Apple Launches New iPod Touch With A10 Fusion Chip and Up to 256GB Storage, Priced From $199

[iReality85]

This is honestly a little underwhelming. Especially after 4 years without an update.

No Bluetooth 5.0? No A12? Only 32GB base?

I get that it's just an iPod. But presumably, the next update will be another 4 years down the road. By that time Bluetooth 4.1 and the A10 will be ancient, and 32GB will be really small. The A13 is coming out this year, so this iPod refresh is almost 3 years out-of-date. 128GB and 256GB NAND is cheap cheap cheap right now, so 32GB just feels stingy.

By the time 2023 rolls around we'll be on A17. Maybe Bluetooth 6.0? 500GB NAND will be like $30 retail.

Apple should have spec'd it better.

 

[Xeyad]

What a lousy update. Since the iPod is such a niche product, they could've tried new ideas with it, like making it more camera focused or making it more suited for gaming. A company the size of Apple's can invest a tiny bit of their money and make something inspiring.

This just screams uninteresting, and especially for the price!

 

[gavroche]

Good news for people with kids.

As a father of three little girls... yes indeed. And to the people below commenting on the huge bezels... it's actually helpful in my opinion, since my girls don't yet understand when one of their fingers on the screen prevents swiping and doing things. And they understand pushing home button to exit app and return... better than swiping up.

 

[BootsWalking]

Brand new iPod Touches can be had for the same $199 price. Same CPU, and it has an actual headphone jack too!! (There is no way I am getting my 7 year old a pair of AirPods, or a phone for that matter)

iPhone 7 comes with a lightning -> headphone jack. And your 7-year old can grow into needing the phone as he gets older.

 

[obiwan]

iPhone 7 comes with a lightning -> headphone jack. And your 7-year old can grow into needing the phone as he gets older.

You'll understand one day, when you have kids.

 

[otternonsense]

Wow. Do they even have a product roadmap or design language anymore? Tim Apple's "pipeline" is a shoddy mess of new devices, old devices, new A chips, old A chips, discontinued features (or not), bezels, notches, chamfered edges, flat edges, aluminium, steel, Touch ID, Face ID, pencil 1, pencil 2, wireless charging (or not), USB c, lightning etc

And this reeks of inventory cleanup. It’s like it would kill them to make the slightest redesign on dirt old devices.

 

[lunarworks]

Surprised in some ways it is not just an SE with the phone chip disabled and more storage...

The SE has more of a premium build than the iPod Touch, so the build cost would be just a bit higher.

This isn't a product for enthusiasts. This is to put in the hands of kids to keep them occupied, or to manage something like inventory in a store.

 

[Andres Cantu]

I don’t know, I think there’s still a market for them. Kids who want an iPhone but aren’t quite old enough for a smartphone yet. But if I were a kid, I’d want an iPad over an iPod touch personally.

I’d just buy them a used or refurbed 7 with no cell service.

 

[bbednarz]

It completely horrible product placement but it is displayed.

Go to www.apple.com

Scroll all the way to the bottom. ( past all the big ads for even older products ). In the relatively "tiny" print on the left bottom side there is a " Shop and Learn" section. iPad Touch" is there. It is laughably small, but it technically is there.

I should clarify, its not listed on the front page like every other new product. Its tucked away in the music section.

It is significantly better if go to the "Music" tab at the top of the main landing page. There in the line up of "Music Products and Services " is the iPod Touch. There is a decent sized icon for the product and right now it does have a "New" tag under it.

https://www.apple.com/music/

The iPod Touch being stuck under "Music" has been where Apple has buried it for last 3-4 years. If folks looked for it before it would be there.


This isn't on "front page" because it is almost embarrassingly bad "new". Physically from the outside it doesn't look any different. 90+% of the features are not new. It isn't a big seller. ( if there was country were iPod Touch sales were highest perhaps they'd get a different main page. ).

Honestly, if the upgrade was this limited Apple could have done this a year ago. Or back in March with the Airpods. It looks like they detached it so could tag something else in "Music" new after the Airpods phased out of that "brand new" status. It is more so to goose the music tab "new" products status.... so that is the only place they put it.[/QUOTE]
It's not on the front page because it is a product few people care about and even fewer actually buy.

