New Apple TV to Support 4K, HDR? iTunes Listings Hint at Possible New Features
The new Apple TV could finally support 4K resolution and High Dynamic Range (HDR), as rumors have predicted for months now. Recent titles have been spotted on iTunes with the 4K HDR tag, possibly hinting at new features for the streaming video device.
Sharp-eyed readers of MacRumors have reported that iTunes is listing a few movies as "Movie (4K, HDR)" under their format type. The media app still only lets users download these entries in High Definition (HD) 1080p or 720p formats as of this time, however.
Nonetheless, even as users rented out these movies at HD, they found that their iTunes purchase history has these items marked as 4K and HDR. Could this be a hint at upcoming support for 4K resolution and HDR for Apple TV in the near future?
A new Apple TV device referred to as "J105" was already reportedly capable of Ultra-High Definition (UHD) streaming at 4K resolution, according to Bloomberg, as early as February this year.
This fifth-generation video streaming device also supports "more vivid color" according to sources, which could be referring to HDR capabilities for what could be the next Apple TV.
This new Apple TV device might be released this year, as possibly hinted by the transfer of Timothy Twerdhal to Apple. Twerdhal previously worked as the head of Amazon's Fire TV division overseeing their work on Amazon television offerings.
These rumors were somewhat confirmed by the discovery of a new Apple TV device identified as "AppleTV6,2" by Firi Games. The developer behind "Phoenix HD" and "Phoenix II" also found out that this new device ran a new version of tvOS called "tvOS 11.0."
Meanwhile, competing services have already gone ahead and embraced the new format. Netflix had already made 4K versions of its shows available and so did Amazon Fire TV and Roku.
