Android has featured the ability to stream to AirPlay devices like the Apple TV by means of third-party utilities for some time now, but no Android device has ever shipped with native AirPlay support in tow. That’s all changed with the announcement of the HTC 10, the first device to ship with native AirPlay support.
Some of you may be wondering why this matters, especially since third-party apps and tools have allowed this for a long time? The fact is, native implementation, generally speaking, works better than third-party workarounds, and the presence of native AirPlay support is no different.
With as many Apple TVs and AirPlay speaker devices as there are in the wild, HTC has made a wise choice to officially license the use of the protocol natively from Apple. That means AirPlay support in the HTC 10 is legit, and not some sort of shady workaround frowned on by Apple.
AirPlaying audio will also be extremely easy to pull off with minimal hoops to jump through. All you need to do is perform a three finger swipe-up gesture from anywhere on the interface, and HTC’s Connect overlay will appear. HTC Connect allows users to seamlessly stream to a variety of devices across a litany of protocols. It just so happens that the latest protocol to be supported is AirPlay.
I know quite a few people who use Android smartphones but prefer the Apple TV over something like a Chromecast, and now the HTC 10 boasts a feature that will be quite appealing to those users. True, this won’t be a solution for those seeking to fling video to an Apple TV from the HTC 10, but it’s a nice start.
Be sure to check out our hands-on look at the HTC 10 over at 9to5Google, for more details on HTC’s just-launched flagship endeavor.
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Mite get it to go along with my iPhone.
Sorry to parade-rain, but Xiaomi’s phones have had a built in Airplay implementation for a good long while, based on the open source reverse engineering work that was done a few years ago. It actually works fantastically, if you’re looking for something cheap to use as an Apple Music (it runs on Android now) box. (They use a similar implementation to receive Airplay streams on their TVs/TV boxes too.)
How is reverse engineering something without permission “open source”?
This is a supported officially licensed implementation.
Did you not read the article?
Of course there have been reverse engineered workarounds for ages.
HTC make great Phones. Once again, they make the Android phone I’d buy if I didn’t buy an iPhone. But I’m buying an iPhone, so no sale. I hope HTC sticks around.
I feel like Apple is somehow going to figure out a way to patch this
Maybe an “Airplay 2.0”
“HTC has made a wise choice to officially license the use of the protocol natively from Apple”
HTC licensed it. Apple won’t mess with that if they’re making money off the licensing.
What exactly should Apple patch here?
If you would have read the article you would know that HTC “…officially license the use of the protocol natively from Apple”.
So this is audio only? ‘Flinging video’ isn’t a precise phrase in my vocabulary so not sure if it means none at all as I suspect or a particular aspect of streaming/sending it.
It’s audio and video – it will work with both.