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On Friday, Apple's new living room hardware went on sale, but not all of it made it to German-speaking countries. The Apple TV 4K is in stores, while HomeView and Siri AI are missing. On top of that, Nvidia's CEO stepped down, and a name from Cupertino came up in the speculation about his successor. And Apple is closing a forum that is older than the iPhone.
The week built up to Friday. Ahead of launch, the first reviews of the new Apple TV 4K and of HomeView appeared, and sales started on November 13. Before that, on Monday, Apple rolled out a small round of updates that closes an unusual vulnerability in iMessage. Beyond the products, the week was about people: At Nvidia, Jensen Huang stepped down, and at Apple, the head of Siri is reportedly considering leaving.
🔥 Story of the Week: The Apple TV 4K Is on Sale, HomeView Stays in Eight Countries
Since Friday, the Apple TV 4K (4th generation) has been on sale, including in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The box comes in a single configuration with 128 GB and costs 349 euros in Germany and Austria and 299 francs in Switzerland. The box includes the new Siri Remote (4th generation) and the power cord, but no HDMI cable.
HomeView has been available since the same day in eight countries: the US, the UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, India, Singapore and South Africa. For the EU, Apple itself gives the reason: Siri AI on iOS is currently not available in the EU. Switzerland is not part of the EU, but it is not on the launch list either.
Reviews Praise the Hardware
For both devices, the reviews were published one day before the launch, all of them from English-language outlets. The findings are similar, but they are weighted differently.
| Device | Praised | Criticized |
|---|---|---|
| Apple TV 4K | Picture, speed, findable Siri Remote, surround with HomePods | Price, unreliable Siri AI |
| HomeView | Design, display, sound of the table model, face recognition | No App Store, no volume buttons, slow Siri AI |
For the Apple TV 4K, criticism focuses mainly on the price. In the US, the predecessor's entry-level model launched in 2022 at 129 dollars and was raised to 199 dollars in mid-2026, while the new model costs 299 dollars. In the reviews, how well Siri AI recognized content varied by app, and with TV shows it sometimes started the wrong episode. For HomeView, criticism is aimed mainly at the software. At TechRadar, complex requests took 10 to 15 seconds to get an answer.
Siri AI Comes to Older Boxes, Just Not in German-Speaking Countries
On Friday evening, tvOS 27.2.1 followed with Siri AI for the Apple TV 4K from 2021 and 2022. However, the Apple TV does not run the assistant on its own: Apple requires a paired iPhone or iPad with Siri AI. That is exactly what is missing in Germany and Austria, because Siri AI is not available on iOS and iPadOS in the EU.
In Switzerland, the EU restriction does not apply. At launch, however, Siri AI on the Apple TV only speaks English, and Switzerland is not among the eight countries Apple named for the launch. For the HomePod mini 2, Apple still only promises Siri AI in a future update, with no date given.
What Does Arrive Here: Surround with Four HomePods
What works fully without Siri AI is surround sound with four speakers, and that is only available with the new box. I set up a surround group with four HomePod (2nd generation) on the Apple TV 4K. Setup starts on the Apple TV under "Settings" › "Video and Audio" › "Audio Output" and only takes a few minutes. After the sound test, each HomePod is confirmed individually, and for sound from the TV and game console, Audio Return Channel then has to be turned on.
Only the HomePod (2nd generation) and the HomePod mini 2 are supported, each as a pair in front and behind. Mixing them works too, in which case the larger HomePods go in front. Older Apple TV models are limited to a stereo pair.
📰 What Else Mattered
iOS 27.2.1 closes a vulnerability in iMessage groups. On Monday evening, Apple rolled out iOS 27.2.1, macOS 27.2.1 and other updates, with no new features included. For iOS 27.2.1, Apple lists nine vulnerabilities. Through one of them, a remote attacker could join an iMessage group conversation and receive its messages. Four others concern pairing via Bluetooth and AirPlay. Apple does not mention any indications of attacks via the iMessage vulnerability.
One vulnerability remains open. With worse_query, a technique is now public that lets a specially crafted app read files from other apps, without a jailbreak. According to one of the two researchers behind it, neither iOS 27.2.1 nor iOS 27.3 beta 1 closes the gap. The crypto exchange Binance warns of access to seed phrases and advises deleting apps from untrusted sources. No cases of exploitation are known so far.
Two courts, two fronts. Epic Games has filed its brief with the Supreme Court, calling Apple's proposed legal standard "extreme." Apple's reply is due by December 14, and oral argument is set for January 11, 2027. In Canada, a court in British Columbia certified a class action against Apple over its search engine deal with Google on November 6. This does not yet decide the merits of the case.
Three deaths at an iPhone supplier. At Tata Electronics' plant in Hosur, which makes components for the iPhone, three contract workers died during maintenance work on November 9. They had inhaled gas at a tank of the wastewater treatment plant. Police are examining protective equipment and supervision, among other things, and according to Reuters, a team from Apple is supporting the investigation on site.
