The Apple TV has been around for almost two decades. When it first arrived, it was a Mac mini-sized device that enabled users to easily rent or buy movies from the iTunes Store and watch them on their TV. But over the last decade, TVs have become a lot smarter. And perhaps it’s time for Apple to either reimagine what the Apple TV can be or dump it.
The case for dumping the Apple TV
The advent of the smart TV, replete with their own app stores, gaming platforms and other nifty features have come a long way. My family purchased a Samsung smart TV about 18 months ago and, while we use the Apple TV, I’m starting to question why I have another box connected to my TV that does pretty much everything my TV can do out of the box.
I use a variety of different streaming services and every single one I’ve looked for has an app in Samsung’s store. I’m sure there are some that aren’t there for some specific niche programming but I’ve yet to have been disappointed.
Interestingly, some apps on my Samsung TV work better than their Apple TV equivalents. Netflix is an example. As a WWE fan, I was pretty stoked when the WWE ditched its own streaming service and the Pay Per View model that helped it build a fortune over the last few decades and shifted everything to Netflix.
The problem is that on two different Apple TVs I have, the Netflix app, even after been restarted, won’t open a previously streamed live show. I’m sure it’s a bug that will be eventually resolved. I’ve gone as far as deleting the Netflix app from an Apple TV. Then the app works once before reverting to not letting me open a previously streamed show.
The app on my Samsung TV works perfectly.
I get that I’m pointing out one specific example but if I can get an equivalent viewing experience on my TV without the Apple TV – why bother with having a device connected that chews up more power and adds an extra TV remote to my life?
As a bonus, the Samsung TV has it’s own streaming service that includes dozens of channels of content that I can stream at no extra charge including various sports (big thumbs up for Cricket Gold), comedy shows (a constant stream of The Nanny amongst others) and reality, drama and other genres.
The case for keeping the Apple TV
The Apple TV user experience is a lot better than most smart TVs. The two modern smart TVs I have, the aforementioned Samsung and a Hisense both have the full array of apps I want. But the quality of apps is variable between the two different TV makers.
The difference between streaming Kayo on the Hisense compared to the Samsung is significant. The Hisense is more laggy whereas I don’t have any problems with the Samsung.
But the Apple TV I have on the Hisense TV works flawlessly. When I bought the Hisense I had no intention of connecting an Apple TV but the app quality made me change my decision.
The other factor is trust. Some smart TVs have been found to listen in on conversations to train their voice recognition systems without the user’s awareness. Do you trust the maker of your smart TV more or less than you trust Apple?
Is the Apple TV worth having?
The answer comes down to whether you already have a smart TV that can run all the streaming and other apps you want.
If the answer is ‘Yes’ then I’d be inclined to put the extra $219 or $249 (depending on whether you go for 64GB or 128GB of storage) towards a wall mount or larger screen. But only if you trust the TV maker to not use its voice recognition capability to listen in on your conversations.
If you don’t have a smart TV and want to access streaming apps then the Apple TV makes sense. That $219 or $249 is probably cheaper than replacing your entire TV.
Anthony is the founder of Australian Apple News. He is a long-time Apple user and former editor of Australian Macworld. He has contributed to many technology magazines and newspapers as well as appearing regularly on radio and occasionally on TV.