It seems rare, these days, that Apple could surprise people when it comes to products, especially in the area of television. With all the talk surrounding Apple TVs, Apple’s potential HDTV, and Apple’s standings in the content arena, it is interesting to see that Apple has released a new Apple TV, model A1469, to the FCC yesterday. Though there is no immense news released in this filing, it is exciting to have a confirmation that Apple is still working on TV solutions, an area of its “intense interest.” The industry has been waiting on bated breath to discover what is next for Apple in this area. Perhaps, Apple is getting ready to tell us.

This box, alone, does not reveal much regarding Apples plans for what is to come next other than the fact that, in true Apple fashion, this device is half centimeter smaller than its predecessor and that it will be powered by Apple’s A5X processor and will use the same Broadcom WLAN+Bluetooth antenna/chip that the iPhone 5 uses. As of now, the largest change Apple made between its last  two “hobby” devices is the fact that one supports 720p and the other supports true 1080p. Could the next iteration be a similar jump? I foe one am hoping not! I am sure we can all agree that Apple needs to get back to innovating and get away from simply resizing.

To add a bit more fuel to the curiosity flame, 9to5Mac revealed that the latest Apple TV firmware (5.2), released this week, seems to include mention of a mystery Apple TV, named “3,2.” Our current Apple TV 3’s are known as “3,1.” It would seem that Apple has something coming quite soon. The question is if this a completely new box with some cool new capabilities, a peek at what Apple has in store next, or perhaps a simple rearrangement of internal hardware, now that parts are a bit cheaper?

What do you think? Let us know below.