More AI usage in Creator Studio costs extra. Anyone who hits the monthly limit in Apple Creator Studio can buy an add-on pack for 59.99 euros, valid for twelve months. The pack is available in eight countries, including Germany, but is missing from the App Store in Austria and Switzerland.
New on Apple TV and Apple Arcade. In the Apple TV app, selected films can now be watched with on-screen sign language interpretation, so far only in American and British Sign Language. On December 4, the Fraggles special "Fraggle Rock: A Holiday Gift" premieres, and Brad Pitt is set to star in Apple's new film "Connector". On Apple Arcade, Football Manager 27 Touch is now playable, with four more games following on December 3.
💡 Rumor of the Week: Siri AI to Handle Tasks on Its Own
John Ternus is reportedly pushing software chief Craig Federighi toward a more ambitious AI course. Mark Gurman reports this in his "Power On" newsletter at Bloomberg. According to the report, Apple is looking into turning Siri AI into an agent that handles longer tasks on its own, similar to Dots from OpenAI or Muse from Meta. The expansion could come as early as 2027.
Until then, progress comes in smaller steps. According to the report, the expanded actions in Apple's own apps from the iOS 27.3 beta are set to reach everyone in December, with third-party apps following in spring 2027, initially as a preview. Gurman is considered one of the most reliable sources on Apple's software and personnel plans, but the report does not document in detail what exactly Ternus and Federighi discussed. In German-speaking countries, a Siri agent would run into the same hurdles as the assistant does today: On the iPhone, Siri AI is blocked in the EU, Switzerland is exempt, and German is not among the supported languages.
📊 Number of the Week: 5
In its teardown, iFixit gives the MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR 5 out of 10 points for repairability. That is one point more than the MacBook Pro with M5 and one less than the MacBook Neo. The touchscreen does not add any new paired components: after the logic board was swapped, touch and Touch ID still worked.
Of all things, it is the illuminated Apple logo that makes repairs expensive. Its LEDs sit behind the display, so the screen has to come out for a repair, and during the teardown the OLED panel broke in the process. SSD and memory remain soldered.
👎 Flop of the Week: Apple Closes the Support Community
Since the night of November 11, the Apple Support Community has stopped accepting new posts, and on November 20 it will close permanently. Apple attributes the move to a careful evaluation of strategy and customer needs and points users to the official support website.
The forum launched in 1998 as Apple Tech Exchange and was called Apple Discussions from 2000 onward. Over the years, it built up an archive of solutions, often for problems that are not covered in any support document. Anyone who relies on a thread should save it by November 20, for example as a PDF.
🔭 Coming Up Next Week
Wednesday and Thursday, November 18 and 19: Apple is offering developers online labs on touch controls for the MacBook Pro.
Thursday, November 19: GTA 6 launches at midnight local time on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S.
Friday, November 20: The Apple Support Community goes offline for good.
The first beta of iOS 27.3 arrived on November 3, and I expect the second one in the coming week. For the final version of iOS 27.3, Apple has already named December in its Chinese Newsroom.
💬 My Take
On Thursday, Nvidia announced the resignation of Jensen Huang as CEO, with CFO Colette Kress leading the company on an interim basis. Among the names mentioned in reports for the permanent successor is Apple's hardware chief Johny Srouji, and US President Trump went as far as suggesting Tim Cook on Truth Social. Last Sunday, Bloomberg had already reported that Siri chief Mike Rockwell is considering stepping down in 2027.
I see this as the real personnel question of the week, even though both cases are still open. Ternus has been running Apple for just over ten weeks, and his two big projects are hardware built on Apple's own chips and Siri AI. Each of them is led by one person whose future is currently the subject of public speculation. For Siri, the report already names two managers who would take over Rockwell's duties. With Srouji, on the other hand, chips and all of the device hardware have been in one person's hands since April.
I don't expect Srouji to move to Nvidia, and none of the reports say whether he has even been approached. But the week shows how much under Ternus depends on just a few names. That Apple's chip chief is being courted from outside is a compliment, but for a company with a freshly reshuffled leadership team, it is also a risk.
📚 From Our Archive
The new Apple TV 4K comes with the Siri Remote (4th generation), which can be located by playing a sound. It also works with older boxes going back to the Apple TV HD, and Find My works with the Siri Remote from the 2nd generation onward. Anyone who wants extra certainty about who they are actually messaging in iMessage can turn on iMessage Contact Key Verification.
A week of new living room hardware that arrives in German-speaking countries without its most important software, and of open questions at the top of Apple.
Anyone who buys the new Apple TV 4K in German-speaking countries mainly gets surround sound with four HomePods, while Siri AI is missing for now. Are you upgrading for that, or are you sticking with your current box and stereo pair? Tell us in the comments how many HomePods you have set up around your TV.
Until next Sunday, Apfelpatient wishes you a relaxing read and a good start to the week.
