Leaked images and information reported by Google news website 9to5Google reveal that the tech giant may soon release an successor to the Chromecast and a possible rival to the Apple TV streaming device.
According to a news story on the site, Google is doing away with the Chromecast’s dongle form factor that plugs into a TV in favor of a set-top box design shaped like a pill. It is repotedly being called the “Google TV Streamer” for now, but it’s unclear if it serves any additional purposes, such as smart home control.
“This is joined by a pill-shaped base, with the entire thing vaguely looking like a miniature Pixel Tablet Charging Speaker Dock. Two cables — presumably power and HDMI — protrude from the back. Overall, it should have a minimal (height) presence underneath your television,” 9to5Google reports.
The set-top box is accompanied by a remote that looks slightly different from the Chromecast remote, include a D-pad, back and home buttons, and a voice input button that isn’t branded with Google Assistant.
Here’s more from 9to5Google on the device:
Lightapalooza took place in late February, and the growth of the event has mirrored the rapid ascension lighting fixtures and controls.
The volume rocker has been moved to the face of the remote instead of the right edge, while you now get a mute button too. Shortcuts for YouTube and Netflix, as well as power and a “Magic”/star shortcut, round things out.
With this drastically different design, we’re also getting a new name. The “Google TV Streamer” keeps the “Google TV” branding, but drops “Chromecast” in a surprising turn for the legacy moniker. It remains to be seen whether the company will keep selling the Chromecast with Google TV (HD), though it does follow “Google Cast” replacing the “Chromecast built-in” brand earlier this year.
Little is known about what other functionality the Google TV Streamer will have, or if it will even be called that when released. However, we’ll likely get more information at Google’s next big hardware event, Made By Google, on Aug. 13.
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