It’s not like you didn’t already have a dozen Chromecasts floating around your house. What is one more? A new Google TV dongle, potentially packed with upgraded features, is on the horizon. Hopefully, this will be a significant update to the current four-year-old favorite. But the current pricepoint that’s rumored seems to indicate it won’t be a major leap ahead of what’s already offered.
According to 9to5Google’s sources, Google is preparing to launch a new Chromecast with Google TV sometime this year. It won’t replace the Chromecast HD launched in 2022 but rather the original version that debuted during the height of the pandemic. (After the launch of the HD, the original became referred to as the Chromecast with Google TV 4K.)
The upcoming Chromecast 4K is expected to cost $US50, the same as its predecessor from another economic time, so it might not have a bump up in RAM it desperately needs. The original Chromecast 4K had 2GB of RAM and a paltry 8GB of storage. It would be nice to see Google bump up both of those capabilities. At the very least, 9to5Google reports the possibility that Google will upgrade to a chip two generations ahead of the one currently in the Chromecast 4K. That chip, the Amlogic S905X5, also provides AV1 support, which the original Chromecast did not.
A new Chromecast with Google TV would level up Google’s competition against Roku and Amazon’s streaming sticks. While Roku remains platform agnostic and Amazon integrates its streaming services, Google’s selling point is Google TV’s built-in linear live offerings and seamless integration within a Google-led household. It used to be its voice-activated remote, but Amazon and Roku also offer its versions.
There is no word yet on when or where we’ll see this new Chromecast dongle. Based on the past few years of Google events, it’s likely it’ll either be shown off at Google I/O next month or later in the year when the Pixel 9 launches.