Apple TV with 4K capabilities reportedly launching this year

The Apple TV has kind of lost its spark lately, which is why the Cupertino, California-based electronics giant employed the services of a rival exec. Timothy D. Twerdhal, the former general manager and director of the Amazon Fire TV, is now Apple TV’s vice president of product marketing. He is now tasked to bring the Apple TV back into relevance and boost its declining sales.

The hiring of Twerdhal, who previously worked at Netflix and Roku before he joined Amazon, couldn’t have come in a more appropriate time for Apple as it’s currently undergoing tests for its latest fifth gen Apple TV that could be launched this year. The new Apple TV box, which is under the working moniker “J105,” is reportedly going to have Ultra HD 4K streaming capabilities and more vibrant colours. While the new features may give Apple TV a substantial boost in sales, they won’t necessarily take the product to new heights.

The Apple TV was initially intended to provide easy streaming and supplant those bulky cable TV boxes, but that never fully materialised. A plan to package a gaming controller with the latest Apple TV model likewise never came to fruition. Users were also supposed to give out voice commands to the Apple TV box from the couch rather than talking to a remote.

The iPhone maker normally doesn’t announce its Apple TV sales, but according to Bloomberg, Apple’s senior vice president and chief financial officer Luca Maestri has confirmed of its declining year-over-year sales from December 2015 to last year’s holiday season. The fourth generation Apple TV has also gradually lost market share since it was launched two years ago, according to market research company eMarketer.

While the latest Apple TV box is generally considered as an improvement over previous models with its new features, it’s considerably more expensive than rival Amazon Fire TV, which costs US$40 (AU$52). At US$149 (AU$195), the latest Apple TV model also offers relatively no added value in terms of viewing experience. It’s not exactly immersive when users have to purchase episodes one by one, dish out more cash for other services or download program apps with login access via existing subscriptions. The new Apple TV app, which was supposedly developed to keep users updated with all the shows being watched across other platforms, was also criticised for being seemingly pointless for not including Amazon Video and Netflix, two of the world’s biggest video streaming providers.

The latest Apple TV model could’ve been capable of 4K video streaming, too, but Apple had to give it up as it would’ve cost them more money on advanced processors. Cost-cutting was also the reason why gaming controllers were not bundled with the latest units. Now with Twerdhal at the helm, fans are expecting that the next Apple TV doesn’t come up short again.

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