Apple Said to be Phasing Out Third-Generation Apple TV

Apple is said to be in the process of phasing out the third-generation Apple TV, according to 9to5Mac.

A source who spoke to the tech news site has indicated that Apple is pulling the device from its brick-and-mortar retail stores, with staff instructed to remove any remaining models from store shelves.

Apple TV comparison
The claim comes despite the fact that the third-generation device is still available to purchase under the TV heading of Apple's online store, albeit at the bottom of the section page, with the option to compare the model with the fourth-generation device also still listed.

The third-generation Apple TV was released back in 2012 and received a spec bump the following year, but the model lacks the App Store native to tvOS, which also benefits from deep Siri integration and a touch-based remote that doubles as a controller.

Related Roundup: Apple TV
Buyer's Guide: Apple TV (Don't Buy)

Popular Stories

best buy holiday

Best Buy Reveals Black Friday Plans With Sitewide Sales Available Now

Friday November 8, 2024 10:05 am PST by
Black Friday sales are continuing today with Best Buy kicking off early Black Friday deals that will last for the next few days. Similar to other retailers, Best Buy's early Black Friday event includes sitewide savings on Apple products, headphones, TVs, monitors, video games, and more. Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Best Buy. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may...
mac mini thermal architecture feature

New Mac Mini Has Modular Storage, 256GB Model Will Have Faster SSD

Friday November 8, 2024 7:06 am PST by
Apple has returned to using two 128GB storage chips in the new Mac mini with 256GB of storage, according to a partial teardown video shared on social media today. This means the base-model Mac mini with the M4 chip will not have significantly slower SSD speeds compared to higher-end configurations of the computer with 512GB, 1TB, or 2TB of storage, as multiple NAND chips allows for faster SSD...
General Final Cut Pro Feature

Apple Likely to Announce Final Cut Pro Update This Week With These New Features

Sunday November 10, 2024 12:13 pm PST by
In its announcement video for the new Mac mini last month, Apple teased an "upcoming" version of Final Cut Pro for the Mac. Apple will likely announce the update during the annual Final Cut Pro Creative Summit, which begins this Wednesday. The conference is held in association with Apple, and attendees will be visiting Apple Park on the first day. Apple already teased four new features...
Generic iOS 18

Everything New in iOS 18.2 Beta 2

Monday November 4, 2024 12:34 pm PST by
Apple today seeded the second betas of upcoming iOS 18.2 and iPadOS 18.2 updates to developers, and Apple is continuing to refine the Apple Intelligence capabilities. There are also a handful of smaller features that are worth knowing about. Find My Find My has a new option to Share Item Location with an "airline or trusted person" that can help you locate something that you've misplaced....
iphone passcode green

Cops Suspect iOS 18 iPhones Are Communicating to Force Reboots, Making Unlocking Harder

Thursday November 7, 2024 2:20 pm PST by
Law enforcement officials in Detroit, Michigan are warning other police officers about an alleged iPhone change that causes Apple devices stored for forensic examination to spontaneously restart, reports 404 Media. iPhones that are undergoing examination have apparently been rebooting, which makes them harder to unlock with brute force methods, and Michigan police think that it's due to a...
maxresdefault

Hands On With Apple's New M4 Mac Mini

Friday November 8, 2024 12:21 pm PST by
Apple launched the new Mac mini, iMac, and MacBook Pro models with M4 chips today, and because the Mac mini is the only one of the machines that got a design update, we thought we'd check it out to see how it compares to the prior version. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. The 2024 version of the Mac mini is much smaller than the previous M2 model, so it takes up...
iphone 6 thickness

iPhone 17 'Air' May Not Be Much Thinner Than iPhone 6

Monday November 11, 2024 5:18 am PST by
Next year's iPhone 17 "Air" model may not be as thin as Apple planned, according to a rumor originating in Korea. According to the news aggregator account "yeux1122" on Naver, citing industry sources, Apple has run into problems making the new iPhone 17 model sufficiently thin. The device's reduced thickness is apparently dependent on manufacturing a battery with a thinner substrate, but...

Top Rated Comments

iapplelove Avatar
107 months ago
I'm still using a 3rd gen. It does everything I need it to do.

I can see myself keeping it for a long time too.
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
godrifle Avatar
107 months ago
I still don't even know what the 4th gen does that my 3rd gen can't. Games? Ha.

As far as apps are concerned, I don't think that there is anything the 4th gen does that an iPhone w/AirPlay + a 3rd gen can't do.

Meanwhile, VUDU support is still awful. No native app and no AirPlay support.
Plex.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
decimortis Avatar
107 months ago
I'm still using a 3rd gen. It does everything I need it to do.

I can see myself keeping it for a long time too.
Same. We've had ours since 2012 and it continues to provide everything we need. We're not heavy aTV users: so long as it does YouTube, Netflix, and AirPlay, we're good.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
jonnysods Avatar
107 months ago
When they get 4k content and a 4k device I'll get rid of my third gen
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
lederermc Avatar
107 months ago
I hope Apple would replace the 3rd gen ATV with an Airplay Only version (with video mirroring) for about $35.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
err404 Avatar
107 months ago
What the aTV4 does is more in potential. It allows other content providers to offer native apps w/o needing a special deal with Apple.
However in reality, the aTV3 hits most of the big requirements for a streaming device.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)