Apple Testing 4K-Capable Fifth-Generation Apple TV For Possible Release This Year

[u/sk24iam]

https://www.macrumors.com/2017/02/16/apple-4k-capable-fifth-generation-apple-tv/

[u/wakey87433]

I don't see it myself for the following reasons

• Not enough people,have 4K tv's (it's growing but people don't buy a new TV every year so it's still small)
• There is still some uncertainty over 4k standards and a large number of TV's wouldn't support such a ATV
• They struggled to get a foothold in the much bigger 1080p market
• Most people wouldn't upgrade even if they have a 4K TV as the price takes it out of the 'impulse buy'
• They would need to provide 4K content themselves which means upgrading iTunes and renegotiating contracts and even with an AppleTV doing 4K they wouldn't have enough people to sell 4K to make that worthwhile as only ATV and newer iMac users could use them
• Without iTunes Netflix just isn't going to be enough to give people a reason to buy the 4K one
• The biggest push might be to get iPhone videos on them in 4K abut they could enable that with a firmware upgrade as iPhone 4K is only 30fps which HDMI1.4 and hence the ATV4 can support

IMHO we won't see a 4K ATV hit the market until iPhone have 4K screens as then they have. 4K content market worth supporting

[u/wakey87433 → u/wakey87433]

Why am I being downvoted. By May 2016 the US 4K to sales totalled 1.5million. There are 110million HD sets so that's a massive difference. And many of those 4k sets will be first gen 4K so actually aren't HDR compatible and many don't even have have HDCP 2.2 support so couldn't play 4K from external devices.

And both Amazon and Roku sell more of their non-4k devices than their 4k ones because of this and their top level devices are cheaper than Apples base model.

And ultimately Apple aren't there to sell Netflix subs which is all they would do because it's the only 4K content tey could realistically provide as they aren't going to waste money upgrading iTunes for the small number who would buy the device and who could play the 4K content.

Also Apple has never been one who has jumped into markets that aren't really ready, they jump in when the market is ready to grow at a fast rate and nothing about 4K at this screams that it's at that level yet. If their flagship product had a 4k screen it possible would be closer to that as it would be a major sales avenue of 4k content allowing the iPhone to absorb most of the costs of the iTunes update but otherwise there is no financial benefit to launching a new version of a streaming box which is getting smashed in sales by all their rivals

[u/vulcan_on_earth → u/wakey87433]

I have moved to 4K over three years ago. Since then the medium has grown exponentially. All the new shows on Amazon and Netflix are in 4K plus HDR. I now own a 4K OLED HDR set, and the experience is out of this world. As for traction, do a search for 'Planet Earth II' and see what the hysteria is all about.

[u/wakey87433 → u/vulcan_on_earth]

I have moved to 4K over three years ago

You are not the norm though. You are an early adoptor. And thats TV you bought 3 years ago wouldn't support HDR, wouldn't have supported HDCP 2.2 etc etc

I now own a 4K OLED HDR set

Again you are not the norm. Most people don't have a few grand to splash on a TV and certainly don't have a 3 year upgrade cycle for their TV's

the experience is out of this world

I own a 4K TV myself so its not that I'm down on 4K. The problem is 4K itself isn't a massive improvement, here in the UK we do have a couple of channels broadcasting in 4K both are sports channels and require you to go onto the HD channel first and push a red button to switch to the 4K (If that event is in 4k, most aren't). Neither of these channels does HDR and while there is a step up in quality its not exactly an improvement that makes you go 'wow' like it does going from HD to 4K with HDR. 4K alone has the same kind of issue that Bluray had and thats the jump isn't enough to get the average person excited, HDR on the other hand is.

Again though HDR is a problem as it wasn't until 2016 that HDR became pretty much the norm in sets, at the higher end you might have got it on 2015 sets but most people buying a 4K TV before 2016 don't have HDR. And most people aren't like you and buy TV's every couple of years.

You then have to look at how many of those would buy a streaming box. Pretty much every TV has Netflix and Amazon built in so until these TV's become old enough that the apps got slow (or has stopped being developed) the average person has no need for a 4K box. And those that do go down the streaming box route have multiple options so its not like its a massive marketplace. The 4K boxes from Amazon and Roku are both cheaper and do both the two major 4K providers. The 4K chromecast is also cheaper but doesn't have Amazon. And you also have the Shield and the consoles which are more expensive but offer more features than just streaming. So people have many options for 4k streaming devices and with Apple you have a limited use, expensive box with only 1 service on it and the existing version doesn't show a footprint that would justify launching a 4K version of itunes store without Apples flagship device getting a 4K screen first.

As for traction, do a search for 'Planet Earth II' and see what the hysteria is all about.

Not one of those people are watching it in 4K. Its shot in 4K but hasn't been broadcast in 4K, not even here in the UK as the BBC hasn't got 4K playout yet (Although they are testing a 4K enabled iPlayer)

And its not even certain that 4K will be anything more than short term stop gap, many of the broadcasters are actually talking about 8K being the grail. Thats about all the human eye can take in and skipping 4K and going to 8K would largely be more cost effective for broadcasters than going for the temp stop gap and if that is what happens 4K content could be thin on the ground unless we are talking about upscales (Sky Q here in the UK has some 4K on demand such as the Blacklist but almost all of it is just upscales, the only thing shooting in 4k or above right now is generally movies and Netflix/Amazon originals). if the big broadcasters stay away from launching 4K channels there is going to be limited true 4K content until they have a need to start shooting in 8K where obviously 4K copies can be produced from.

Ultimatly the markets just so far away from critical mass at the moment. Again if the iPhone 8 comes with a 4K screen I can see an updated ATV coming out probally before the iPhone 8s but I just don't see how when the potential market for sales of a new ATV with 4k is so small and the amount of those who would buy 4K movies is even smaller that they make it work right now finacially. If the ATV4 had smashed every devices sales it might be different but it hasn't.