Apple has announced a dynamic and exciting rebrand of its popular video streaming service Apple TV+, saying it will henceforth go by the new name of “Apple TV”.
It’s such a revolutionary new change that the company didn't even announce it properly, instead revealing the change in yesterday’s press release where it said that the popular film F1 The Movie will be available to stream on its platform from December 12.
It was first spotted by Flatpanels HD's eagle-eyed reporters, who said the rebrand was made clear right at the end of Apple’s press release, where it stated that “Apple TV+ is now simply Apple TV”, clarifying that all it has done is drop the “+” symbol from the name.
It’s a bold move by Apple, to be sure, but it may also make things even more confusing for Apple TV fans, for the phrase “Apple TV” can now refer to three separate things produced by the iPhone company. Not only is Apple TV the streaming service that rivals Netflix, Disney+ and Amazon Prime Video, but it’s also the name of the Apple TV app, which bundles content from the iTunes Store, Apple TV Channels (a collection of on-demand TV channels) and the streaming service.
In addition, Apple TV is the name of Apple’s TV hardware, which connects to televisions via a HDMI cable to transform them into smart TVs.
Apple has wasted no time in making sure its “vibrant new identity” will be seen, and the new logo already been witnessed by some Apple TV 4K box owners after updating the underlying software to tvOS 26.1 beta, replacing the previous monochrome icon. The new logo is also visible on the Apple TV PR website. It's certainly a much cleaner look, even if there are no other obvious advantages to the name change.
Numerous reports in recent months indicate that Apple is also preparing to launch a new Apple TV 4K box, and the rebrand will perhaps give further weight to those rumours. It's said that the new hardware will be powered by a more advanced chipset in the shape of the A17 Bionic, which first debuted in the iPhone 15 Pro smartphone in September 2023.
While Apple hasn’t said anything officially, references to the new hardware and chip have been spotted by developers in the tvOS 26 beta codebase. There are rumours that the new Apple TV 4K will come with AI features enabled by Apple Intelligence, which is a suite of generative AI tools that launched on this year’s iPhone 17 models. That suggests users can look forward to enhanced conversational search experiences, and perhaps even make their own short movies using natural language prompts.
For now, this is all speculation, but given the references in the codebase and the fact that Apple’s current Apple TV 4K is now three years old, no one will be surprised if it becomes official soon.
