Truth be told, we were a little disappointed when we didn’t get a new Apple TV announcement during WWDC in June, but it looks like Apple is finally blowing the dust off its old streaming media device.
According to BuzzFeed, Apple is planning to announce a new Apple TV during its iPhone event in September—“for real this time.” BuzzFeed’s unnamed sources confirm that the next-generation Apple TV will be slimmer, come with Apple’s A8 processor, include more built-in storage, and will have a better operating system. This iteration of the set-top box will also support Siri voice commands and have aredesigned touch-pad remote control. Additionally, this new Apple TV will have its own App Store, with a developers kit that will also be announced at the event.
This next-gen Apple TV was originally rumored to be the anchor for a new Internet TV service that Apple has been trying to launch for years. But don’t cancel your cable subscription just yet. According to the BuzzFeed report, Apple’s deals with TV networks have still not yet been finalized. It looks like we’re going to have to wait until 2016 for that.
This gives Apple more time to get customers and developers onboard and comfortable with the new Apple TV product by the time Internet TV finally launches. It also gives Apple a few more months to find their Jimmy Iovine in the TV world.
Why it matters: Apple TV has been long overdue for a refresh—it hasn’t been updated since 2012. Despite that, Apple TV has become the leading set-top for paid TV streaming, surpassing Roku, Xbox, and Playstation, according to data compiled by Adobe Digital Index.
“When TV broadcasters build an app they focus on Apple first,” Adobe Digital Index analyst Tamara Gaffney said about Apple’s TV efforts. “It’s very hard to build a streaming video app for every platform [Android, Roku], so going with Apple is a natural consolidation.”
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