Apple hopes users are ready to settle deep into the couch hollow made by their tushy and repeatedly rewatch Severance until that new F1 The Movie film starts streaming. Among a host of new products Apple is likely to launch this week, we’re expecting a new set-top box to replace that aging 4K unit from 2022. But that’s not all it’s up to on the streaming front: It’s also rebranding Apple TV+ to, simply, “Apple TV.”
Why minus the plus from Apple’s TV products? It seems that the California company has a broader idea of where it can take its tvOS and Apple TV app (not to be confused with the streaming service, or the physical device, that now share its name).
In a press release about the F1 movie, Apple said the change from “TV+” to “TV” offers “a vibrant new identity.” What the hell does that mean? Apple TV+ users certainly aren’t sure, with many on Reddit speculating about the change’s implications for their ecosystem. Apple itself isn’t helping anyone disentangle its name change, clarifying merely that “Apple TV is available on the Apple TV app.” In any other context, that recursive logic would be equivalent to Futurama’s Philip J. Fry saying, “I’ve got one nail and another nail to nail it in with.”
But Apple isn’t the first streamer attempting to mess around with its name in 2025. Recently, Paramount rebranded its Paramount+ with Showtime streaming tier to Paramount+ Premium. HBO became HBO Max, then Max, then reversed full gear back to HBO Max in May. But Apple’s current road map suggests that this rebrand may be more of a measured move. That’s because the Cupertino tech giant also makes hardware. And its next Apple TV set-top box—whether it’s called Apple TV 4K, Apple TV+, or Apple TV 4K+ Pro Max—needs to stand out from its competition at Google and Amazon.
It would be understandable if Apple were growing weary of other companies stealing its “Plus, Pro, and Pro Max” branding, like Dell did before transforming its laptop slate into an utterly confusing mess. The latest rumors suggest the next Apple TV (we’re talking about the device now, not the streaming service) will be powered by the A17 Pro chip present in the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max. Yes, that means Apple’s likely to push its compatibility with Apple Intelligence whenever it gets around to giving Siri its promised AI makeover. If Apple is throwing itself into a big push for smart home, the next device could be very well resemble a HomePod combined with a set-top box. That would be akin to Google’s latest TV streamer.
That’s all speculation, however. What’s clear is that Apple may be coming to realize it can’t sit on the few laurels it has left. Apple’s tvOS, unlike competing operating systems, does not run natively on any TVs. The previous $130 Apple TV 4K set-top box is one of the few places you can access the company’s device-specific app store, not to mention the recent tvOS 26 redesign alongside its controversial Liquid Glass look and new karaoke sing-along sessions that leverage an iPhone as the mic. Following this rebrand, Apple TV is no longer just an app: It’s also a full set-top box with its own operating system, enabling users to access their apps and favorite TV shows all in one place.
