Apple has set a Malaysian price and date for its new Apple TV 4K (4th generation): RM1,349, with pre-orders opening on Wednesday, 15 October at 9:00am Malaysian time and units reaching customers from Friday, 13 November. Pre-orders run through Apple's Malaysian online store and the Apple Store app.
Malaysia is one of 30 countries and regions taking pre-orders from the first day, so there is no separate local release window to wait for this time. We previewed the launch earlier today, when the outgoing Apple TV 4K was listed at RM949 on the Malaysian store, which places the new box above the model it replaces.
Contents
A faster chip and a new streaming decoder
The new Apple TV 4K runs the A19 chip. Apple says it delivers up to 50 percent faster CPU performance and up to twice the graphics performance of the previous generation, for quicker navigation and smoother animations. The A19 also adds a dedicated AV1 decoder, which lets the box stream high quality video using less bandwidth, a practical gain on a home connection shared with everyone else in the house.
It ships with the Siri Remote, and the remote is sold separately for anyone upgrading an older Apple TV HD or Apple TV 4K.
HomePod mini 2 lands in Malaysia too
Apple refreshed the HomePod mini alongside the box. The HomePod mini 2 can be pre-ordered from 15 October at 9:00am Malaysian time, with availability from 30 October, in pink, green, blue, white and midnight. It uses Apple's S10 chip with computational audio that analyses music in real time, and a new feature called Sound Glow turns the top of the speaker into a light that pulses with the track.
The headline reason to pair the two: for the first time, four HomePod mini 2 and the new Apple TV 4K can form a four-speaker surround setup, with the system working out each speaker's position in the room and calibrating the audio to the space. Apple did not confirm a Malaysian ringgit price for the HomePod mini 2 in its release; the outgoing HomePod mini has been listed at RM599, as we noted in our launch preview.
The one Malaysia does not get
The same launch introduced Apple HomeView, a 7-inch Liquid Retina smart home display with the new Siri AI at its centre, which Apple is positioning as the hub of the connected home. For Malaysian buyers, the catch is availability: HomeView is listed for Singapore, South Africa, Australia, Canada, India, New Zealand, the UK and the US only. Malaysia is not on that list. We looked at what Apple's smart home push would mean locally in our preview of the smart home hub.
Apple Home Collection, a new range of cameras, thermostats and a lock built with LG Electronics and Schneider Electric, is also starting in the US, UK and Canada from December, with no Malaysian date given.
What to do if you want one
If you are set on the new box, the only date that matters is 15 October at 9:00am, when pre-orders open; stock reaches stores on 13 November. If you would rather see what the Apple TV experience already offers before committing, our guide to the Apple TV app and its Malaysian offers is a good place to start.
