The Next Apple TV Remote Will Be Radically Different

The first Apple TV remote was small, white plastic device with a handful of buttons. That remote was phased out by the current remote that ships with Apple TV’s, the current one is the one most people are familiar with: thin and silver with a few black buttons — just the right amount to make it useful and intuitive. This is by design.

The New York Times is now reporting that the new Apple TV remote, which will ship with the updated device (expected to be introduced this June during WWDC ’15), will very different than the current one.

According to the Times’ source, the new Apple TV remote will have a touch pad and will also be slightly thicker than the current version. The touch pad is reportedly going to be used for navigation purposes. Additionally, there will be two physical buttons the new remote. The redesigned remote will be the first big change to the Apple remote since the Apple TV’s introduction in 2007.

Apple has held talks with a number of leading television companies to offer an Internet-based TV service this year for its Apple TV, iPhone and iPad. The service will offer a bundle of channels that is smaller and cheaper than the broad catalog of offerings in a typical cable TV subscription.

Of course, we also expect to hear about an update to Beats and deeper integration into iTunes.

In the mean time, lets drool a little over this mockup of the next Apple TV remote.