A6-Based Apple Television to Come in Three Sizes Ranging from 32 to 55 Inches?

[MacRumors]

Smarthouse claims to have received word that Apple will be offering its rumored television set in three different sizes ranging from 32 to 55 inches, with the device being powered by the same "new processor" (presumably the A6) set to appear in the iPad 3.

Sources at a major Japanese company who are involved in manufacturing the TV believe that the 55" model will compete with new Smart TVs from Samsung and LG that will have new processors built in while offering a combination of OLED display, as well as new Super HD TV technology from LG.

Smarthouse has historically been rather unreliable with its Apple rumors, but the claim of three different sizes does match up with previous rumors. Smarthouse had claimed earlier this year that Apple was looking at OLED technology for its 55-inch television, but that claim was later refuted by other sources.




Last week, Piper Jaffray analyst and long-time Apple television set proponent Gene Munster offered his speculation on what Apple's plans might be, also suggesting that the company would be likely to introduce a range of sizes in order to appeal to customers with a broad range of sizes for their television needs.

The latest Smarthouse report doesn't specifically name the A6 system-on-a-chip as the planned brains for the Apple television set, but the claim of it being a "new processor" certainly seems to imply the A6. There has been some uncertainty about the A6 and the iPad 3, with reports indicating that the new iPad will launch in "early 2012" in line with previous years while confusion over whether TSMC or Samsung will produce the A6 has included claims that the chip will not be ready until June 2012.

Article Link: A6-Based Apple Television to Come in Three Sizes Ranging from 32 to 55 Inches?

[fender4645]

I call BS on all these Apple TV rumors. No one had anything to say previously and then all of a sudden, when it's 'outed' in the biography, everyone now has these exclusives.

[Fandongo]

Whaaaat?
i want 70" 3d =)

[chrmjenkins]

A5 would be up to the task of any content they would want to display. A6 would only really be necessary if they wanted to leverage it as a gaming TV too. But why do that when you can put the GPU inside the ATV add on and update more often? I still don't buy the idea of apple making a TV either.

[goMac]

A 55" OLED?

Yeah, fake rumor.

[britboyj]

Apple has to be able to sell these things at their retail stores, which do NOT have the warehouse space in back to possibly sell TVs in the quantities Apple fans would ask for. It simply isn't going to happen like that.

Or it will just be very, very ugly.

TV's DO NOT need to do ANYTHING but display a picture. Anything else is upgrade-ware. The stuff that makes you want to buy a new TV every year. Sorry, not going to happen. I'll swap out my components all day long but a new TV more frequently than every 7 years? Forget it.

[hitekalex]

Will believe it when I see it. Would be quite surprised if Apple were to offer 3 different sizes for the TV.

If they were to come out with a TV - it would be offered in a single size, which Apple would deem to be "sweet spot". Probably somewhere between 32"-42".

[mitup]

Originally Posted by goMac

A 55" OLED?

Yeah, fake rumor.

Absolutely, dumbest tech story I've read for weeks.

[Mr. Gates]

I guess it's time for Apple to have a poorly selling dud of a product that nobody will want

You know...to keep them humble

[vebs]

TV and gaming/multimedia powerhouse, with masses of content ready to roll in one unit. This is pretty exciting, the more you think about it, there's nothing else out there that comes close to competing. It's bound to happen.

[TMar]

I've got a good source on a rumor that Apple is building a moon base, what to post that one too?

[djrod]

I can't see this happening unless this new Apple Television is just a "dock station" to insert a new brain($99 iOS Apple TV) that you can update every year without trashing the whole set away.

Some sort of a big Cinema Display

[Mac4Brains]

knowing Apple they will most likely charge $9,999.99 for a 55 inch TV

[damir00]

55" OLED, in Apple quantities, is a fantasy.

Either they made it up, or they rumor monger confused the display on the remote (iPod Touch?) with the display of in the, ah, display.

[dashiel]

Originally Posted by chrmjenkins

A5 would be up to the task of any content they would want to display. A6 would only really be necessary if they wanted to leverage it as a gaming TV too. But why do that when you can put the GPU inside the ATV add on and update more often? I still don't buy the idea of apple making a TV either.

I suppose a possible solution would be to have the “brains” of the television be replaceable so the annual CPU/GPU update doesn’t obsolete your new $3,000 TV. Still seems unduly messy and fraught with pitfalls.

[mkrishnan]

^^ Yeah, that's feasible, have an Apple TV or iPod like device that docks with the TV and provides its brains, but to date this kind of thing doesn't work well -- Apple keeps changing their docking standard, even though the pins are the same, etc.

Originally Posted by chrmjenkins

A6 would only really be necessary if they wanted to leverage it as a gaming TV too. But why do that when you can put the GPU inside the ATV add on and update more often?

I'm curious how this plays out. I'm pretty happy at this point with my 2006 TV. Imagine if I were still using my 2008 iPhone? I don't want a TV that's going to demand I upgrade once a year.

[gkarris]

Originally Posted by chrmjenkins

A6 would only really be necessary if they wanted to leverage it as a gaming TV too.

Actually, an A6 in order to justify paying double for a comparable TV set...

[FaustsHausUK]

Originally Posted by Mac4Brains

knowing Apple they will most likely charge $9,999.99 for a 55 inch TV

Based on what? When have they ever charged 10 times the going rate for a product ever?

[iPhisch]

the only people who will be able to afford this thing are the people who can afford to move their 46" Bose VideoWave to their bedroom.

[gugy]

Originally Posted by fender4645

I call BS on all these Apple TV rumors. No one had anything to say previously and then all of a sudden, when it's 'outed' in the biography, everyone now has these exclusives.

yep and that shows you how Steve was a master handling the media. Besides couple "analysts" saying all this BS about a TV set, before that very few people took it seriously.
Whatever Steve said, I think will be more on a content distribution model and ATV box that have cool features. A TV set with an A6 chip that will be obsolete in less than 2 years makes no sense while your display still delivering great picture.

[Speedy2]

A silly, unimportant Internet publication wanted some more clicks today, and it succeeded.

[Keerock]

Originally Posted by fender4645

I call BS on all these Apple TV rumors. No one had anything to say previously and then all of a sudden, when it's 'outed' in the biography, everyone now has these exclusives.

Yeah, I agree with you. Even more important is that there is no reason why Apple would want to be in the TV Screen business period. I think Jobs was referring to the fact that he had finally cracked Apple TV's issues not an Apple TV Screen. Selling TV's is a low margin business. Why not just sell the brains (Apple TV with Mic for Siri and Kinect style gesture recognition) a Set-Top like Apple TV instead of having to worry about the rest of the hardware being a viable product. It makes no sense to me.

[dagamer34]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Mobile/9A405)

55" OLED? Dude those panels are vaporware!

[blilly]

Honestly, I think this is all FUD from Apple planted to get all the competitors geared up for new TV hardware solutions while Apple sneaks in with a modified AppleTV with cable hookup, 3 HDMI and 3 RCA inputs that can use any HDTV model.

I agree 100% with below:

Originally Posted by britboyj

Apple has to be able to sell these things at their retail stores, which do NOT have the warehouse space

and

Originally Posted by britboyj

TV's DO NOT need to do ANYTHING but display a picture. Anything else is upgrade-ware.

[Thunderhawks]

Maybe the actors of a TV series will perform the show live in your living room for $ 9999.99.