Apple has released its 2022 back-to-school offers in the US, and this year, you get a free gift card when you buy certain Apple technologies: Macs, iPads, and… Apple TV. The first two are standard for Apple promotions in previous years, but the Apple TV is a strange stranger. But perhaps it makes more sense when you remember the reports that Apple is planning to release a new Apple TV 4K (2022).
In the case of Apple TV 4K, you get a $50 gift card when you buy one now. The way the offer works is that you add the product to your bag where it is discounted by $50, but a $50 gift card is also added to your bag.
• See Apple TV 4K in the Apple Store here (opens in new tab)
Apple has yet to roll out its back-to-school offerings worldwide, so we don’t know if this will hit other countries as well.
Apple’s school offerings are typically focused on productivity and music — in the past, you’d get free AirPods with Mac and iPad purchases. The Apple TV is an odd addition in that regard – if Apple just wanted to help students with entertainment, we might expect an offer that gives you a gift card with the HomePod mini.
But perhaps Apple hopes this offer will help clear the current Apple TV 4K (2021) stock before the new model arrives. It certainly makes more sense than Apple suddenly deciding that Apple TV is essential for the student. Recently, there have also been great discounts on Apple TV at other stores – bigger than we could ever hope for for this type of Apple product.
What to expect from the new Apple TV?
There are two big rumors about the direction of the next Apple TV, and it’s hard to say which way Apple will go. The first (and perhaps most likely, as it’s the simpler story) is that Apple will pack the new Apple TV with an upgraded processor and more memory, which suggests we shouldn’t expect much change in design or price.
But there’s also been a suggestion that Apple will release a cheaper version, and we definitely think it’s time for Apple to offer a cheap streaming stick to take on the Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max.
Either way, we expect another new version of the Siri remote, based on discovered code hidden in iOS 16 that strongly suggests an existing one.
There’s also no consensus on whether Apple will actually release it in 2022 (alongside expected big products like the iPhone 14 and AirPods Pro 2), or release it in Spring 2023 (the last Apple TV released in Spring 2021). .
Maybe it’s none. Maybe Apple really thinks Apple TV should be essential for back to school these days. Time will tell.
