Nate Hanson
A teardown of the first Apple TV and its new voice-enabled Siri Remote has discovered the controller sports the same Broadcom-made touchscreen controller the company already uses in the iPhone 5s, iPhone 5c and iPad Air.
Nearly two weeks after first getting our hands on with the new Apple TV, iFixit has completed their full teardown of the device and it's companion remote. The most significant changes from the third-generation Apple TV are found in the new Siri Remote with its glass touch surface.
The glass surface of the new remote utilizes the same Broadcom touchscreen controller (BCM5976C1KUB6G) found in earlier iPhones and iPads. The remote was also found to include an accelerometer and gyroscope for navigation and gameplay.
With the addition of a Qualcomm Bluetooth radio in the Siri Remote, users no longer need to aim the remote at their Apple TV. However, Apple did continue to include IR technology which can be used to control the power and volume on your television.
The Apple TV box itself is a half-inch taller and 50 percent heavier than it's predecessor, mostly due to a larger power supply and heatsink. iFixit suggests that this beefier power supply is needed to power the dual-core A8 processor.
Apple has also ditched the optical audio-out port and added a USB-C port, with the latter currently being for diagnostic purposes only. The Wi-Fi chip inside the new Apple TV also received a bump to include speedier 802.11ac, and the audio output has been upgraded from Dolby Digital 5.1 to 7.1.
The new Apple TV with Siri Remote comes in 32- and 64-gigabyte models, priced at $149 and $199, respectively. They are expected sometime in October.
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Wesley Hilliard
AppleInsider Staff
Andrew Orr
Amber Neely
William Gallagher
24 Comments
At the risk of sounding snarky...
Um, 'duh'?
So the extra height comes from the heatsink for the A8 chip. Odd how the iPhone with the A8 doesn't need this. The PSU will generate some heat but maybe they clocked the A8 quite a lot higher than the model in the iPhone and iPad or maybe it isn't able to keep as cool with that usage scenario.
So the extra height comes from the heatsink for the A8 chip. Odd how the iPhone with the A8 doesn't need this. The PSU will generate some heat but maybe they clocked the A8 quite a lot higher than the model in the iPhone and iPad or maybe it isn't able to keep as cool with that usage scenario.
The iPhone has a rather large aluminum heatsink. It's called the entire phone enclosure.
With the addition of a Qualcomm Bluetooth radio in the Siri Remote, users no longer need to aim the remote at their Apple TV. However, Apple did continue to include IR technology which can be used to control the power and volume on your television.
Can someone explain this to me? Why is IR used for the On/Off and Volume features?
So when I press the TV button on the Remote, what happens? The Apple TV and HDTV should both power on, no? Not a bluetooth command? Why should IR be needed for this? What's the point? I might as well just keep using my TV's remote which also powers both on when I point at it. And what about Volume? Is this also just a simple IR volume toggle? If so thats really disappointing. Half the buttons require IR, and half don't? Talk about confusing.
Can someone explain this to me? Why is IR used for the On/Off and Volume features?
So when I press the TV button on the Remote, what happens? The Apple TV and HDTV should both power on, no? Not a bluetooth command? Why should IR be needed for this? What's the point? I might as well just keep using my TV's remote which also powers both on when I point at it. And what about Volume? Is this also just a simple IR volume toggle? If so thats really disappointing. Half the buttons require IR, and half don't? Talk about confusing.
Because your TV probably doesn't have Bluetooth. Virtually all TV remotes still operate on IR. The power and volume keys being referenced are for controlling the power and volume of your TV, not the ATV.