In May, Samsung began rolling out AirPlay 2 support on their 2018 and 2019 line-up of Smart TVs. Now, after announcing support at CES in January, LG is getting in the mix. Unlike Samsung though, LG will also support HomeKit which means you can control your smart home devices from your TV or your LG AI TV (power, volume, source) from the Home App.
Unfortunately, unless you have a television from 2019 line-up, you’re out of luck. Apple features will be available through a firmware update only on the current year Smart TVs — 2019 LG OLED TVs, NanoCell TVs and UHD TVs with ThinQ AI capability.
According to LG, “TV models prior to 2019 will be able to deliver a seamless user experience. Therefore, while this may be a possibility in the future, at the moment, LG has no plans to update its pre-2019 TVs with Airplay 2 or HomeKit.”
If you do have a supported TV set, customers will be able to play videos (including in Dolby Vision), music, and podcasts from Apple devices on LG Smart TVs. The feature has also been in testing on VIZIO Smart TVs since April.
The renewed interest in partnerships with TV manufacturers comes as Apple announced a new streaming service called Apple TV+ with original shows from J.J. Abrams, Reese Witherspoon, and Chris Evans.