The smart streaming box/stick market is a bit weird for sure. There are all sorts of options out there, but each with distinct problems and limitations. Generic Android boxes are plentiful and can be powerful, but often offer a suboptimal software experience and format and technology support. There are cheap and easily available reputable options out there like Amazon’s Firestick line, though that might be getting even more locked down with the move to Vega OS. Walmart has its “onn” line, but it is kind of US-only. Anyone actually serious about this device either swears by the Nvidia Shield TV Pro, dating back to 2019 or an Apple TV. The latter does have more recent iterations, like the 3rd-generation Apple TV 4K from 2022.
We already know that Apple is gearing up to unveil a whole bunch of new smart home devices on October 13 and apparently that will include at least one Apple TV device. This has been rumored already but is now further confirmed by the fact that Apple recently relegated the original Apple TV 4K from 2017 as a “vintage” device. In Apple vernacular, “vintage” means over five years have passed since a product stopped being available for sale, while there is also “obsolete”, which means over seven years have passed since sales discontinued. Obsolete devices are pretty much impossible to service officially, while vintage ones are difficult, but still possible.
What does that mean if you own a 2017 Apple TV 4K? Most likely you will be able to continue using it just fine if it meets your needs and if it is working properly, that is. If the latter is not true and you have one sitting in a drawer for some reason, you might want to get it to an Apple service center soon. Or, of course, you could just wait and get whatever new Apple TV is released in a few days.
