Amazon is now making its own TVs, and today marks the release of the company’s Omni and 4-Series Fire TVs. As the 4K HDR sets start making their way to customers, Amazon is making one more last-minute announcement: it plans to add support for Apple’s AirPlay 2 and HomeKit features “soon.”
AirPlay 2 makes it easy to play content on the TV screen from an iPhone, iPad, or Mac. And HomeKit integration will allow the Omni and 4-Series TVs to be controlled by Siri or the Home app; it also makes it easy to include them in smart home routines.
Amazon has already rolled out AirPlay 2 and HomeKit to some of its “Fire TV Edition” TVs from Toshiba and Insignia. Curiously, these features have yet to come to the company’s standalone Fire TV streaming devices — including the just-released Fire TV Stick 4K Max. I’m not sure if that’s an intentional choice, but it’s a bit odd that Amazon is ready to announce support on day one for its brand-new TVs with nothing to share about AirPlay 2 coming to its cheaper devices. (Roku supports AirPlay 2 on both its players and Roku TVs.)
The Fire TV Omni series TVs offer the better picture quality of the two lines and come with built-in far-field microphones for hands-free Alexa voice commands. The 65-inch and 75-inch models support Dolby Vision HDR, though there are also smaller 43-, 50-, and 55-inch sizes available with HDR10.
Stay tuned for our impressions of Amazon’s first self-branded 4K TVs in the days ahead.
