Apple pie-in-the-sky – this is our wish list for the tech giant’s home cinema
Apple has officially updated its standards, and while the headlines are impressive, we can’t help but notice some omissions in the home theater department.
But first, what did we find? There was the iPhone 17e, a more affordable variant of the iPhone 17 Product of the Year winner. It has a 6.1-inch OLED display, which uses Apple’s Super Retina XDR technology for rich, vivid colors, and 1200 equivalent values of the desired high brightness.
It may be wishful thinking, but we spent the afternoon dreaming of what could have been.
The most talked about Apple TV
Bear with me, here. Considering that Apple has released a large range of products with OLED screens in different sizes, it is not too difficult to believe in the range of Apple TVs with the same technology.
After all, we’ve seen first-hand its success with OLED in its iPhone and iPad range. The new iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone 17e, for example, feature OLED screens. We tested the iPhone 17 with selected movies and TV shows, and said: “It’s natural where it needs to be, yet it’s not afraid to deliver punch and pop, all without deviating from looking overcooked.”
And since Apple already has one of the best video streamers we’ve tested under its belt, in the form of the Apple TV 4K, surely the brand is in a good position to combine the two to create its own TV screen?
Brands like Roku have combined the success of their hardware and operating system software to create their own streaming platform directly to TVs.
Based on the excellent picture performance from Apple’s OLED screens in the smaller models and its high-performance video streaming platform offerings, it would be interesting to see how it will fare on a larger scale. Rumors for a long time, but I still want to believe…
Apple’s Dolby Atmos soundbar?
Apple’s contributions when it comes to sound have also been fruitful, the Apple HomePod 2 draws more What is Hi-Fi? Awards since release.
When we put it in place in our test room, we were impressed with its robust yet natural sound and compact, stylish design.
If you have the budget, you can combine two HomePod 2s with an Apple TV 4K to create a home theater sound system.
As we noted in our review: “A stereo pair of HomePods benefits greatly with Dolby Atmos tracks, which sound more open and three-dimensional, with more impressive localization of vocals and instruments.”
But Apple may go further and create a dedicated Dolby Atmos soundbar, taking the high-quality sound from HomePod 2 while sprinkling with streaming capabilities and HDMI eARC functionality for Apple TV 4K.
Setting up the HomePods and Apple TV 4K separately is trivial (especially since the HomePods aren’t particularly suitable for wall mounting), so combining them into a single product would be a huge win in performance.
This may be pie-in-the-sky thinking, but a home cinema lover can dream, right?
MORE:
Here is our review of Apple HomePod 2
And these are our thoughts about it Apple TV 4K
Adventures in AV: Apple is well positioned to make next-generation Dolby technology the true “future of home cinema”.
