Apple Abandoned Low-Cost TV Dongle Plans, but Looking to Double New Apple TV+ Content Rate in 2022

Apple has abandoned its plans for a low-cost Apple TV dongle and is set to significantly accelerate and expand the output of new content on ‌Apple TV‌+ next year, according to The Information.

Apple TV Stick vs Box Feature
Sources said to be familiar with Apple's plans speaking to The Information have apparently revealed many of the company's internal discussions and attitudes around ‌Apple TV‌+ in detail. The company allegedly sees ‌Apple TV‌+ as a standalone business rather than a mechanism to encourage users to buy into the Apple ecosystem.

The Information reported in 2018 that Apple was working on a low-cost TV dongle device as a more inexpensive alternative to the ‌Apple TV‌, which starts at $149. The project was driven by Tim Twerdahl, an Apple video and audio marketing executive, who argued that a low-cost TV device would make it more affordable for users to access ‌Apple TV‌+ based on his experience overseeing similar projects at Netflix and Amazon.

Greg Joswiak and Phil Schiller reportedly overruled Twerdahl, insisting that Apple should not begin making cheap, low-margin devices due to its potential to damage its reputation for premium products, meaning that Twerdahl's low-cost TV device project was abandoned. Twerdahl is said to have recently left the company.

Apple decided that an appropriate middle-ground solution would be to develop apps for ‌Apple TV‌+ on other platforms, such as devices from Samsung, Roku, Amazon, Sony, and Microsoft, which aligned with earlier concerns among executives, including Eddy Cue, that ‌Apple TV‌+ would need to be available on a wide range of devices, including non-Apple ones.

Executives are said to have debated putting the Apple brand on another company's device for over a year, ahead of Apple reaching an agreement for a dedicated Apple TV+ button on the Roku remote control. Apple has apparently discussed similar arrangements with at least one other TV manufacturer, but there are no imminent plans for another dedicated button.

The report explained that Apple intends to increase the amount of regular new content on ‌Apple TV‌+ in 2022, with at least one new item added per week, at more than double the pace of new content in 2021.

Despite Apple's willingness to pay a premium for ‌Apple TV‌+ content, the company apparently refuses to cover budget overruns, insisting that studio partners pay for any additional costs.

Some studio executives have apparently felt frustrated with Apple's lack of willingness to market shows aggressively before they come out, treating the debut of new shows like hardware products. The company is also said to share little detail with studio partners about the objectives of marketing campaigns, and whether they are aiming to advertise to acquire subscribers or raise awareness of an individual show.

‌Apple TV‌+ is also set to benefit from more than $500 million in marketing this year. The company is believed to have spent significantly less than this on marketing in 2020. Netflix, by comparison, spent $1.1 billion on marketing during the first half of 2021 alone. Apple has also reportedly told advertising partners that it will not buy campaigns for ‌Apple TV‌+ titles on Facebook or Instagram.

It was estimated that by the end of 2020, ‌Apple TV‌+ had around 40 million subscribers. These numbers are roughly the same as of this summer, according to an individual said to have knowledge of Apple's subscriber figures. Approximately half of ‌Apple TV‌+ subscribers are now paying for the service, with the other half still using a free trial period.

Other tidbits from the report include the fact that Apple has endeavored to protect its brand within ‌Apple TV‌+ shows, insisting that the unlikeable character of "Jo" in "Mythic Quest" was not seen using Apple devices during the show's second season.

For more details, see The Information's full report.

Related Roundup: Apple TV
Buyer's Guide: Apple TV (Don't Buy)

Popular Stories

iPhone 17 Pro Blue Feature Tighter Crop

iPhone 17 Pro Launching in Three Months With These 12 New Features

Saturday June 14, 2025 5:45 pm PDT by
The iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are three months away, and there are plenty of rumors about the devices. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models as of June 2025:Aluminum frame: iPhone 17 Pro models are rumored to have an aluminum frame, whereas the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro models have a titanium frame, and the iPhone X through iPhone 14 Pro have a...
apple watch ultra 2 new black

Apple Watch Ultra 3 Finally Coming After Two-Year Hiatus

Monday June 16, 2025 8:45 am PDT by
Apple will finally deliver the Apple Watch Ultra 3 sometime this year, according to analyst Jeff Pu of GF Securities Hong Kong (via @jukanlosreve). The analyst expects both the Apple Watch Series 11 and Apple Watch Ultra 3 to arrive this year (likely alongside the new iPhone 17 lineup, if previous launches are anything to go by), according to his latest product roadmap shared with...
Logitech Logo Feature

