New Apple TV's 'upgraded remote' will be easier to find, might still suck

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best apple tv accessories
best apple tv accessories (Image credit: iMore)

What you need to know

  • A new Apple TV refresh is said to be coming.
  • The new Apple TV might not come until next year, though.
  • It'll reportedly come with an "upgraded remote" as well.

A new report claims that Apple is working on a refreshed Apple TV box alongside a new, "upgraded" remote control.

Part of a Bloomberg report that also included iPhone, Apple Watch, and AirPods news, the Apple TV info is good in one way but potentially disappointing in another. Here's what Bloomberg has to say.

Apple has also been developing a new Apple TV box with a faster processor for improved gaming and an upgraded remote control, however that device might not ship until next year, according to people familiar with its development. The company is working on a feature for the new remote similar to Find My iPhone that would make the TV accessory easier to find.

The news that Apple intends to make it easier to find our lost Apple TV remotes is good for obvious reasons. But there's no mention of Apple making the remote more likable. Or more usable. Just, generally, less hateful.

Apple TV Siri Remote

Siri Remote on Apple TV (Image credit: iMore)

The current Siri Remote is universally accepted to be one of the worst remotes still used in 2020. It looks great and it's small – too small, really – but it's impossible to tell its orientation without looking at it. And even glancing at it funny is enough to make it skip forward in a video when you least expect it to.

I really don't like the Siri Remote.

Beyond the remote, the news the Apple TV will get faster internals shouldn't be a surprise considering the importance of Apple Arcade to the company's services revenue. But that remote, Apple. Please fix it next time around.

Oliver Haslam
Oliver Haslam
Contributor

Oliver Haslam has written about Apple and the wider technology business for more than a decade with bylines on How-To Geek, PC Mag, iDownloadBlog, and many more. He has also been published in print for Macworld, including cover stories. At iMore, Oliver is involved in daily news coverage and, not being short of opinions, has been known to 'explain' those thoughts in more detail, too. Having grown up using PCs and spending far too much money on graphics card and flashy RAM, Oliver switched to the Mac with a G5 iMac and hasn't looked back. Since then he's seen the growth of the smartphone world, backed by iPhone, and new product categories come and go. Current expertise includes iOS, macOS, streaming services, and pretty much anything that has a battery or plugs into a wall. Oliver also covers mobile gaming for iMore, with Apple Arcade a particular focus. He's been gaming since the Atari 2600 days and still struggles to comprehend the fact he can play console quality titles on his pocket computer.