Reportedly coming later this year
Google announced the Chromecast with Google TV alongside the Pixel 5 in September 2020, but the company is already reportedly working on a new streaming dongle due to launch later this year. Code-named Boreal, the device has been confirmed to exist in teardowns and could be a higher-end model for the company’s streaming hardware lineup — though precise specs are unknown.
Both documentation and teardowns performed by 9to5Google confirm that Google is actively working on the new streaming device and that it’s part of the same family as Sabrina — the code name for the current model. The publication has also “heard” that it may launch this year, powered by the same software that the existing model enjoys. Other key details like specs and pricing remain a mystery, but native AV1 hardware playback should be supported, as that’s apparently a requirement for Android TV now. That sort of functionality is limited to newer chipsets, so we could see a hardware upgrade inside Boreal.
If you aren’t familiar, AV1 codec support should lead to lower bandwidth usage when streaming content encoded with it, and its compression gets better at higher resolutions — important with the rise of 4K and 8K TVs.
When the prior Chromecast with Google TV made its debut, it replaced the $69 Chromecast Ultra. Though it was much-loved, it’s not perfect — the paltry 8GB built-in storage is an issue for some. Still, at only a year and a half old, it would be a little unusual for Google to already be looking to replace it. Customers have also been clamoring for higher-end set-top devices more like Nvidia’s Shield series, which remain very popular even with their older hardware.
This is speculative, but Boreal could be a higher-end device that would sit above its existing offering with a more recent chipset and hopefully more storage, processing power, and maybe other features. Outside the Shield, third-party Android TV streaming devices with superior specs are hard to find in the market, and the selection of Google TV models (there’s a difference) is even smaller — there’s one from Realme, but it is riddled with bugs and has the same paltry 8GB storage. Until specs are confirmed, there’s no way to know, but Google could take matters into its own hands to fill this void.
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