You’d be hard-pressed to find that piece of information on Apple’s Tech Specs webpage for the new Apple TV, but newly posted documents related to third-party tvOSÂ software development provide some interesting tidbits related to the device’s underlying hardware.
In addition to the 64-bit A8 chip, the new box has two gigabytes of RAM, up from just one gigabyte of RAM inside the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, both of which also use the A8 chip. The new Apple TV isn’t exactly focused on multitasking so Apple most likely doubled the RAM to enable finer detail in games.
As stated in per Apple’s document for developers titled “App Programming Guide for tvOS,” the new Apple TV has the following hardware specifications:
- 64-bit A8 processor
- 32GB or 64GB of storage
- 2GB of RAM
- 10/100Mbps Ethernet
- WiFi 802.11a/b/g/n/ac
- 1080p resolution
- HDMI
- New Siri Remote / Apple TV Remote
It’s somewhat surprising that the new Apple TV runs the A8 chip from the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, not the notably faster A8X processor that powers the iPad Air 2.
As far as gaming goes, the new Apple TV’s operating system, dubbed ‘tvOS,’ supports key iOS technologies including Metal for detailed graphics and complex visual effects and Game Center to play and share games with friends.
The new Apple TV was also found to limit the maximum size of a third-party app or game to just 200 megabytes, forcing developers to optimize their 200MB+ applications with iOS 9’s On-Demand Resources.
The long story short, games will retrieve additional assets as you progress throughout the levels on demand, from the App Store. This is done transparently as the operating system handles managing downloading and storage.
And because there is no persistent local storage for apps on the new box, every app developed for the new Apple TV must be able to store data in iCloud and retrieve it “in a way that provides a great customer experience,” as per Apple.
The fourth-generation Apple TV will be available at the end of October priced at $149/$199 for a 32GB/64GB model. The device will be available from the Apple Online Store, Apple’s retail stores and select Apple Authorized Resellers.
Source: Apple