First look: Apple TV 4K with tweaked Siri remote design

If you owned the previous fourth-generation Apple TV with Siri remote, you'll be hard pressed to find any differences with the new fifth-generation Apple TV 4K, aside from a white, raised ring around the Menu button on the remote.

While you can't really tell in pictures, the ring around the Menu button is slightly raised above the rest of the button (but is a part of the button, so it all presses in).

This is helpful when picking up the largely symmetrical remote, allowing a user to feel for the appropriate button and figure out orientation in the dark, much like the raised bumps on the 'F' and 'J' keys on a keyboard let users know where to place their index fingers for typing.

The only other external change to the hardware is on the back of the Apple TV itself, where Apple has removed the USB-C diagnostic port.

The set-top box retains an ethernet port, which has now been upgraded to full gigabit. It also maintains an HDMI port as well as power, and there is no optical audio output.

Also in the box is a Lightning cable, which is used for recharging the Siri remote, and a power cable.

Setting up the Apple TV is about as simple as can be — tvOS prompts the user to hold their iPhone near the device with Bluetooth enabled and home Wi-Fi connected, and the pairing process begins almost instantaneously. If you have a previous fourth-generation Apple TV and have home screen sync enabled, your TV apps and games will all automatically download and organize in the same way they were before.

Powered by the same beefy A10X chip as the latest iPad Pros, the new Apple TV 4K feels snappier when navigating and launching apps. And services like iTunes and Netflix offer gorgeous 4K content with HDR, taking advantage of newer television sets with high quality picture capabilities.

AppleInsider will have much more on the Apple TV 4K in the coming days and weeks, including our in-depth review.