Some Apple TV 4K orders are preparing to ship with May 21 - May 27 delivery

Best Apple TV of 2021 (Image credit: iMore)

What you need to know

Some Apple TV 4K orders are beginning to get ready to ship with a relatively large delivery window.
Deliveries should happen between May 21 and May 27.

Some Apple TV 4K orders are beginning to prepare for shipment with a delivery window of May 21 through May 27. The new box has been available for pre-order since April 30 with prices starting at $179.

Beyond some new internals and that new remote, the refreshed Apple TV 4K isn't set to offer a huge upgrade over the existing model, but a number of buyers appear to be taking this opportunity to upgrade older Apple TV HD boxes.

Apple touts the new video features as "improved," which is definitely accurate, although the improvements are minimal.

With A12 Bionic, Apple TV 4K now supports high frame rate HDR (High Dynamic Range) and Dolby Vision video, enabling fast-moving action at 60 frames per second (fps) to play more smoothly and appear more lifelike than ever before.1 Apple is working with leading video providers around the world, including FOX Sports, NBCUniversal, Paramount+, Red Bull TV, and Canal+, as they begin to stream in high frame rate HDR. And with high frame rate support in AirPlay, videos can be displayed in full 60-fps Dolby Vision on the new Apple TV 4K.

Apple announced the refreshed box alongside the new iMac and iPad Pro, both of which offer much more significant upgrades.

Given the lack of changes I'd suggest making sure you check out our collection of the best Apple TV 4K deals before placing an order.

Oliver Haslam has written about Apple and the wider technology business for more than a decade with bylines on How-To Geek, PC Mag, iDownloadBlog, and many more. He has also been published in print for Macworld, including cover stories. At iMore, Oliver is involved in daily news coverage and, not being short of opinions, has been known to 'explain' those thoughts in more detail, too.

Having grown up using PCs and spending far too much money on graphics card and flashy RAM, Oliver switched to the Mac with a G5 iMac and hasn't looked back. Since then he's seen the growth of the smartphone world, backed by iPhone, and new product categories come and go. Current expertise includes iOS, macOS, streaming services, and pretty much anything that has a battery or plugs into a wall. Oliver also covers mobile gaming for iMore, with Apple Arcade a particular focus. He's been gaming since the Atari 2600 days and still struggles to comprehend the fact he can play console quality titles on his pocket computer.