After skipping an appearance at WWDC earlier this year, reports have been piling up that the latest Apple TV will debut in September alongside Apple’s latest iPhones. Now we might actually have gotten a hint at what led to that delay in the first place.
The Apple TV’s delay might have been due to it being the first model of the set-top box to run a full iOS core, 9to5 Mac reports. Specifically, the Apple TV is said to run iOS 9, but a concern over splitting engineering resources for iOS 9 is what led to the device’s sudden disappearance from Apple’s plans for WWDC.
Given other rumors we’ve heard about the upcoming Apple TV refresh, this would make sense. The new Apple TV is expected to be the first model in the series to come with its own App Store, and a TV-optimized iOS 9 would certainly make it easier for developers already experienced with iOS to hop onboard.
While big changes are coming inside, the next Apple TV will reportedly look different on the outside as well. The new model will be thinner and slightly wider than previous models, and will be constructed mostly out of plastic, in order to avoid blocking wireless signals.
We’ve already reported that the new Apple TV is expected to have a new remote with a built-in touchpad, but files found in the OS X 10.11 El Capitan beta shine further light on the remote. Gesture controls will be supported, and it’s possible if not exactly likely that the new remote could feature Force Touch. The files also point to some sort of audio integration in the remote which, given previous rumors that the new Apple TV will offer Siri integration, seems like a given.
This Siri integration will reportedly be bolstered by Apple’s new Proactive search. This could allow a user to ask Siri to search for a given term and see results from the iTunes Store, Netflix, and more, without having to manually search each section.
Apple’s focus with the Apple TV App Store has been on video applications, according to 9to5 Mac’s sources, allowing companies to release “channels” on the device on their own, similar to Roku channels. On existing models, Apple manually adds new channels, which means they come much more slowly then they could in the new App Store model.
One thing that won’t be coming if the new Apple TV is released in September is Apple’s long-awaited live TV streaming service. Last week we reported that stalled deals with content companies will see the service delayed until 2016.
