AirPlay 2 and Homekit Support Coming to Select Smart TVs

It’s not often that I talk about the latest tech news but something really important came out of CES last week regarding Apple.

For those of who don’t know CES stands for the Consumers Electronics Show and it happens every year around this time in Las Vegas. It’s a time for tech companies, big and small, around the world to show off projects that they are working on.

Apple has never shown up at CES for whatever reason, but this year they were hiding in the background.

Television is a large part of CES. TV companies such as LG and Samsung bring their 8k TVs that are just stunning and can roll away into a box, that are as thin as a piece of regular printer paper.

Anyways moving on to what this article is really about which is not the TV its self, but instead the software that it runs on.

If you have purchased a new TV within the past few years there’s a good chance that it was a Smart TV, meaning it can run apps like Netflix and Prime Video or even play games like Monopoly instead of having to purchase a separate streaming box, like a Roku, or FireTV. If your someone who wants things like AirPlay, so you can mirror your iPhone, iPad, or iMac to the big screen, or all of your iTunes purchases, like Movies, TV Shows, Music, and apps, on the big screen then your only option is an Apple TV. For Apple users, Apple TV is the best companion for your TV because it integrates so well with all of your Apple products. Until now…

If you become the owner of any of these announced TVs:

  • LG OLED (2019)Announced
  • LG NanoCell SM9X series (2019)Announced
  • LG NanoCell SM8X series (2019)Announced
  • LG UHD UM7X series (2019)Announced
  • Samsung QLED Series (2019 and 2018)Announced
  • Samsung 8 Series (2019 and 2018)Announced
  • Samsung 7 Series (2019 and 2018)Announced
  • Samsung 6 Series (2019 and 2018)Announced
  • Samsung 5 Series (2019 and 2018)Announced
  • Samsung 4 Series (2019 and 2018)Announced
  • Sony Z9G Series (2019)Announced
  • Sony A9G Series (2019)Announced
  • Sony X950G Series (2019)Announced
  • Sony X850G Series (2019 85″, 75″, 65″ and 55″ models)Announced
  • Vizio P-Series Quantum (2019 and 2018)Announced
  • Vizio P-Series (2019, 2018 and 2017)Announced
  • Vizio M-Series (2019, 2018 and 2017)Announced
  • Vizio E-Series (2019, 2018 and 2017)Announced
  • Vizio D-series (2019, 2018 and 2017)Announced

Then get excited because AirPlay 2 and HomeKit support is coming. So you will no longer need an AppleTV, if you have one of these Smart TV models, to send videos and music to your TV. Then with Homekit you will be able to control your TV with your iPhone just like with an Apple TV today.

For those of you who already own a 2017 or 2018 model of a TV above, stay tuned for a software update which will bring these additions natively to the big screen.

For the Samsung users, you will be able to stream, buy, and rent movies, tv shows, and music through the iTunes app for Samsung smart TV. Hopefully, the iTunes app with come to other Smart TV brands in the future.

One thing to mention before we go is that all of this was only announced. As of now, there is no official date that these features will be rolling out, nor how well they work because this is still a work in progress.

 

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