a different chip, different Siri behavior, or a changed storage lineup. None of that changes the compatibility decision in front of a buyer today. The shipping 3rd-generation Apple TV 4K lineup has one Thread-capable SKU, and it is the 128GB Wi‑Fi + Ethernet model.

The purchase decision

If the Apple TV is expected to be the dependable center of an Apple Home setup with Thread or Matter-over-Thread accessories, buy the 128GB Wi‑Fi + Ethernet 3rd-generation Apple TV 4K. Wire it if the room allows it. Then use Apple’s preferred-hub setting so that unit, not a less suitable hub elsewhere in the house, is the one Apple Home tries to use first.

If the home only needs an Apple Home hub and Matter controller, and Thread border-router duty is not part of the plan, the 64GB Wi‑Fi Apple TV 4K has a legitimate role. It is just not the same smart-home hub, and it should not be bought as if it were.

References

1. Apple introduces the powerful next-generation Apple TV 4K, Apple Newsroom, Oct. 18, 2022.
2. Apple TV: Should You Buy? Features, Reviews, and More, MacRumors, Aug. 18, 2026.
3. Apple TV 4K - Technical Specifications, Apple.
4. Thread-enabled devices, Apple Support, Jan. 13, 2026.
5. Set up your HomePod, HomePod mini, Apple TV, or iPad as a home hub, Apple Support, Sept. 15, 2025.