Apple’s new Siri Remote — the one bundled with the $299 Apple TV 4K (4th generation), has a hard hardware dependency: it only delivers Precision Finding if you own an iPhone Air, iPhone 17, 17 Pro/Pro Max, 18 Pro/Pro Max, or iPhone Duo. Not the iPhone 17e. Not the iPhone 16 series. Not even the iPhone 15 Pro. Just the very latest models shipping with Apple’s N1 chip and Bluetooth 6 support. That’s the headline fact. Not a rumour, not a leak, but a hard requirement baked into Bluetooth Channel Sounding, the new range-and-direction tech replacing Ultra Wideband in this remote. It’s not backward compatible. Period. So if your iPhone is older than a year, the ‘new’ remote does exactly what the old one did, except chirp louder when you trigger Find My. The remote itself costs $59 standalone, and works with any Apple TV 4K (2nd gen onward). But Precision Finding? That’s gated. And it’s gated tightly. Why? Because Bluetooth Channel Sounding. Part of the Bluetooth 6 spec introduced two years ago, relies on radio-level timing precision that earlier iPhones simply don’t have. Apple didn’t add UWB to this remote. It swapped it out for something cheaper and more power-efficient, but also far more restrictive. You get directionality and sub-meter accuracy only if your phone supports the new Bluetooth stack. Which, right now, means roughly one in five active iPhones in the US and India. The Apple TV 4K (4th gen) itself sits at $299 in the US and Rs 34,900 in India. Up from $179 and Rs 19,990 for the prior model. It adds an A19 chip and dual microphones for hands-free Siri, but skips 120Hz output, VRR, and bitstream passthrough for Dolby TrueHD or DTS. Those omissions make the price harder to justify, especially since Siri AI features are rolling out to older Apple TV 4K units as long as they’re on the same network as an iPhone 15 Pro or later. So the $299 box isn’t required for Siri AI. And the $59 remote isn’t required for Find My. Only for Precision Finding. And only if your phone qualifies. That leaves most users paying $299 for incremental CPU gains and a remote whose flagship feature is functionally disabled. Apple hasn’t announced a timeline for Bluetooth 6 support on older iPhones. It won’t come via software update. It’s silicon-bound. Pre-orders for the Apple TV 4K (4th gen) and its new Siri Remote begin Friday, October 18.