We’re in the middle of a holiday gifting season during the COVID-19 pandemic that’s caused a surge in television viewership. The Apple TV should be having a moment, Mark Gurman writes for Bloomberg, but “It’s not.”
The current iteration of Apple’s television set-top product has roots in the mid-2010s… Now, half a decade later, the product is facing intense competition. Rivals have introduced a litany of new systems while Apple has only made minor changes to the Apple TV since 2015…
There’s also the issue of price. The latest 4K Apple TV costs $180. By contrast, Amazon.com Inc.’s TV stick (a device that plugs directly into your HDMI port) costs just $50. And Amazon sells a full-fledged box for $120 that lets you bark voice commands from across the room. Meanwhile, Roku’s priciest player is currently $80, and Google recently launched a well-received new Chromecast for $50.
For next year, Apple is planning an upgraded box with a stronger gaming focus, an updated remote and a new processor. Those changes will fix some of the Apple TV box’s issues, but the product will need to take another big leap — akin to its 2015 changes — to remain competitive in the long term. Either that or it needs to get a lot cheaper.
MacDailyNews Take: A $99 box with a strong all-new remote replacing the currently awful Siri Remote would do wonders for Apple TV hardware sales.