The fancy new Amazon Fire TV Omni gives us dreams of an Apple television

Only Amazon could force Apple to make a TV

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

Applehas made some legendary products, but the products it hasn’t made have their own legends. For every iMac, iPod, and iPhone Apple has produced, there have been rumors of products that could have been. TheApple Glasses, theApple Car, and first among them: the Apple Television.

Those rumors of anApple iTVdied out years ago, for good reason. A television set is an expensive product to make, and Apple likes to make a lot of money. To earn the same profit it makes on phones and AirPods, it would need to sell a TV that is too expensive for the current market.

Or it would need to use bargain-bin technology to cut prices, the wayAmazondid with its Fire TV Omni sets, until recently.

Apple is already on the television

Apple doesn’t need to make a TV set because you can just hook up anApple TV 4Kto the set you own. You can AirPlay from youriPhone 14. You can watch thebest Apple TV shows, and play all of your favoriteApple Arcadegames, all without an Apple television set. Apple knows the real money isn’t in the TV set, it’s in the services that support it.

If there is a company on board with selling services, it’s Amazon. It’s hard to describe Amazon these days because the Amazon Prime service reaches across so many categories. Amazon is a storefront with an expedited shipping service. It’s also a streaming content service; a music service; a cloud storage service; and a service that can automate and secure your connected home.

Amazon sells speakers, cameras, smart displays, and even aroving robot. Those displays got bigger and bigger until they became full-fledgedFire TV Omnisets. Amazon TVs gained quick popularity because Amazon offers them with no frills other than Amazon services, and the prices are among the lowest you’ll find on a brand you’ve heard of.

Why sell a cheap TV? The Fire TV is a hook to get you into Amazon Prime. It’s a huge monitor for all of your Amazon Ring cameras. It reminds you to use Alexa. Amazon could sell a television at a loss. The one-time profit from selling a TV is nothing compared to the monthly income from subscribers.

Get the best Black Friday deals direct to your inbox, plus news, reviews, and more.

Sign up to be the first to know about unmissable Black Friday deals on top tech, plus get all your favorite TechRadar content.

Why aren’t more streamers making a TV?

Surprisingly, there are few content and services providers in a position to dominate the living room so completely. Your favorite streaming services aren’t interested in making a TV. No TV from Disney, or HBO, or Netflix, nor even Hulu.

Rokucomes close. Roku bundles its software withTCLTVs, an alternative to the Roku streaming stick. It has some exclusive content, but very little. If you want to watch “Weird: The Al Yankovic Story” this fall, you’ll need Roku. That doesn’t come close to the level of original programming Amazon offers, in addition to all of the licensed content.

Amazon takes aim at Samsung

It’s obvious why Amazon would sell a cheap TV, but why would it sell a fancy TV? The new Amazon Fire TV Omni QLED uses Quantum Dots, which offer superior color accuracy. It has local array dimming, which is a fancy trick that brings LED TVs closer to the near-infinite contrast ofOLEDscreens. These are videophile features. They won’t look as good as thebest Samsung TVor thebest LG TV, but Amazon is very competitive on price.

Samsung smart TVs can run all of the streaming apps you need … but Samsung has no hook

This could be a danger forSamsung. Samsung smart TVs can run all of the streaming apps you need, including Amazon Prime Video and even Apple TV+, but Samsung has no hook.

Samsung sells great, reliable TVs in a range of prices, but there is nothing to lock a customer into the brand like Amazon has with all of its Prime, Ring, and Alexa-related services. Once you set up your house to work with your Amazon Fire TV Omni, you may be more inclined to keep buying Fire TV sets.

There is one company that could compete with Amazon in this space. One company with a robust streaming channel full of content; a company with an array of subscription services; a company invested in home automation. Apple could take on Amazon easily, it just doesn’t want to.

An Apple television is not impossible

An Apple television can’t be an entry-level bargain like a Fire TV Omni, and it can’t be a half-step up the ladder like the Fire TV Omni QLED. It needs to be among the best, if not THE best.

Right now the best display makers are using those displays in-house, and Apple does not make its own display panels. Buying the best panels from a third-party is expensive. In order for Apple to earn enough from a TV, the screen technology will need to get much cheaper.

This is not impossible. Samsung has finally cracked the code on manufacturing its own television-sized OLED panels, breakingLG’s near-monopoly. Televisions with OLED are considered the highest quality, so it is unlikely that Apple would make a TV that did not use OLED. If OLED production costs come down enough, that removes a barrier.

If TVs get locked down, Apple will need to make one

Apple will make a television if it needs to make a television. Right now, every TV maker allows competing apps and services to run, and myriad devices to connect and stream content. In the future, we could see more of a walled garden.

What if Amazon decides that it doesn’t need AirPlay on its TV sets, or it removes the HDMI port altogether to cut costs? Then Apple devices would be effectively blocked. What if Amazon ditches third-party streaming apps, the way it eschewsGoogle’s apps on its Android tablets?

Amazon is already locking in users by integrating all of its various services on one hub. If iPhone users can get everything they need from an Amazon Fire TV Omni without connecting their smartphone, they will stop buying Apple TV devices, and will be less likely to sign up for Apple’s premiere services. Then, Apple could be forced to make a television.

Some day, if technology prices come down, and if competition among service providers heats up, we could wake up to find Apple is ready with the TV set of our dreams.

If you don’t want to wait for Apple, you can findTechRadar’s list of the best TVs right here.

Phil Berne is a preeminent voice in consumer electronics reviews, starting more than 20 years ago at eTown.com. Phil has written for Engadget, The Verge, PC Mag, Digital Trends, Slashgear, TechRadar, AndroidCentral, and was Editor-in-Chief of the sadly-defunct infoSync. Phil holds an entirely useful M.A. in Cultural Theory from Carnegie Mellon University. He sang in numerous college a cappella groups.

Phil did a stint at Samsung Mobile, leading reviews for the PR team and writing crisis communications until he left in 2017. He worked at an Apple Store near Boston, MA, at the height of iPod popularity. Phil is certified in Google AI Essentials. He has a High School English teaching license (and years of teaching experience) and is a Red Cross certified Lifeguard. His passion is the democratizing power of mobile technology. Before AI came along he was totally sure the next big thing would be something we wear on our faces.

Black Friday has arrived: LG’s 65-inch C4 OLED TV gets a staggering $1,300 discount

The Apple TV 4K just got even more interesting for projectors in tvOS 18.2

Sihoo Doro S100 ergonomic office chair review