So Apple's latest launch event, dubbed ‘Hello Again’, has been and gone. And as most analysts had predicted, it focused predominantly on new MacBooks. While this may be great news for (comfortably well off!) laptop fans, though, the event dashed my faint hopes that Apple would also sneak in some new Apple TV hardware.
Yes, we got a new Apple TV app called - inevitably - TV, which will apparently improve the TV content finding experience. There wasn't so much as a sniff of new hardware, however. Despite the fact that if any part of Apple’s product range desperately needed a hardware revamp, it’s Apple TV.
I’ve had problems with the fourth-generation Apple TV box from the moment it launched back in September 2015. As discussed in Apple TV Review: 10 Reasons Not To Buy One, the failure of Apple’s latest TV box to support 4K video at least and ideally high dynamic range as well is a huge mistake.
After all, rival devices from the likes of Amazon, Roku and Nvidia already supported 4K back then, and the TV market was already neck deep in 4K screens.
Although it's innovative in some ways, Apple TV's lack of 4K and HDR support has become an even more... [+]
As predicted, what already looked like a mistake then has become increasingly awkward with almost every passing week, as more 4K-toting streaming box rivals appear, more 4K and HDR streaming content goes live, and 4K TVs sell by the truck load.
The last month or so has been particularly tough on Apple TV, as no less than three key competitors have introduced highly affordable new streaming TV devices capable of supporting 4K.
The most important of these is the latest Chromecast from Google. Called Chromecast Ultra, it introduces not only 4K/Ultra HD resolution streaming to the ‘casting’ world, but also support for new high dynamic range picture technology (explained in jargon-free terms here). In fact, it even supports the premium Dolby Vision version of HDR as well as the industry standard HDR 10 option.
It does all this, moreover, in a tiny device that can just hang from an HDMI socket behind your TV and which will cost just $69 when it launches in November. The cheapest Apple TV box, by comparison, sets you back $149. (Full details on Chromecast Ultra can be found here.)
Roku, meanwhile, unveiled a whole range of new video streamers at the end of September, three of which support 4K. The 4K models include the Premiere, which costs just $80, and the Premiere+, which supports 4K and HDR for $100. Roku actually had a 4K model in its 2015 range too, but these new models make 4K much more affordable.
As if the new Google and Roku devices weren’t already problem enough for the 4th-gen Apple TV, at around the same time Google was launching the Chromecast Ultra, aggressive Chinese brand Xiaomi was kicking off its assault on the US AV market with a new highly affordable 4K streaming box. The Mi Box is built on the Android platform, will support Microsoft’s PlayReady 3.0 DRM technology, is HDR 10 capable, and will deliver 4K streaming from Netflix - yet costs just $69.
I’m not saying there are now no compelling reasons to buy the current Apple TV. In particular, its interface is innovative and impressive in some ways, and clearly its ability to synchronize into a wider Apple app-based product environment is a draw for users of other Apple technology.
Nonetheless, with the stunning picture quality offered by the combination of 4K and HDR now available in just about every other corner of the AV world, this is one time where Apple simply has to dispense with its usual sluggishness over new Apple TV hardware iterations.
With the 'Hello Again' event proving an Apple TV hardware bust, though, where can I put my 4K Apple TV hopes next? Sadly I fear the best case scenario is the World Developer's Conference next June, though actually next September/October feels more likely given that this would mark the two-year anniversary of the launch of the current model.
All I and other fans of picture quality can hope for in the mean time, perhaps, is that rather than waiting to launch a new replacement range of Apple TVs, Apple decides to add a premium 4K/HDR model to its existing range in the not too distant future. Though I suspect that holding your breath for such an announcement probably isn't a good idea...