 

[magicschoolbus]

I think that's where the "innovation" they claim to still have comes into play.

Create a device starting with 64GB SSD storage -upgradable to 128 and 256GB.

• Keep the headphone jack!
• Add the latest bluetooth and WiFi for those that also want wireless options and Apple Music.
• Bring back the clickwheel!

Make listening to music the focus of the device without distracting the user experience with apps.

Price the three models at: $399/$499/$599. Upgrade every other year.

Hell, they could even make them in the US!

I think there's a better chance of riding a unicorn into the sunset while being chased by bigfoot on the back of an Articuno then everything you just posted here.

 

[kazmac]

Each tier should be $50-75 cheaper at the very least.

But...

 

[MrUNIMOG]

Apple today announced a new iPod touch with headline features being a faster A10 Fusion chip and a new 256GB storage option.

The seventh-generation iPod touch has the same design as the sixth-generation model, including a 4-inch Retina display, a home button without Touch ID, a 3.5mm headphone jack, a Lightning connector, and a single speaker and microphone. The device remains 6.1mm thick and continues to weigh 3.1 ounces.

The new iPod touch also has the same battery life of up to 40 hours for music playback and up to eight hours for video playback, and the same 8-megapixel rear camera and 1.2-megapixel front camera, as the previous iPod touch.

With the A10 Fusion chip, Apple says the new iPod touch has up to two times faster performance and up to three times faster graphics compared to the previous-generation iPod touch. The A10 Fusion chip also enables support for Group FaceTime and ARKit on the iPod touch for the first time ever.

The A10 Fusion chip is also found in the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus and the sixth-generation iPad.

Greg Joswiak, Apple's Vice President of Product Marketing:The new iPod touch is available to order on Apple.com and in the Apple Store app starting today with in-store availability at Apple Stores and authorized resellers starting later this week. U.S. pricing is set at $199 for 32GB of storage, $299 for 128GB, and $399 for the new 256GB option. The previous iPod touch also started at $199.

Today's launch countries include the U.S., Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, the UAE, and the United Kingdom.

The same six colors are available, including space gray, silver, gold, blue, pink, and (PRODUCT)RED in support of the Global Fund.

The previous iPod touch was released in July 2015 with an A8 chip and up to 128GB of storage. With the new iPod touch with an A10 Fusion chip now available, it is possible that the sixth-generation model might not support iOS 13, which Apple is expected to introduce at WWDC 2019 on Monday.

Despite the update, the iPod touch remains a niche product, with Apple positioning it primarily as a device for Apple Music and the upcoming Apple Arcade.

Article Link: Apple Launches New iPod Touch With A10 Fusion Chip and Up to 256GB Storage, Priced From $199

Well, from this I conclude two things:

• 6th gen iPod touch will most likely be dropped with iOS 13. End of May seems to be Apple's cutoff date for selling any device that won't be supported by the following September's iOS release; They discontinued the 4th gen iPod touch on May 30, 2013.
• iPhone SE will most certainly be supported by iOS 13. The 4" display size isn't going anywhere for now, despite some sketchy rumors suggesting the SE be dropped.

What remains to be seen is support for the iPhone 6. While its A8 is clocked higher than that of the 6th gen iPod touch, it also has to push quite a few more pixels, especially the 6 Plus. iOS 13 might however require 2 GB RAM, dropping the iPhone 6 anyway.

That said, of course this could also mean nothing at all, iOS 13 could still support everything with an A8 or even continue to support all the same devices as 11 and 12. But that just became a lot less likely with discontinuation of the 6th gen iPod touch.

Thoughts on the new iPod touch itself: Reasonable update with the A10. Had some hopes to see the A12, given the new iPads, but glad they're keeping the iPod touch alive at all.

 

[Greenmeenie]

What a lousy update. Since the iPod is such a niche product, they could've tried new ideas with it, like making it more camera focused or making it more suited for gaming. A company the size of Apple's can invest a tiny bit of their money and make something inspiring.

