Apple's September 10th event came along with no sign of a new iPod touch, yet I still believe we will see a 6th gen model before the end of the year. I think it will have:
There are a few extra things I need to cover:
- 64-bit A7 processor. My reasoning behind this is that Apple wants wide-spread adoption of 64-bit support in App Store apps. The best way to do this would to give all of their mobile products the A7/A7X chips, including the iPad and iPad mini. It's possible that Apple didn't reveal the new iPod touch at the iPhone event so that the attention wasn't drawn way from the iPhone 5s.
- 5MP iSight camera with Burst mode and 120fps slo-mo. Like the iPhone 5s, I expect Apple will focus on the quality of each pixel of the photo rather than the number of pixels. The extra modes will be added thanks to the more powerful A7 chip.
- Single LED flash. Apple have always cut costs with the iPod touch in comparison to the iPhone, and I suspect with the addition of the A7 chip they will need to even more. Apple can't afford to put the True-tone flash in the new iPod touch, as it will increase costs even more. Also, I suspect it might eat into the iPhone 5s's sales a bit more.
- Improved FaceTime HD camera. Likely to be the same one found in the iPhone 5c and 5s.
- No Touch ID. Again, this is partially due to cost-cutting in the iPod touch. Also, this would eat into iPhone 5s sales. Finally, Apple doesn't need wide-spread adoption of this feature as 3rd party apps don't (currently) use it.
- Same design as before. Much like the iPhone 5 and 5s, apple won't change the design between the 5th and 6th gen iPod touch. They've just changed the slate colour on the 5th gen for the space grey found on the iPhone 5s: they can afford to do so as the 6th gen will be using the exact same outer shell. All of the same colour combinations will still be available.
- No iPod touch loop. I suspect Apple will want to be saving space in the iPod touch for the new A7 etc, so removing the loop would make sense. I know a few people with the 5th gen as well as myself, and none of us ever use the loop. The only external change they would have to make is not to drill the 'loop' hole, which they already don't do with the 16GB 5th gen.
There are a few extra things I need to cover:
- Price. I suspect Apple won't change the price from the 5th gen to ensure as many people as possible can buy one.
- Capacity. It will have the same 32GB and 64GB options that the 5th gen had at exactly the same prices.
- Cheaper option. Apple will still sell the 16GB 5th gen as an alternative, cheaper option to the 6th gen. While I think the price of this will remain the same as it is now, there is a possibility that it could be made cheaper.
- Announcement and release date. Apple will probably announce this new iPod touch at the rumoured October media/iPad event. It will be planned to be released by the start of November, but there could be delays due to the number of A7 chips available.