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Apple just kicked off the next phase of its mission to dominate your TV viewing experience, and it's called Apple TV 4K.

Additional information revealed by leaked firmware late Monday indicated that the new version of Apple TV would offer 4K functionality, and it turns out that leak was accurate.

SEE ALSO:Live blog: All the news from Apple's big iPhone 8 event

The new device brings Apple's OTT device up to competitive parity with other 4K players like Roku, Fire TV, and Google's Chromecast.

Hours before the Apple event kicked off, 9to5Macposted a video, sourced from leaked firmware, that it claimed was the default screensaver (snowcapped mountains, see below), which show off the beauty and detail of Apple TV's new 4K functionality. As rumored, the new Apple TV 4K uses the A10X Fusion chip.

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But Apple also showed off what it calls 4K HDR, enhancing normal high definition video images in much the same way we've become accustomed to via DSLR cameras. To show off the difference between normal 4K and 4K HDR, the company showed off a stunning comparison image live on stage.

Credit: apple

Rumors of a 4K version of Apple TV were floating around as early as February, but now that it's finally here, most of the major players in the OTT landscape are finally on a more equal footing, allowing us to truly get a sense of which device users prefer.

Based on Apple's reported $1 billion allocated for original content, Tim Cook is definitely hoping users ultimately prefer Apple TV.

The Apple TV 4K starts at $179 for 32GB or $199 for 64GB and ships on Sept. 15 and ships a week later.

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TopicsApple