Both the iPad Air 2 and iPhone 6 secretly support 4K video, but don’t expect the same from the next-generation Apple TV, according to one new report.
Citing “sources in position to know,” BuzzFeed News claims that the much-speculated-upon 4th generation Apple TV isn’t going to go out of its way to support a video resolution “still in its infancy” — despite the fact that rivals Netflix and Amazon already offer this service, albeit in limited supply.
It seems that Apple’s reasoning for doing so is partly about showing typically Apple-like reticence about leaping onto the latest tech bandwagon before it’s ready. 4K video requires speedy broadband connections to support its delivery — with a small minority of U.S. Internet connections capable of handling the 15 Mbps or above needed to cope with 4K streaming. Added to that is the fact that offering 4K is expensive, and simply not worth it right now when looking at things from a cost-benefit perspective.
“The additional cost to shoot, store, encode and deliver video in 4K, when compared to HD, is huge,” Frost & Sullivan principal analyst Dan Rayburn tells BuzzFeed in its article. “No one wants to talk about it, but going from Netflix’s average 3Mbps stream to their 4K stream at 16Mbps is very expensive. That’s why it’s said it will offer ‘limited’ content in 4K for a long time. 4K is many, many years away from being adopted at critical mass.”
Still, even without 4K there’s plenty to be excited about concerning Apple’s forthcoming TV revamp.
Would 4K streaming (or the lack thereof) sway you one way or the other? Leave your comments in the box below.
Source: BuzzFeed News
