Apple today released the seventh beta of an upcoming tvOS 11 update for the fourth-generation Apple TV, and within the beta, there appear to be assets for "J105a," previously revealed as the code name for an upcoming 4K Apple TV.
Developer Guilherme Rambo, who has made a name for himself delving into the HomePod firmware, shared a screenshot depicting HDR image assets with a file name that includes "J105a."
tvOS 11 Beta 7 contains some HDR assets for model J105A 😇 pic.twitter.com/IH2XdDfrrW — Guilherme Rambo (@_inside) August 21, 2017
The "J105a" name was first shared by Bloomberg in February, in a report that suggested Apple was working on a fifth-generation Apple TV capable of streaming Ultra HD 4K video.
That report said Apple could release a new fifth-generation 4K Apple TV as early as this year, and since then, we've seen continued references to the new model, suggesting a release could actually happen in the near future.
Along with the "J105a" assets found in today's tvOS 11 beta, references to the code name were also discovered in the HomePod firmware. That information suggested the device could support Dolby Vision and HDR10 color formats.
In March, evidence of an Apple TV identified as AppleTV 6,2 was found in developer logs with a Cupertino IP, and AppleTV 6,2 does not correspond to an existing Apple TV model. The current fourth-generation Apple TV is known as AppleTV 5,2.
Apple has also started listing select movies as 4K and HDR in iTunes purchase history, leading to speculation that a new Apple TV is imminent.
Aside from Bloomberg's report earlier this year, there has been no concrete confirmation that Apple plans to introduce a new Apple TV soon, but the continued mentions of J105a both in the HomePod firmware and in the tvOS 11 beta suggest we could perhaps see a new Apple TV announced this fall alongside new iPhone models.
