iPhone 15 Pro iPhone USB-C to HDMI 4K HDR Streaming to Your TV

[Cloudyskies22]

Okay, so we have it confirmed via the official Apple support document that at least the Apple Digital AV Multiport Adapter can output 4K HDR to an external display, like a TV. Therefore, we know with iPhone 15 series, you can stream content using your unlimited cellular service plan and output it straight to your TV via HDMI in theoretically full-quality.

The issue I see here, which is the question I share with you all, is that most, if not all streaming apps like Vudu, Apple TV, Netflix, etc., do not send 4K streams to the iPhone because the iPhone cannot display 4K resolution to begin with. Given this fact, it seems to me that all of these apps would have to receive updates in order to output the full-quality 4K HDR streams in the event that the iPhone was outputting signal via the adapter.

This presents problems in my mind because I highly doubt streaming services give a damn about whether you can get full quality output from this relatively niche usage. Moreover, they don’t want to send you higher quality than absolutely necessary because increased bandwidth costs them money.

What do you guys think will be the limitations?

 

[Rnd-chars]

It’s no different than it is for USB C iPads like the 11” iPad Pro. From an engineering perspective, it’s a relatively small change for a company like Netflix to implement that on iPhone if they’ve already done so on iPad. In fact, it may even be free if they use the same codebase for both, use feature based detection (rather than hardcoding to models) and use responsive design to handle different device characteristics.

 

[Cloudyskies22]

It’s no different than it is for USB C iPads like the 11” iPad Pro. From an engineering perspective, it’s a relatively small change for a company like Netflix to implement that on iPhone if they’ve already done so on iPad. In fact, it may even be free if they use the same codebase for both, use feature based detection (rather than hardcoding to models) and use responsive design to handle different device characteristics.

I’m unfamiliar with how well it works on an iPad Pro because I don’t own an iPad. Does it actually output 4K HDR to the TV via a stream to the iPad?

 

[Rnd-chars]

I haven’t done any pixel peeping, but my iPad Pro connected to my Studio Display seems as sharp as my MacBook Pro when viewing content through AppleTV. Same goes for Netflix.

I’ll play around with the Pro Max on Friday and see how it does.

 

[Cloudyskies22]

I haven’t done any pixel peeping, but my iPad Pro connected to my Studio Display seems as sharp as my MacBook Pro when viewing content through AppleTV. Same goes for Netflix.

I’ll play around with the Pro Max on Friday and see how it does.

ohh well that’s good. Are you connected to the Studio Display with HDMI or DisplayPort?

 

[Rnd-chars]

Studio Display is only Thunderbolt, but it works with the USB C iPad Pro 3rd gen over DisplayPort so I’m guessing it’ll be the same with iPhone 15