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It's 2009 Again: Apple is Apparently Reconsidering Making a TV

I just want an Apple Pencil for my iPhone and you want an Apple TV?
 
If Apple were to actually make a TV, it would have to be MicroLED at a substantially reduced price than they are today. The problem with MicroLED TVs is that they always 10 years away… 🤷
 
azentropy said:
And that is just one of the issues. TVs are a commodity item with extremely low margins. Also the life cycle of TVs is much longer than other product categories Apple has entered (around 6-7 years). Anyway if Apple could solve the primary problem, they could do it in a set top box first.
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Markup of TVs above cost to manufacture is around 10%-20% on the low end and up to 50% on the high end. The low margins at the low end are why manufacturers are looking to revenue streams from advertising and selling user data. Apple's margins are around 37% on average. If they had a mid-range technology product and added software, a camera, maintained their position on personal privacy, and marketed it as a part of the Apple ecosystem, they could probably get a 50% margin. But they would be at the high end of the market with a niche product.

Apple probably feel they've already solved (or have a good handle on solving) the user interface problem given their experience with the AppleTV set-top box and the AppleTV apps.
 
dmr727 said:
Wake me when someone decides to make a 'dumb' TV again. Something with a gorgeous display that does absolutely nothing except display whatever content I feed into it via a variety of ports.

Is that too much to ask???
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Yeah, I kind of miss all those wires. And all the dust that accumulates after a few years.

Imagine if someone did come out with just a big beautiful display... "You're telling me I spent all this money on a TV and I have to plug in a different device for it to do anything. Next thing, they'll be shipping it without the power cord!"
 
SFjohn said:
If Apple were to actually make a TV, it would have to be MicroLED at a substantially reduced price than they are today. The problem with MicroLED TVs is that they always 10 years away… 🤷
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The news came as a shock on Tuesday: Apple pulled the plug on their microLED effort for the future smartwatch that was anticipated to be released by 2026. Hundreds of people working at the company’s secret facility in California were let go, and in a swift move, their manufacturing partner, ams-Osram, was informed. Yole Group has been following the microLED industry since 2017 with its annual MicroLED report and tirelessly traveling the world to present our analyses, so we would like to take the opportunity of this groundbreaking news to reflect upon what it means for the whole industry.
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In our analysis, we had potential microLED applications split into two distinct groups. For AR, Automotive, and some specialty applications (transparent displays, stretchables, etc.), we see microLED in a technology pull situation: microLED is differentiating and brings some unique characteristics that are highly desirable, so OEMs will be eager to adopt them as soon as available. For all other applications, including most consumer displays such as TVs, smartphones, … and smartwatches, OLED is already doing a great job and is continually improving. For those, microLEDs need strong champions to succeed: companies committed to making the long-term, high-intensity effort required to develop the technology, set up the supply chain, and ramp it up. One such champion was Apple. Well, no longer.
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So much for that thought. :eek:;)
 
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They not even willing to release an iMac 32", let alone a TV.

There is no such thing. My cousin works at Apple he says the only device close to it, is the what the guys working on it calling FacePod. The device rumoured to be released in 2025.
 
Don’t see a lot of rationale on this. High cost, low profit, pretty much saturated market, premium brands already being squeezed by low cost Chinese brands, and most of all, very long replacement cycle.

I might believe more that Apple is trying to tap into the console gaming market by making its own “station” and M-series gaming ecosystem than this TV rumor, given that both PlayStation and Xbox are slacking like nobody cares nowadays.
 
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ShufromChina said:
premium brands already being squeezed by low cost Chinese brands
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A superb point.

I have a friend who got that Sansui 55 inch OLED for 700 bucks and it’s got full Google TV built into it and it is amazing.

It’s essentially an LG B4 for 30% less, and some would say even better because it’s got Google TV built-in instead of webOS …which I personally don’t care for
 
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Several people have mentioned the Vision Pro. Actually the idea would be compelling: A Vision Pro in its current form costs around 3.500 - 4.000 monetary units. A quality OLED TV in size 77" or bigger is easily above that.

