The AppleTV home entertainment device could see the arrival of a cheaper variant on the market later this year.
Integration with Apple Fitness services through a cheaper AppleTV would help increase the market for subscribers to this service
Currently this mini entertainment console that connects to the television and allows you to enjoy streaming platforms, video games or content stored on devices in the Apple ecosystem (iPhone, iPad, Mac computers), has two variants for sale:
-Apple TV HD: 1080p resolution and 32 Gb capacity (€159)
-Apple TV 4K: 4K HDR resolution and 32 Gb (€199) or 64 capacity (€219)
With differences related to the internal storage capacity, the installed microchip, the type of remote control and the resolution at which they are capable of working, both devices find it very difficult to compete with similar solutions such as Google’s Chromecast, Fire TV Stick from Amazon and the different variants of other brands belonging to the Android ecosystem.
They are usually much simpler devices (some are almost a USB stick that can be connected to the TV’s HDMI port) with prices well below €100, on many occasions even less than €50, and that essentially offer a very similar user experience in terms of allowing access to streaming platform apps, managing digital assistants (both Google and Alexa, Amazon) not to mention sharing on the screen content from the smartphone. Even if this is an iPhone.
It is true that in exchange an AppleTV offers other features related to the Apple ecosystemsuch as the use of the smart assistant Siri and the integration with other brand devices that the user already has, as is the case with HomePod smart speakers (and other audio systems from other brands), with which you can even be synchronized so that with a pair of them and the AppleTV you get a surround effect for music playback or home theater.
But the Apple alternative is still expensive compared to the competition, and this would be the reason why in Cupertino they are considering the release of a more affordable variant… and probably lightened in some features. Although it would enhance, in exchange, other aspects.
And it is that for a few years Apple has been emphasizing strengthen your service catalogand this is where it would make sense to make the Apple TV device cheaper if that is achieved expand the market for Apple Fitness subscribersyour physical activity and sports platform that only works with Apple devices and with the subscription to Apple TV +.
The arrival of this device would surely mean the removal of the HD version of the current AppleTV from the catalog and even, as has been rumored on occasions, it could be a single device integration of AppleTV and HomePod, or a kind of «Apple TV Stick». In both cases, with hypothetical prices around €100 and €50, respectively, they could already be more competitive devices with Chromecast and the like, although Apple is not usually motivated to present precisely competitive products in terms of price.
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