Does the New iMac 5K Retina Display Foreshadow an Apple TV?

The new iMac boasts a display resolution that exceeds that of any television — both high-definition displays and the new 4K TVs that are often called “Ultra HD.” (The 27-inch iMac’s display is called Retina 5K.)

Which raises the question: Is the new iMac basically a preview of the long-anticipated Apple TV?

Chief Executive Tim Cook smiled and, in his most courtly Southern manner, offered not even the hint of an answer.

“Today, we’re talking about iMacs and Mac minis, the iPad Air 2 and the iPad mini 3 and Yosemite,” Cook said, following the company’s presentation of its new lineup of tablets and other products. “We don’t need more to talk about today.”

The new 27‑inch iMac offers four times as many pixels as the standard 27‑inch iMac display, or 14.7 million pixels. Apple designed its own timing controller to drive all those pixels, and it took advantage of a new type of screen technology, an oxide TFT-based panel, to deliver extra brightness.

Cook, in a 2013 interview at the D: All Things Digital Conference, described the television as “an area of great interest to us.”

In an interview last month with Charlie Rose, Cook used similar language, signaling the company’s sustained interest.

“You know, TV is one of those things that, if we’re really honest, is stuck in the 1970s,” Cook said in the televised interview. “Think about how much your life has changed and how all the things around you have changed, and yet when you go in your living room to watch the TV, or wherever it might be, it almost feels like you’re rewinding the clock and you’ve entered a time capsule and you’re going backwards. The interface is terrible. It’s awful! And you watch things when they come on, unless you remember to record them.”

This article originally appeared on Recode.net.

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