Roger Fingas
LG on Tuesday said it's now rolling out AirPlay 2 and HomeKit to select 2019 TV models in the US via a software update.
The update is available for OLED and NanoCell 4K TVs with ThinQ AI, LG said. An exception is the SM8100 series. Compatible sets start at about $800 and can climb as high as nearly $10,000.
More 2019 4K TVs will be updated "later in 2019," the company promised.
Announced at CES this year, the arrival of AirPlay 2 on TVs means people can push movies and shows via Siri or compatible iOS apps, rather than having to own an Apple TV. HomeKit compatibility enables control of functions like power and input selection.
LG is one of the first TV makers to officially deploy the technology, since Vizio's update remains in beta testing. The latter company will be supporting TVs as old as 2016, however, whereas LG is limiting efforts to 2019 units and onwards. Other companies on board include Samsung and Sony.
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I suspect the TVs that get AirPlay 2 and HomeKit connectivity are ones that are quad-core (or greater) ARM CPUs and are running a 64 bit OS (Android/Linux variant, or Tizen).
Probably all 4K TVs are compatible, but older TVs will be a mixed bag...
Samsung makes their own CPUs and targets “premium” so I suspect a larger number of models will eventually work with AirPlay 2, but that also makes updates more challenging. Bricking people’s TVs would be a PR nightmare...
TV manufacturers must see considerable revenue potential to risk updating older models. It must be quite the battle internally on which direction is superior... force upgrades to a new TV or maximizing their installed base.
TLC isn’t mentioned but they’re in bed with Roku. Last I heard, Apple was in talks with Roku. Assuming they come to an agreement, TLC might not need to do anything. Revenue sharing though must be interesting...
ugh get my hopes up. I have a 75" 4k UHD 2019 model but that won't get updated till october... ARGH!!!
Anyone with an OLEDC9 receive a firmware update yet? I got one last Thursday that brought me up to 03.60.19, but I can't find a changelog nor did it include any Apple-specific features.
Please LG don't forget those 2016 early adopters still stick on os2. Please, the technology is there it just needs a software update! I would even pay for it. I don't need to replace my screen with the same exact screen!