A recent change to Apple’s release notes for the Apple TV Software Update 7.0 indicates that iOS 8’s new Peer-to-Peer AirPlay feature will actually be limited to the “Rev A” third-generation Apple TV released in March 2013. Peer-to-Peer AirPlay is a new feature that allows users to wirelessly stream content to an Apple TV from an iOS 8 device or Mac running OS X Yosemite without having to connect to a host Wi-Fi network.
This is the first time a feature was added solely to this model, and not to earlier, supposedly identical 1080p Apple TVs. The newest Apple TV model was quietly released by Apple last year with relatively minor internal upgrades, and at the time Apple said these component changes would not affect any product features. Further, Apple’s Identifying Apple TV models support document still lists both third-generation models as essentially one class of device that was introduced in “Early 2012.” While it’s unclear why Peer-to-Peer AirPlay would be limited to only the Rev A model, it’s worth noting that we have already noted some wireless performance differences in our testing between the original third-generation Apple TV and the “Rev A” model when running the latest 7.0 software update.