TheChromecast with Google TVis an amazing addition to any household and one of thebest streaming devicesyour money can buy. If you need a streaming device for your living room, it’s probably one of the best ones your money can buy. It was the first device to come with the brand’s new Google TV experience, which has since shown up on many other TVs and streaming devices, and it’s also fairly cheap — even cheaper if you don’t need 4K streaming. It’s not in desperate need of an upgrade, and you could say the current model is perfectly okay and holding up pretty well.But, if you’ve wondered whether a new model is coming anytime soon, it looks like Google might just have accidentally spilled the tea on the existence of an upcoming new model.
As published by Mishaal Rahmanon his Twitter account, the latest Android TV 14 beta has a video with the outline of a controller that resembles the current Chromecast with Google TV remote. Except, it doesn’t look exactly the same. The remote depicted here has the same overall shape as the current remote, but the button layout is entirely different. There are four buttons on the left side of the controller instead of three, while the right side has two buttons and a large oblong-shaped button.
The controller also appears to have a new “star” button that can be mapped to either an app of your choice or to view and switch inputs for other devices. The current controller is much simpler in layout, and that star button is completely absent, so the outline is a thought to resemble an unreleased model of the Chromecast with Google TV.
The first Chromecast with Google TV was released in 2020, so it’s now coming up to three years old.The HD version, which only supports 1080p streaming, was released last year, but that’s just a downgraded variant of the existing 4K model, and not a successor.
We haven’t heard a lot in terms of a new Chromecast model so far, butwe did hear a mention earlier this yearof an unreleased Chromecast with Google TV model within the Google Home app’s code, referred to as “YTC.” We’re speculating here, of course, but YTC might actually be the unreleased model Google is accidentally showing here. Of course, there’s also a very real chance all of this is just incorrect, although the repeated mentions of a star button that very clearly doesn’t exist on the current Chromecast models make us think otherwise.
Unfortunately, we have no clue when it might actually make it to store shelves. The companyreleased a teaser yesterdayof what it will announce during the company’s Made by Google event, showing a brief glimpse of aPixel 8smartphone and thePixel Watch 2. Of course, a new Chromecast with Google TV during that event as a “one last thing” sort of surprise is not out of the question, but don’t count on it.
