iPod touch 7th Generation
Apple today announced a new iPod touch with headline features being a faster A10 Fusion chip and a new 256GB storage option.
That’s the same processor as the iPhone 7, up from the iPhone 6–era A8. It has the same 4-inch screen size as the iPhone SE, but with just 3/4 the weight and a worse camera and less comfortable shape. Unless you really want the small size, I think most people would prefer a used iPhone SE or iPhone 7, which would likely also be cheaper.
Of course, to find it on Apple’s site, you need to know that an iPod touch is categorized as Music.
Even on the day of its release it doesn’t get a spot on Apple’s homepage.
Actually this is very good news for iPhone SE fans, because if they’re launching a brand new 4-inch device now - which is therefore going to have to be supported by iOS until at least 2022 or 2023 - it seems like 4-inch screens aren’t going anywhere.
Also, the article’s theory that Apple is about the drop the A8 - and therefore the iPhone 6/6+ along with the 5s - makes sense; those are the last devices left with only 1 GB of RAM, not to mention that the A9 was a huge performance leap over the A7/A8.
So as of this summer, the new baseline is going to be an A9 and 2 GB of RAM. Which means that the oldest supported iOS device will have about the same CPU performance that the 2018 Android flagships did.
It’s best to think of the iPod Touch as a very small, $199 iPad. I think the value for that price is better than any other Apple product. Good to see it updated.
In the early years, I think a lot of iPod Touches were sold for use by kids. But today, most kids use hand-me-down iPhones. I think a lot of new iPods Touch are sold for enterprise purposes — warehouse scanning, point-of-sale, that sort of thing.
Update (2019-05-30): Kirk McElhearn:
The iPod touch is still a great device if you have a large music library, and it’s perfect for a kid who wants to play games on a small device yet not have cellular access. Or let a kid use it to take photos; while it’s not the best camera in an Apple device, and it’s only 8 Mp, it’s still a great way for kids to get into photography.
[…]
It’s widely used in industry, in warehouses, as point of sale devices, and in health care. Even Apple’s retail stores uses iPod touch devices (at least in the UK).
A celular chip can’t possibly cost much these days. Slap one in and you’ve got a US$ 200 iPhone that would sell like hot cakes. Make a larger version and rule the world.
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The price point is nice, and really underscores how obscenely expensive iPhones have become. But: terrible 8mp camera and no Touch ID? That’s like $5 in parts.
Who the hell wants 6 year old technology?
Support for the 4" screen is kinda nice, but have you recently tried to use for example Maps on a 4" screen? It works technically, but it's not really usable imo.
I think Gruber has it right, which is not something I say often. For business applications in factories, point-of-sale, etc., the iPod Touch can be an interesting and economical tool, especially in areas where mobile phones might be seen as liabilities.
@Ben G - Think of the likely target market.
TouchID is of almost no use in a business with shared devices, warehouse, store, restaurant etc. A business will want a stack of devices that are interchangeable between workers.
The application is what the worker will authenticate to, not the device.
As for 8MP camera - is that good enough to reliably scan a bar code? Done - don't need any more.
This is only peripherally a consumer device in my opinion. The money is in the corp sales.
Cheers, Liam
it's a great device, I wish they'd update it regularly (that would apply to all their products though)
But if the intended market was mostly corp sales for factories and warehouses they would not offer 256Gb model.
I guess it would be better positioned if higher end model had not only more storage but also a better camera and touch ID, but it probably does not sell enough (by their standards)
And it's still a great gadget for kids, and it's way butter then old iPhones.
It would be convenient if it would have a feature to skip pass code when it's on a "home" wi-fi or near the "parent"'s phone
One iPod Touch thing I don't understand is that they're still selling refurb 5th-gen models, with an A5 chip (!) and iOS 9 (!!). Does iOS 9 still get security updates, or are Apple selling people dead-end/unsupported/insecure devices?
Hope springs eternal for us small form factor fans. As someone who recently upgraded a broken iPhone SE to a new iPhone SE, I'm happy to see another small iOS device in Apple's lineup.
Also for what it's worth, Apple still deserves a lot of credit for the performance they delivered in iOS 12. iOS flies on these "old" processors.