Ondrej Holzman Next Wednesday will be presented by Apple new iPhones, but next to them at least one no less interesting product is coming. The expected improvement will be given to Apple TV, which should turn into a full-fledged platform and definitively lose the nickname "hobby".
Information about what the fourth-generation Apple TV will look like has appeared in bits and pieces regularly in recent months. But they bring a few days before the September keynote Mark Gurman z 9to5Mac a Matthew Panzarino z TechCrunch the most comprehensive and detailed information yet on the new set-top box.
The image of the Apple TV shown below may not be 9% identical to what Apple will most likely unveil next Wednesday, September XNUMXth, but both of the aforementioned have confirmed in the past that their sources regarding upcoming Apple products are very accurate.
The hobby is definitely over
The appearance of the new Apple TV will not be so fundamentally different from the current third generation, although there will certainly be cosmetic changes, but the most important thing will happen inside - the apple set-top box will become a full-fledged platform after years of a kind of tinkering between a real product and an accessory , with which Apple plans to dominate living rooms.
The key to everything will be an App Store open to third-party developers, and thus an endless stream of applications and games of all kinds, as we have been used to for years from iPhones, iPads and Macs. Until now, Apple TV has been under the thumb of its manufacturer only, but without the involvement of other parties, the new generation would have no chance of success.
The opening of the App Store is also connected with the installation of the new Apple TV with an A8 processor, which we also know from iOS devices. In a dual-core design, it will ensure a fundamental increase in performance compared to the current generation, which should be significantly higher than in iPhones or iPads, thanks to the fact that Apple TV is not powered by a battery, but is constantly connected to the network. The result is, of course, the running of even the most demanding games.
For Apple, gaming is said to be a key part of the new Apple TV, and it is said to be the first real attack on traditional consoles, as it would like to drag gamers from Xboxes or PlayStations. In addition to controlling some games with a basic controller, which will also change in the fourth generation, the new Apple set-top box will also support more complex Bluetooth controllers, which will not lack touch-sensitive buttons or classic joysticks, which will ensure the best possible gaming experience.
Touch and voice control
A new controller is ready for easier games and other control of the new Apple TV. It is supposed to be a little bigger and thicker than the current one, but it is also supposed to be much more "powerful". In the lower part, there should be physical buttons as before, but at the top there will be a newly prepared touch surface (touchpad) for even easier control. And next to it, a microphone for Siri, which will probably play its most important role in the 4th generation Apple TV.
Via the Siri voice assistant, which has so far only been on iPhones and iPads, the new Apple TV is supposed to control almost everything. Similar to the game part, voice control was one of the key points of the fourth generation set-top box for Apple. It was precisely because of the constant tuning of the control and user interface that the Californian company had to postpone the debut of Apple TV from June's WWDC to September.
In addition, the possibilities of the new controller do not end with voice and touch. It is also supposed to have sensors that detect movement and thus come close to the functionality of the Nintendo Wii. This is another aspect that will open the Apple TV to completely new possibilities, for example using the controller as a steering wheel when playing racing games. The connection of the controller to the Apple TV should take place via Bluetooth, rather than via the existing infrared port.
The draw in the form of a streaming service only later
For a long time, there has also been another upcoming innovation in connection with the new Apple TV: a TV streaming service. With this, Apple would like to respond to the ever-growing market with similar services, and it should be noted that we are talking here mainly about the American market. Many users are abandoning traditional cable boxes and reaching for different packages with specific channels that offer different benefits.
Apple would like to offer bundles of various TV cables to Apple TV users for around $40 a month, but negotiations with TV stations and others are still ongoing, so it's not yet certain what form Apple's new TV streaming service will take. However, the earliest users will probably have to wait until next year, until then it will be necessary to have a prepaid cable card in order to be able to watch the program on Apple TV, for example.
The fourth generation Apple TV should be on sale from October this year, i.e. almost a month after its introduction, but even this date can change. The new set-top box will be more expensive than the current third generation, which was discounted from $99 to $69 a few months ago: the state has up to $200, probably $149 or $199. It will therefore be a more expensive product than competing and relatively popular solutions such as Roku, Google Chromecast or Amazon Prime.
However, the third-generation Apple TV should remain on sale, which will gain support for the new streaming service in the future, but it will most likely miss the App Store and extensive Siri support, i.e. the two biggest draws of the new version.
Well, let it be... I've been waiting and waiting since the end of last year :-D
File so that Apple doesn't play it out on too many fronts. Watch, iPod, Macy, it's all a different system and it won't be easy to put it all together if a TV is added.
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