LG 2018 TVs Will No Longer Get Promised AirPlay 2, HomeKit Support

Most consumer electronics come with a two-year warranty, some even just one, and those often apply to software updates for smart devices. That's true for smartphones, which consumers seem to change just as often, but most probably expect larger and more expensive products like smart TVs to get updates and at least promised features beyond that time frame. That is most likely why owners of LG's 2018 TVs are irked by the company's sudden and silent U-turn in rolling out AirPlay 2 and HomeKit support that it promised months back.

Despite being mostly an Android and partly a webOS house, LG was particularly proud that it was the first to add support for this exclusive Apple features on its TVs last year. AirPlay 2 would have allowed owners of Apple devices to stream their content to their TVs while a HomeKit app would let them control their connected smart home devices from their couches.

While such new features are often promised to current-gen and future TV models, LG promised in April that it will bring those same premium goodies to its 2018 TV lineup. Excited 2018 LG TV owners were then surprised by the revelation that LG apparently no longer has plans to do that.

It isn't unusual for a company to renege on promised features but often those do inform affected users of changes beforehand. That or they put a footnote that the feature may or may not be implemented as promised to keep consumers from putting faith in those promises.

The 2018 LG TVs are barely two years old and, even then, would still be eligible for such updates. LG already has a souring reputation for updates on Android, which it does not control, it certainly doesn't need to gain the same rep for webOS, which it mostly does.