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Has Apple just abandoned AppleTV?

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Wolfpup

macrumors 68030
Original poster
Sep 7, 2006
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It’s been over 3 YEARS now! Not a peep, and it’s already October.

I’m starting to wonder if they’ve just abandoned it...

Amazon has announced updates for some of their devices. Ditto for a Roku. Google has even introduced their new device, finally.

I’m most comfortable with Apple for security and privacy of the streaming companies. I wouldn’tout my read apple/Microsoft/google account credentials in a FireTV or Roku. I’m semi-comfortable with google, but not as much as apple.

but...google has bothered to actually release a device, and it’s effectively $70:(including the not yet released Ethernet port), less than 1/2 the price of the three year old Apple TV.

I guess I’m continuing to wait until google releases the Ethernet port + extra remotes. I like the upcoming 2020 Roku ultra too, except that I don’t trust it as much for security.
But geez...if they don’t update this things soon...

the fact they are doing appleTV+ and didn’t bother updating the Apple TV also is also baffling to me.
 
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Yeah, I don't see any really major reason to update it.

It streams 4K HDR content and supports Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos.

Apple continues to update tvOS and add new features so it is clear that they haven't "abandoned AppleTV" [sic].

Most of the streaming TV innovation lies in the software and the service that supports it, not the hardware itself. And I'm not just talking about Apple TV. Same with Fire TV, Roku, Nvidia Shield, whatever.

Heck, I can stream 4K video with a $60 Raspberry Pi 4 running Kodi.

It's about the software.
 
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The Apple TV is still one of the best streaming devices available, at least on the hardware side, since it supports Dolby Atmos, which not many streaming players do, and has plenty of horsepower, as the A10X is potent. There is no need to update it for the sake of updating it.
 
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There has been a few threads lately with similar topics, my thoughts about the Apple TV is that Apple just doesn't really care about it, and hasn't for a while.

The ATV4K could be so much more than what it currently is, but with little attention from Apple, it will probably just remain an overpowered, but overprice streaming box.

There isn't any apps on tvOS that fully utilize the potential power of the A10X, so HW wise, the Apple TV 4K is way more powerful than most (or all) of the competition.

But, an argument could be made questioning if all that power is even needed for what the ATV4K is currently being used for.

Wolfpup said:
the fact they are doing appleTV+
Click to expand...
You can just look at the advertising and promotion of the Apple TV+ service, and compare it to the advertising of the Apple TV (all generations) to see how little Apple cares about the Apple TV.

It seems like I have seen more advertising for the Apple TV+ in the last month than all the advertising for every Apple TV generation combined since the launch in 2007.

Wolfpup said:
I’m starting to wonder if they’ve just abandoned it...
Click to expand...
I wouldn't quite say abandoned it, but maybe ignoring and neglecting it.

Just look at the 2020 WWDC. Apple spend more time of the keynote talking about hand washing than the entire tvOS portion (minus the ATV+ part).


BasicGreatGuy said:
Apple hasn’t abandoned AppleTV. What an absurd question.
Click to expand...
It seems like developers are starting to abandon tvOS. Everyday, more and more of my tvOS version apps stop working. The iOS versions continue to be updated, but the tvOS versions stopped getting updates, or are being pulled from the tvOS App Store.
 
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Wolfpup said:
It’s been over 3 YEARS now! Not a peep, and it’s already October.
I’m starting to wonder if they’ve just abandoned it...
Click to expand...
This year has seen more 8K TV's, AVR's with 8K passthrough, HDMI 2.1/HDCP 2.3 ports more commonplace. So it not too hard to predict a ATV 8K coming available with double the memory, and a A14 likely.
YouTube is now working with 4K with ATV4K, so all the major apps are now up to par.
Must be closer to when it gets replaced compared to last year.
 
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Realityck said:
This year has seen more 8K TV's, AVR's with 8K passthrough, HDMI 2.1/HDCP 2.3 ports more commonplace. So it not too hard to predict a ATV 8K coming available with double the memory, and a A14 likely.
YouTube is now working with 4K with ATV4K, so all the major apps are now up to par.
Must be closer to when it gets replaced compared to last year.
Click to expand...
This, and Apple Arcade.
 
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I do believe it's getting harder and harder to justify a Apple TV over something like the Chromecast (with Google TV) given the price of the device. The only thing that will push Apple to bring out a new Apple TV now is the sunsetting of fabricating A10's and probably bump it to the A12/13 which is in production.

Roku are now even starting to support Airplay 2 on their 4K devices.

It would be awesome for Apple to bring out a smaller device with reduced price, £99 maybe?
 
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Wolfpup said:
then where is it? “Absurd” yet we’re at least a year overdue, and they’re set to miss another holiday season.
Click to expand...

You still haven’t answered the question - what is the current model lacking?

Home devices like the ATV, the HomePod, the Airport Express before them, etc. tend to have really long lifespans because this segment of devices evolves much more slowly than phones and tablets, and people tend to keep them for a long time. There is no ROI for Apple to expend resources giving these meaningless updates every year.
 
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UKgaryb said:
I do believe it's getting harder and harder to justify a Apple TV over something like the Chromecast (with Google TV) given the price of the device. The only thing that will push Apple to bring out a new Apple TV now is the sunsetting of fabricating A10's and probably bump it to the A12/13 which is in production.

Roku are now even starting to support Airplay 2 on their 4K devices.

It would be awesome for Apple to bring out a smaller device with reduced price, £99 maybe?
Click to expand...

I guess an actual Apple TV still trumps the third party device ATV apps with iTunes Extras, granted not everyone cares about extras but quite often iTunes Extras include extended cuts of movies which quite a few of them are in 4K too.
 
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I don’t doubt Apple will end up releasing another Apple TV but I don’t think it’s main focus will be as a streaming box. With Apple Arcade becoming bigger and their services bundling, I think their next offering will focus with specs around more storage and performance to run games. That also means the price isn’t going to come down, it might actually add to the price. It’ll probably support 8K.

But again, the current ATV 4k is still a more powerful machine than all these newer streaming devices. When you compare it, for example, to the new chromecast with Google TV that is being released, other than a cheaper price, what does it have over an ATV 4K?

When you compare storage:
8GB vs 32/64GB

When you compare apps:
Android vs TVOS (pretty even for app availability)

With processing power, the ATV wins out there.
 
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There are tons of reason to upgrade this box. Faster cpu, wifi 6, hdmi 2.1, more storage. A lot of customers wont notice the difference these improvements make of course, but Apple should still move forward. Not everyone are currently using the latest model, but upgrading to an Apple TV 4K makes no sense at all at this point.
 
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FuturePilot said:
I think the main concern is that the A10X is going to get cut off from updates soon so it makes the AppleTV a risky buy.
Click to expand...

Maybe. But  kept the 3rd Gen around long past when I think they should’ve EOLed it. tv HD is still getting updates. tv 4K is still overpowered when compared to just about everything else. Also, I don’t think  is thinking about putting 8K in the next box. 4K TVs were a thing in 2015 yet  still went with 1080p. I think they’ll follow the same trajectory with 8K.
 
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