The fifth-generation Apple TV will come into trial production in December and volume production in the first quarter of 2016, with Apple for the first time adopting a heat-dissipation solution for the set-top box to handle the device's new CPU, according to sources from Taiwan-based supply chain makers.

Apple is planning to adopt a new CPU for the fifth-generation Apple TV to dramatically improve the device's hardware performance and will add new functions to help it no longer serve only as a set-top box (STB).

Some market watchers expect the new Apple TV to achieve 20 million unit shipments in 2016. Production is outsourced to Quanta Computer instead of its existing partner Foxconn Electronics (Hon Hai Precision Industry). However, Quanta declined to comment on its clients or orders.

Several Internet service providers such as Roku, Google and Amazon have also been aggressively pushing into the market. Amazon has released its Fire TV and is seeing better sales than Apple TV, but is still behind Roku and Google.