Apple 4K TV - Are the any plans to enable Audio Passthrough

I have recently purchased the Apple 4K TV (3rd generation) and really love its performance. The only problem I have encountered is how the device handles audio. It does handle Dolby Atmos (the Dolby Digital Plus version, but not the Dolby TrueHD version), but everything else gets converted to PCM. The problem with this is that the AVR just gets 5.1 PCM audio and only directs it to 5 full range speakers. In a 7.1 configuration, 2 of the rear/top speakers play nothing. If Audio Passthrough was available on the Apple device, the AVR would make the decision on how to handle the audio, thus able to enable sound from the other 2 speakers.

Does anyone know if Apple is considering to enable an Audio Passthrough option? I have seen a lot of discussion on this topic but never any reported comment by Apple. I would hope it could be enabled by a firmware update, since I just bought this unit.