This just screams uninteresting, and especially for the price!

I understand Apple playing it safe on such a niche product, but i agree with you. Have a little fun with it. Do something different & unexpected! I guess they feel that everyone has an iphone so why bother. But still...woulda been kinda cool to see something different. Oh well.

 

[otternonsense]

I understand Apple playing it safe on such a niche product, but i agree with you. Have a little fun with it. Do something different & unexpected! I guess they feel that everyone has an iphone so why bother. But still...woulda been kinda cool to see something different. Oh well.

Makes me wonder if any of their 300bln war chest is going to R&D or they plan to use it all for stock buybacks.

 

[macduke]

Good news for people with kids.

I can't remember the last time I saw a kid with an iPod touch. They are typically loudly playing Fortnite on an iPad Mini in a restaraunt. My five year old has an iPad Mini 2 that I let her use for about 30-60 minutes a day to play mostly educational games, read books, and watch PBS kids.

Stupid enough, I've seen more and more elementary aged kids with iPhones, usually they look like hand-me-downs, but still. I will not be doing with my kids. Probably not even until they are driving, and we'll have a good talk about phone safety then. Although maybe we won't even really use phones in 10 years, lol.

 

[BootsWalking]

You'll understand one day, when you have kids.

LOL, the "you'll understand one day" argument rather than addressing directly what I wrote. Not very persuasive, sorry.

 

[Razeus]

The base is 32GB? Come on Apple, ffs.

 

[ryanwarsaw]

I can't remember the last time I saw a kid with an iPod touch. They are typically loudly playing Fortnite on an iPad Mini in a restaraunt. My five year old has an iPad Mini 2 that I let her use for about 30-60 minutes a day to play mostly educational games, read books, and watch PBS kids.

Stupid enough, I've seen more and more elementary aged kids with iPhones, usually they look like hand-me-downs, but still. I will not be doing with my kids. Probably not even until they are driving, and we'll have a good talk about phone safety then. Although maybe we won't even really use phones in 10 years, lol.

Well the amount of response to my post suggests maybe there is actually demand of this from parents that don't want to pay more for an iPad.

 

[Internet Enzyme]

I thought they would take the opportunity to kill this screen size with ios 13.

 

[dazz87]

$199 for a 2003 device.....why not.

 

[MrUNIMOG]

Each tier should be $50-75 cheaper at the very least.

But...

I'd say 20 to 50 $ cheaper. Or same price but A12.

 

[Mac 128]

I honestly didn't realize the touch was still a thing until I saw this. But it makes sense. I see parents still buying them for their kids before the kids are ready for a phone of their own. And thus the headphone jack makes total sense, cuz any sensible parent wouldn't buy their kid airpods and expect them to not get lost.

But then again isn't this what old iPhone 5's are for?

The headphone jack also makes sense for businesses which use these with 3.5mm jack accessories.

The iPhone 5 is way too slow. After the last update, even my 5s is struggling.

Really thought they’d add Touch ID for Apple Pay, support for Apple Watch, and maybe waterproofing and a screen that takes up more of the device size.

I’m really surprised about Touch ID, and now that you mention it, no support for Apple Pay is surprising. Apple Watch support makes sense as well, but I’ve long said all Apple devices should be able to set up a watch, and that’s even more true now with the cellular capable Watch 4.

For a device aimed at kids, waterproofing is a must.

 

[NetMage]

Each tier should be $50-75 cheaper at the very least.

But...

Do you think the Galaxy S10 should be $400 cheaper? It has about the same performance as this iPod Touch...

 

[Zdigital2015]

Go on Amazon right now. You can get an iPhone 7 for under $300. Seems to me that’s a better option than this device. You don’t have to activate the cellular.

If someone is comfortable with a product that is "Renewed", which may work just fine, or it may not. I buy Apple Refurbished stuff all the time, but I tend to shy away from Woot Refurbished, Amazon renewed, et al.

 

[satchmo]

$199 for 128gb, but certainly not for 32gb.

I think Apple is still out of 'touch' with reality.