Rumor mill: Google is reportedly gearing up to unveil its second-generation Chromecast with Google TV 4K four years after launching the first-gen model. The company also launched a more affordable HD variant in 2022, but this promises to be a full-fat sequel to the original model, complete with 4K streaming capabilities.
The report comes from 9to5Google, which claims that the Android-powered dongle will ship with a new remote, but keep its $49.99 price-tag, possibly making it a real competitor against other similarly-priced streaming devices from Amazon and Roku.
There's no word on what to expect from the new device in terms of its hardware, but Google will likely implement some changes to make it more powerful than its predecessor. For reference, the 2020 model is powered by an Amlogic S905X3 processor, which has a quad-core Arm Cortex-A55 CPU clocked at 1.9 GHz. It also includes 2 GB of RAM and 8 GB of internal storage.
Chromecast users looking to upgrade from the existing model will be hoping that the new variant will bring a faster processor, more memory and additional storage. Online speculations suggest that it could come with the newer Amlogic S905X5 chipset that is expected to be faster and more power efficient than the older processor.
The S905X5 is built on a 6nm manufacturing process, which represents a generational change over the 12nm node of the X3 and X4. It also includes a new CPU with Cortex-A510 Armv9 cores and a Mali-G310 V5 GPU. Along with these hardware improvements, the S905X5 supports H.266 decoding. New Android TV boxes powered by the new chip have already been announced, although they are yet to hit the market.
As for the rumored new remote, a video found within Android TV 14 beta last year seemingly revealed that it could have a redesigned button layout that includes four large round buttons on the left side and two large round buttons plus a third large oblong button on the right. According to Android expert and former XDA editor-in-chief Mishaal Rahman, there will also apparently be a customizable "Magic button" that could let users choose whether pressing the button will "open a favorite app" or "view and switch inputs for TV or other devices."