Like most of Apple’s products, the Apple TV remote is a thing of simple elegance. But despite the company’s long-held view that most remote controls are too complicated, the New York Times reports that the next Apple TV remote will be far bigger—even including a touch pad.
The newspaper claims that the new remote “will gain a touch pad and also be slightly thicker than the current version,” at least according to people familiar with the matter. The touch pad—presumably used to click, scroll and gesture if Apple’s other interface offerings are anything to go by—will also be joined by two physical buttons, says the paper’s source. The extra thickness is said to be “comparable to the remote control for Amazon’s wireless speaker, the Echo.”
The update would be the first major update to the remote since Apple TV’s launch in 2007 (non-cosmetic, that is: the first were white, the later ones sleek metal). It would also bring it inline with other input devices made by Apple, like the Magic Mouse. The paper suggests that the new Apple TV will be introduced at Apple’s develop conference in June. Let’s wait see. [NYT]
Image by Karl Gartland under Creative Commons license