Its pretty much giving manufacturers an easy option to see their tv's with ATV on it, then they can embed the hardware later.
Just my guess, its an enticement dongle haha
how about you put a legit device in the hands of consumers so the developers can be sure their ATV apps will actually, ya know, be used.
It's equipped with an AMLogic 905X chipset, the same one used in the 2017 Amazon Fire TV 4K dongle, so it's one with a lot of developer support. It's also the same chip in the Xiaomi Mi Box, which has often been derided for poor performance, but Google says it believes this hardware will provide a good experience on Android P.
What could possibly happen in android P. It doesn't hurt to use S912 and use it in android P for better performance.
So this is a legit Google product and not some cheap knockoff afterall!