What you need to know
- Google’s VP of devices and services for APAC, Mike Abary confirmed the company will not bring the TV Streamer to several APAC countries.
- Abary states the box will not arrive in Taiwan, Malaysia, India, or Singapore since the markets there host heavy competition among smart TV devices.
- The Google TV Streamer launched last August and marked quite an upgrade over the Chromecast dongle with expanded storage, audio formats, and more.
- Recent TV Streamer updates focused on the audio support/experience side of the box.
We’ve gone more than six months since Google released its next-gen streaming device, but new confirmation states global markets will miss it.
In a conversation with Android Authority, Google’s VP of devices and services for APAC, Mike Abary, informed the publication that several Asian countries won’t see the TV Streamer. When the box launched last year, we delivered pricing for it and its scheduled availability for U.S. consumers. However, according to Abary, Google is paying close attention to overseas “competition.”
Abary states the company has no plans to bring the Google TV Streamer to Taiwan, Malaysia, India, or Singapore. There are reportedly plans to keep it from even more APAC countries, too.
Specifically, Abary told the publication Google “evaluates the market” and pays close attention to “opportunities.” To Google, the regions it will keep the TV Streamer from have “strong competition” regarding smart TV devices and their market prices. It seems Google doesn’t feel it’s worth introducing an entirely new product to places with a saturated market, thus it will them with the Chromecast dongle.
As 9to5Google notes, the Chromecast dongle is no longer available in India or Singapore via the Google Store. Consumers there are left with third-party retailers if they’re interested.
Closing Abary’s short discussion, it’s reported that Google has “no plans to discontinue” its Chromecast dongle from those areas.
The TV Streamer launched last August, doubling as a streaming box and a smart home hub. With twice the storage of the Chromecast dongle, the TV Streamer delivers 32GB of space with 4K HDR, Dolby Vision, and Dolby Atmos sound options. There’s even a bit of Gemini on there to help surface any shows and movies you may want to see alongside curated content.
Since it’s launch, the TV Streamer has picked up a couple updates regarding its audio, namely its first from November. This patch gave users an easy way to select their preferred audio output format. Disregarding the “automatic” option, users can choose between Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby Digital, and PCM Stereo. Hopping into Settings > Audio options > Output format will get you started.
Then, with another update in February, Google crucially removed the Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio codecs for the TV Streamer. It seems Google removed these two since they weren’t available or functional for consumers. Both codecs were detectable by the TV Streamer, but nothing more.