With September 10th fast approaching and Apple now officially confirming that it will hold an event on that date, all the focus and attention is squarely on what will be announced at the company’s Cupertino HQ. Up until now all the talk has been about the iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C, both of which are expected to be shown off publicly for the first time on the 10th, with a release happening less than two weeks later. But there may be more to it than that.
Another Apple product that is overdue a refresh is the humble Apple TV. Long called a hobby by Apple, the device has been growing in features with each software update, and with iOS 7 just around the corner that is set to continue. You can only do so much with software however, and eventually you need to beef up the internals to really get things moving. Is Apple going to drop a new Apple TV on the 10th, too?
New York-based global trade intelligence platform Panjiva believes that it just might, after it used its own shipment search tool and found the original bill of landing data from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Intrigued? We thought you might be.
According to Panjiva, that information suggests that on the 25th of August, Apple took delivery of a shipment labeled as containing a “Set Top Box with Communication Function.” Coming from BYD Precision Manufacture in Shenzhen, the shipment certainly raises the eyebrows.
A week before that, on the 18th, a similar shipment arrived, this time labeled as ‘Set Top Boxes.’ The previous week saw the first delivery from BYD, and the first mention of the “Set Top Box with Communication Function.”
Now obviously this doesn’t prove anything, but the timing is interesting and with the September 10th iPhone event around the corner it’s possible to deduce that the Apple TV will see a refresh on the 10th. We’ll find out soon enough, but with two new iPhones coming out of the same event, we wonder whether anyone would even notice a new Apple TV being announced on that day.
Apple is also going to host another iPhone event in China on September 11th, on which, it is expected that it will announce the new iPhones for China Mobile.
(Source: Panjiva)
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