Rumor: The remote for the next Apple TV will feature a trackpad

Apple has long ridiculed remote controls for being too complex. Now after eight years of a minimalist design for its Apple TV remote, the company is revising the device’s design. When Apple introduces its new TV box this summer, the remote control will gain a touch pad and also be slightly thicker than the current version, according to an employee briefed on the product, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the device was confidential. The touch pad can be used for scrolling around and there will also be two physical buttons, the person said. The remote’s thicker size is comparable to the remote control for Amazon’s wireless speaker, the Echo, the person added. Tom Neumayr, an Apple spokesman, declined to comment on the product. The current Apple TV remote has been an important case study for Apple’s employee training program, Apple University. In one course, instructors compared the Google TV’s remote control, which had 78 buttons, with the Apple TV remote, a thin piece of metal that in its current version has three buttons. The Apple remote was used to show how the company’s product designers started out with an idea and debated until they had just what they needed for the device to be usable and easy to understand, according to people who have taken the course.