Logitech Announces Two New Accessories for WWDC

Friday June 13, 2025 7:22 am PDT by
Alongside WWDC this week, Logitech announced notable new accessories for the iPad and Apple Vision Pro. The Logitech Muse is a spatially-tracked stylus developed for use with the Apple Vision Pro. Introduced during the WWDC 2025 keynote address, Muse is intended to support the next generation of spatial computing workflows enabled by visionOS 26. The device incorporates six degrees of...
iPadOS 26 App Windowing

Apple Explains Why iPads Don't Just Run macOS

Friday June 13, 2025 7:46 am PDT by
iPadOS 26 allows iPads to function much more like Macs, with a new app windowing system, a swipe-down menu bar at the top of the screen, and more. However, Apple has stopped short of allowing iPads to run macOS, and it has now explained why. In an interview this week with Swiss tech journalist Rafael Zeier, Apple's software engineering chief Craig Federighi said that iPadOS 26's new Mac-like ...
iphone 16 pro models 1

17 Reasons to Wait for the iPhone 17

Thursday June 12, 2025 8:58 am PDT by
Apple's iPhone development roadmap runs several years into the future and the company is continually working with suppliers on several successive iPhone models simultaneously, which is why we often get rumored features months ahead of launch. The iPhone 17 series is no different, and we already have a good idea of what to expect from Apple's 2025 smartphone lineup. If you skipped the iPhone...
terminal macos tahoe

Apple's Terminal App Gets Colorful Redesign in macOS Tahoe

Monday June 16, 2025 4:12 am PDT by
Apple's Terminal app is getting a visual refresh in macOS Tahoe, and it's the first notable design update since the command-line tool debuted. The updated Terminal will support 24-bit color and Powerline fonts, according to Apple's State of the Platforms presentation at WWDC25. The app will also adopt the new Liquid Glass aesthetic with redesigned themes that align with macOS 26's broader...
apple watch ultra snow

6 Features Coming to the Apple Watch Ultra 3

Tuesday February 25, 2025 9:00 am PST by
The Apple Watch Ultra 3 is expected to launch later this year, arriving two years after the previous model with a series of improvements. While no noticeable design changes are expected for the third generation since the company tends to stick with the same Apple Watch design through three generations before changing it, there are a series of internal upgrades on the way. By the time the ...
iOS 26 Feature

Apple Seeds Revised iOS 26 Developer Beta to Fix Battery Issue

Friday June 13, 2025 10:15 am PDT by
Apple today provided developers with a revised version of the first iOS 26 beta for testing purposes. The update is only available for the iPhone 15 and iPhone 16 models, so if you're running iOS 26 on an iPhone 14 or earlier, you won't see the revised beta. Registered developers can download the new beta software through the Settings app on each device. The revised beta addresses an...

Top Rated Comments

countryside Avatar
49 months ago
Please rename the Apple TV/Apple TV+/TV app/devices. WAY too confusing.
Score: 61 Votes (Like | Disagree)
MrPresident Avatar
49 months ago
What a shame to hear that a dongle was abandoned. I would have bought several of those devices if AirPlay was a feature. The ability to turn any TV into a wireless display with a small unit would have been incredibly useful!!
Score: 38 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Böhme417 Avatar
49 months ago
How annoying. Some of us may want a smaller device for travel. The fire stick I currently travel with is garbage. I would love an Apple TV stick instead and wouldn’t mind paying a premium for it.
Score: 18 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Zimmy68 Avatar
49 months ago
They probably abandoned it because it would be too cheap to make/price and would cannibalize into the over priced 4kTV.
Score: 15 Votes (Like | Disagree)
siddavis Avatar
49 months ago

Greg Joswiak and Phil Schiller reportedly overruled Twerdahl, insisting that Apple should not begin making cheap, low-margin devices due to its potential to damage its reputation for premium products, meaning that Twerdahl's low-cost TV device project was abandoned. Twerdahl is said to have recently left the company.

Apple decided that an appropriate middle-ground solution would be to develop apps for Apple TV+ on other platforms, such as devices from Samsung, Roku, Amazon, Sony, and Microsoft, which aligned with earlier concerns among executives, including Eddy Cue, that Apple TV+ would need to be available on a wide range of devices, including non-Apple ones.
This seems (a little at least) contradictory to me. "We can't soil our brand by making low margin devices, so instead, we'll put our product on other crappy low margin devices that we have no control over."
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Zaft Avatar
49 months ago

What a shame to hear that a dongle was abandoned. I would have bought several of those devices if AirPlay was a feature. The ability to turn any TV into a wireless display with a small unit would have been incredibly useful!!
You don’t need an Apple TV for that anymore. All my Rokus have AirPlay 2 which does exactly this
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)