<P> On October 4, 2016, 9to5Mac reported that Apple had phased out the Apple TV 3rd generation, with Apple Store employees instructed to pull all units and demo units from store shelves . Shortly afterwards, Apple took down the purchase page for the Apple TV 3rd generation from its website, with the link redirecting to the purchase page for the Apple TV 4th generation . </P> <P> Amazon Video was automatically added to 3rd generation Apple TVs running 7.2. 2 on December 6, 2017 . </P> <P> On September 9, 2015, Apple announced the 4th generation Apple TV, to ship in October 2015 . It is the first major update to the platform since the release of the 2nd generation Apple TV on September 1, 2010 . Tim Cook took the stage and said "The future of TV is apps". He also stated that the Apple TV needed a modern OS . While matching the form factor of the 2nd and 3rd generation models, it is significantly taller . The 4th generation Apple TV features a new touch remote allowing swipe - to - select functionality instead of the old remote's arrow button, and integrated Siri support with a built - in microphone and an accelerometer (IMU). The Siri button on the remote allows several functions, including searching across providers for content, accessing additional metadata and video / audio controls . </P> <P> The 4th generation also uses a new operating system, tvOS, with an associated app store, allowing download of third - party apps for video, audio, games and other content . Upon release, the third - party apps were available from a limited range of providers, with new APIs providing opportunities for more third - party apps to be released in the future . A requirement of new apps and games is that they must include interfacing with the new touchpad - enabled Siri remote . Apple's senior vice president of Software Engineering Craig Federighi said that tvOS 9 is 95 percent based on iOS 9 with the interface and APIs being tweaked to support the big screen . </P>

When did apple tv 4th generation come out