What you need to know
- Google Home app's latest update appears to show the existence of another Chromecast dongle in development.
- The device is labeled with the codename "YTD," and more digging showed that the app treats it as a Chromecast, potentially ruling out the possibility of it being another product.
- January 2023 saw the discovery of the first next-generation Chromecast with Google TV, marked as codename "YTC."
New evidence may point toward another next-gen Chromecast with Google TV in the development process.
An APK dive into the latest Google Home app shows a new codename listed beside other Chromecast streaming devices, according to 9to5Google. The app already lists the existing HD and 4K video Chromecast devices. The latest update has seemingly placed a new "YTD" codenamed device beside the pre-existing streaming dongles.
This could be another device entirely, however, 9to5 discovered the app treats the unknown YTD device as a Chromecast. There is some "confidence" behind YTD becoming another streaming dongle, but things can always change, or the product may not be released.
What's odd about this is that a next-gen Chromecast with a Google TV dongle was previously discovered in January 2023. The device featured the codename "YTC" in its respective Google Home app build last year. It was speculated that this dongle could be the top-tier Chromecast consumers have been waiting on. The HD variant launched late in 2022, while the 4K iteration rolled out in 2020.
The latter, which may have appealed more to consumers, suffered from a severe lack of storage. The device was advertised with 8GB, but, officially, users could only use about half of that. This "YTC" device was speculated to solve that storage problem and finally include AV1 codec support for more efficient streams.
A new Chromecast remote with a mysterious star button was discovered in an Android 14 beta back in September. The remote's example image was discovered and showed a redesign in its layout with new front-facing volume keys and more. What's more, that star button was discovered a few before the remote in the Android 14 TV beta.
Where this new alleged "YTD" Chromecast dongle and "YTC" device line up remains to be seen as there's still too little information. More importantly, Google's annual I/O event is coming up in the next couple of months so, perhaps, there will be more in store.
The new king of streaming devices
With a favorable lowered price, the Chromecast with Google TV (HD) device delivers your streamed content at a crisp 1080p. The product comes with an extremely convenient remote with a button to access Google Assistant and with Cast support to continue watching things on your phone right on your TV.
