All mentions of support for HDR10+ video coming to the TV app with iOS 16, iPadOS 16 and macOS Ventura have been removed from Apple’s website.
- Apple’s removed all mentions of the TV app getting HDR10+ support from its website, suggesting the promised feature has been delayed or pulled indefinitely.
- Before, all three pages for iOS 16, iPadOS 16 and macOS Ventura on the company’s website had advertised this feature.
- The development could mean that Apple may not release a new Apple TV model this year after all even though the current model lacks HDR10+ support.
Apple removes all mentions of HDR10+ support
Preview pages for iOS 16, iPadOS 16 and macOS Ventura included the following line:
HDR10+ support
The latest generation of high dynamic range technology is now supported in the Apple TV app.
But as mentioned, an Apple website update has removed all mentions of this feature.
Why HDR10+ support isn’t coming to the TV app
One simple reason why Apple wouldn’t add HDR10+ support to the TV app this year: There’s currently no Apple TV capable of outputting HDR10+ video. The current, second-generation Apple TV 4K supports HDR video in the following formats:
- Dolby Vision (HEVC, Profile 5)
- HDR10 (Main 10 profile)
- HLG (Hybrid Log-Gamma)
The device supports outputting 4K resolution at sixty frames per second in any of the aforementioned HDR standards. So it makes perfect sense not to implement software support for HDR10+ until new Apple TV hardware is ready. The fact that Apple is no longer advertising HDR10+ support for the TV app is yet another indication that the next Apple TV will probably arrive in 2023, not 2022.
Which HDR standards does the Apple TV app support?
The current version of the TV app supports HDR, HDR10 and Dolby Vision as the three main standards for high dynamic range video (implementations of the app on smart TV platforms, however, vary from one TV manufacturer to another). HDR10 is considered the most basic format of the three. Dolby Vision and HDR10+, on the other hand, are the most advanced HDR iterations in commercial use today. TVs that support both HDR10+ and Dolby Vision are still in the minority, with most of the models supporting either Dolby Vision or HDR10+ Read: Where is that on Apple TV?
HDR10+ support for the TV app is probably coming in 2023
Apple wouldn’t remove all mentions of HDR10+ support unless the feature wasn’t pulled. Noteworthy, there’s no label saying “Available later this year”, “Available in 2023” or some such on the iOS 16, iPadOS 16 and macOS Ventura preview pages. Looks like HDR10+ support, for whatever reason, definitely isn’t coming to the TV app in 2022. If we were to speculate, we’d guess that HDR10+ support is a feature that will probably arrive as part of next year’s iOS 17, iPadOS 17, tvOS 17 and macOS 14 updates. Read: Easy steps to set up your Apple TV the right way