'˜Leaked' images show '˜Apple TV in testing lab'

The long-rumoured Apple TV could be on the way after a 'leak' purporting to show it in production was posted online.
Blurry pictures posted on a Chinese microblogging site appear to show an Apple-branded television screen in a test lab. Picture: SWNS.comBlurry pictures posted on a Chinese microblogging site appear to show an Apple-branded television screen in a test lab. Picture: SWNS.com
Blurry pictures posted on a Chinese microblogging site appear to show an Apple-branded television screen in a test lab. Picture: SWNS.com

Blurry pictures appear to show an Apple-branded television screen in a test lab that resembles facilities broadcast in the firm’s marketing videos.

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The images, which were posted on a Chinese microblogging site, show the device has a narrow metallic frame and body wrapping around a large 60-inch screen.

On his deathbed, Steve Jobs expressed great interest in reinventing the television, telling biographer Walter Isaacson that he had “finally cracked it.”

But The Wall Street Journal reported in 2015 that Apple had scrapped plans for its own ultra-high-definition television set “more than a year ago”.

The company struggled to find any new, untapped features that would differentiate their screen from rivals Samsung, LG, and Sharp, the report said.

While the possibility of Apple launching its own competing television screen may spark the interest of some, the company is known for secretly testing products that never actually make it into the hands of the public.

It is believed the screen would run a version of the company’s tvOS software, which allows users to stream movies, play games and download applications.

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When Steve Jobs stepped down from his position as Apple chief executive in August 2011 due to illness, he told journalist Walt Mossberg that he planned work on an Apple-branded television set to re-invent the television industry.

The conversation was revealed by Mossberg to tech news website Recode.

“Steve was going to still be involved,” he said.

“But he wanted me to know that he was going to be involved in big strategic things, and also that he was going to reserve one particular thing for himself.”

“I said, ‘well, what’s that?’”

“He said, ‘Well, it’s television… I think we figured out a way to do it, and it’s going to be fantastic. I want you to come out, in a few months, and I want to show it to you.’”

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