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.
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