So if they would do away with all those components not required to use the Vision Pro as simple monitor with integrated TV app and thereby manage to reduce both price and weight, it could be an interesting product:

1.) Unique TV implementation. Makes it more difficult for customers to compare to other products (good for Apple).
2.) No need to have a huge black slab in your living room.
3.) Lower power consumption than OLED TV's (currently the gold standard for image quality).
4.) Probably even bigger screen than a physical TV could offer in a reasonable way.
5.) Avoiding the handling and transportation issues with those huge physical TV's of 77" and bigger (even 65" are already borderline unwieldy). The older folks will remember the era of CRT-based TV's. When those reached a certain size, they became unwieldy, so the upper limit for a CRT TV was usually around 32" and below. Then flat screens took over. And currently flat screens have also reached a size limit, beyond which it gets increasingly difficult to be justified for an average living room. Thus a technology break seems the logical next step.

The usually mentioned CON's for using the Vision Pro (not only, but also) as TV are:

1.) Can not watch together on a common screen, so everyone needs to have his/her own device (cost!, atmosphere).
2.) Vision Pro too heavy for prolonged sessions.

As for 1.) if the cost can be reduced to - say - 2.000 - 2.500 monetary units, two Vision Pro TV's would still cost around the same as (or less than) a big 77" (or beyond) OLED TV, while still offering even bigger (virtual) screens. Yes, watching with a group of people or within a family (i.e. 3 and more people) together at the same time might ask for a different product. But the number of people living alone or with only 2 people in a household is ever-increasing. Sure - even with only two people, the atmosphere might be different. One of the tradeoff's for not having a huge black hole in your living room and instead being able to watch on a cinema-like sized screen.

As for 2.) If they remove a lot of the "unnecessary" components and improve on others, maybe (just maybe) they could reach an acceptable weight for 3-4 or more hours. Again - some people might complain that they want to watch all day long, but I guess that those are a minority.

So yeah, all in all I could imagine Apple to modify the basic Vision Pro device in a way to create a new implementation of TV. And I'm also sure that - despite a lot of nay-sayers - there would be a potential audience for such a product.
 
turbineseaplane said:
A superb point.

I have a friend who got that Sansui 55 inch OLED for 700 bucks and it’s got full Google TV built into it and it is amazing.

It’s essentially an LG B4 for 30% less, and someone would say even better because it’s got Google TV built-in instead of webOS …which I personally don’t care for
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Are you aware that Smart TV's take screenshots of the displayed content every 5-10 seconds and sends that to the TV maker? On brand products you can usually still switch off that "feature" (and have to believe that it's actually switched off when the menu says so), but on a no-name Chinese brand?

Besides - if that Sansui has another OS, I assume that it also does not feature the "Magie Remote" of a modern LG TV? Because from personal experience that one is a real killer feature over a "standard" remote.
 
Neodym said:
Are you aware that Smart TV's take screenshots of the displayed content every 5-10 seconds and sends that to the TV maker? On brand products you can usually still switch off that "feature" (and have to believe that it's actually switched off when the menu says so), but on a no-name Chinese brand?

Besides - if that Sansui has another OS, I assume that it also does not feature the "Magie Remote" of a modern LG TV? Because from personal experience that one is a real killer feature over a "standard" remote.
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AdGuard DNS is a great tool not only for blocking all the ads on this site, but also for blocking swaths of domains that lurk in the dark collecting analytics. FWIW, I turned off the share analytics feature for an iOS device and it still was attempting to phone home on some of those specific domains/ IP ranges. So either Apple is sloppy or guilty of some small degree of subterfuge. If you tried to update the software on my LG G3 it would say it can’t connect to the internet because AdGuard DNS has specific block lists to add for TV manufacturers. It’s lovely. Nothing escapes my network unless I want it to, it’s a game packet black hole
 
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You know why Gurman didn’t provide any additional details about the TV? Because he made it all up knowing the knuckleheads out there would run with it and drive people to the at-best disingenuous newsletter Bloomberg continues to put out there.
 
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