This morning, Roku unveiled two new additions to its lineup of streamers. New additions include the Premiere and Premiere+, two 4K set-top boxes with attractive prices. At this point Roku only has a few options as the market has become increasingly saturated. Today’s move brings more features, primarily 4K, to a lower price tag. The new HDR-equipped Premiere and Premiere+ are set to retail for $40 and $50. While that price is certainly attractive, it will have a ripple effect on the brand’s other offerings. Roku’s high-end Ultra streamer is getting a boost as well today.
Roku unveils Premiere Streaming Media Player
Both of today’s Premiere releases sport a much smaller footprint than the previous generation models. In fact, they are much more in line with the company’s streaming sticks than anything else. Both players will sport the same quad-core CPU inside. But we’re getting a nice boost on the feature side of things. Premiere and Premiere+ will both sport 4K and HDR capabilities. You won’t find Dolby Vision here, however, just HDR10. At the $40 price point, this is certain to be one of the most affordable entry-points to high-resolution content on the market.
The primary difference between today’s two releases is the inclusion of voice control on the pricier Premiere+. It will be sold exclusively at Walmart with the bundled voice features. Otherwise, both models are largely identical in design and features.
Roku Ultra now ships with JBL headphones
Roku Ultra is also in the news today, as the high-end streaming media player is getting a small boost. Each unit will now ship with a pair of “premium” JBL headphones. The $100 price tag remains the same. Roku puts the headphones at a $40 value, so you can about guess how premium they really are. But nonetheless some added value is appreciated.
It will still offer full 4K and HDR10 support, along with Dolby and DTS digital surround sound. The $100 price tag still puts Ultra at the high-end of the streaming media player spectrum.
Competition heats up for the holiday season
Introducing new devices in September means that we’ll likely see the first price drop come November. You can expect each device to get a $10 discount around Black Friday, bringing Premiere prices down to $30 and $40 respectively. Most notably, this makes Roku far more enticing than Amazon’s existing lineup of streamers, which notably didn’t get an update at last week’s event. These new 4K Rokus put the $30 Amazon streaming stick to shame.
The new Roku Premiere is available for pre-order today direct from the manufacturer. You’ll see listings begin to pop up at other retailers like Walmart early next month.
Pre-order Roku Premiere
Pre-order Roku Premiere+
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