Rumor has it that we'll get a long-overdue hardware refresh for the Apple TV set-top box at WWDC this year, along with an SDK that will let developers make applications for the platform without Apple's direct involvement. One feature it apparently won't include, however, is higher-resolution video support: BuzzFeed reports that the box won't support 4K output.

This is primarily because 4K is far from a mainstream feature—it still doesn't have wide support from the studios that produce content, the cable and streaming providers that serve that content, and the consumers who view that content. The report suggests that the storage and bandwidth costs associated with 4K video are high enough that it won't become a mainstream feature for some time.

The current Apple TV box is just over three years old and it's long past time for an upgrade, especially if Apple plans to let developers make apps that do things other than stream video. It has 512MB of RAM and a single-core version of the four-year-old Apple A5 SoC, and while that's sufficient for 1080p video streams, the Apple A8 will run circles around it in general performance. Rumors of a new Apple TV have been circulating for years, but there are signs that Apple is finally ready to move ahead with its plans: the old Apple TV got a fair amount of stage time at the company's March product event, and the Apple TV now "starts at $69" even though the $69 model is the only one you can currently buy.