iPod touch New iPod touch is a huge disappointment

[kiranmk2]

Very cynical launch - not in the same week as the iPads before Easter to hide the fact they got current-gen A12 chips and the week before WWDC so they can cut support for the 6th gen whilst still having an iPod Touch supporting iOS 13. Not saying it's a bad business decision, but very, very cynical.

 

[TheSkywalker77]

It'll make a hell of a good paper weight though!

 

[Traverse]

I’ve always felt like the A10 fusion chip was a likely candidate, but given all the updates that happened in March with the iPad mini and iPad Air I was kind of expecting an A12 chip if anything.

I don’t really think this iPod touch is a disappointment, it is not really meant to be the big next generation. It is just continue life-support for a product that serves a small niche of the market that is large enough to warrant apples continued support in some capacity.

I am looking forward to getting one to use as a music player now that it has 256 GB of storage.
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This iPod Touch is more of a "refresh" to maintain than an "upgrade" to draw people to it. My primary complaint about this refresh is that there is no change to the battery and by extension battery life. The 6th gen has terrible battery life.

The processor in this refresh offers a reason to buy it rather than an iPhone SE (as an iPod Touch). It doesn't give ME a reason to buy it though.

If you go back and watch the Keynote where the iPhone 7 was revealed, Apple made a lot of focused points about battery life improvements. The low power cores in this device are supposed to use 1/5 of the power of the A8 chip. Also, graphics run at about half the power usage. They promised roughly 2 hours more a day of battery life with an iPhone 7 versus an iPhone 6s which had the A9 chip which was already more efficient than the A8. I’m hoping that it makes a considerable, but not groundbreaking, change in battery life.

 

[boombox15]

Would it have been possible for Apple to at least use the A11 with the same design and keep the $199 starting price?

 

[Paddle1]

Honestly the best reason I can see for the old chip is probably because of the chassis/battery.

 

[mikehalloran]

Everything apple is doing is a disappointment now days wish i wasn't in the eco system, everything is boring and no real upgrades and products being cancelled

Well, the Android Clown Car is always looking for more riders, I suppose.

 

[pshufd]

I was a bit surprised - they put an A12 in the Mini. An A10? I wish that they'd get around to putting GPS in these things too.

 

[icemantx]

Has anyone been able to confirm how much RAM is in the updated iPod touch?

 

[tranceking26]

Really nice to see, but I'll stick with my ol' faithful Classic.

 

[colodane]

It will run iOS 13 and iOS 14.

That is the only reason it had to be updated.

That rings very true. If only it had more battery .....

 

[*~Kim~*]

iPod Touch with no Touch ID in 2019 seems wrong.

Rather insulting that the iPod Touch and the iPad mini were previously updated at around the same time and had the same chip, now the iPod is 2 generations behind.

 

[pshufd]

iPod Touch with no Touch ID in 2019 seems wrong.

Rather insulting that the iPod Touch and the iPad mini were previously updated at around the same time and had the same chip, now the iPod is 2 generations behind.

Good point. I forgot about that. So this year, we have the Mini 5 which I feel was a great update, the iMac 2019 which I also think is a great update, the MacBook Pros which are more fixing broken things than an update, and the iPod Touch which is underwhelming. Let's hope that they get the Mac Pro right. I'd love a new Nano as well.

 

[retta283]

Good point. I forgot about that. So this year, we have the Mini 5 which I feel was a great update, the iMac 2019 which I also think is a great update, the MacBook Pros which are more fixing broken things than an update, and the iPod Touch which is underwhelming. Let's hope that they get the Mac Pro right. I'd love a new Nano as well.

Honestly I'd love to see them just bring back the 4th gen nano with the Chromatic colors. Add Bluetooth and an FM radio and you're set.

 

[*~Kim~*]

Honestly I'd love to see them just bring back the 4th gen nano with the Chromatic colors. Add Bluetooth and an FM radio and you're set.

Me too. Since having an iPhone (or Android phone with SD card) I just haven’t seen the point of an iPod touch, but I’d be tempted by a Nano.

 

[pshufd]

Honestly I'd love to see them just bring back the 4th gen nano with the Chromatic colors. Add Bluetooth and an FM radio and you're set.

I had an iPod Nano 1 and Apple gave me a Nano 7 for it because of some recall. My wife took it but it was a headache as it doesn't have a lock switch like the earlier models so that my music could stop on runs. The nice thing about the 5 and earlier was a hard lock switch. I actually liked the click-wheel too. I do have a Nano 5 but it would be really nice with BlueTooth.

 

[FeliApple]

They're very obviously doing the absolute minimum, which isn't really bad, in my opinion. It meets requirements.
One little thing, though: I have seen many complaints regarding battery life. In the screenshots shared here when the iPod Touch 6G debuted, on-screen battery life was significantly lower than my 3-year-old (at the time) iPod Touch 5G on iOS 6.0.
I'm assuming - although that remains to be seen - that this device's battery life won't fare much better, which is a shame, honestly. Apple's hypothetical defence may be that the device is intended as a music device, therefore having a "decent" battery life for that purpose, but I think it's not acceptable.

 

[tripleburst]

Of course the battery will fare better, it has a more efficient processor than the previous model.

 

[FeliApple]

Of course the battery will fare better, it has a more efficient processor than the previous model.

Apple claimed the iPhone 7 had two more hours of battery life than the 6s, and that wasn't the case. It was mostly similar under the same circumstances. iOS gets more power-hungry as it's updated. Don't be so sure.
I'm not saying it can't be better, I'm saying that it remains to be seen.

 

[pshufd]

Apple claimed the iPhone 7 had two more hours of battery life than the 6s, and that wasn't the case. It was mostly similar under the same circumstances. iOS gets more power-hungry as it's updated. Don't be so sure.
I'm not saying it can't be better, I'm saying that it remains to be seen.

The processor will use less power under the same workloads. Yes, operating system updates use more of the processor but you'd get a slowdown with the old processor. I only had gen 1-4 iPod Touch models and I think that they're heavier and thicker and maybe had bigger batteries. The newer models are very thin.

i Have an iPhone 7+ so I don't need one of these things. But a small music player would be nice - something like a Nano 5 with BlueTooth. I can play music off my watch but it's not ideal as my watch is on my left wrist and the headset controls on the right side.

 

[subjonas]

It will run iOS 13 and iOS 14.

That is the only reason it had to be updated.

And 15, and probably 16.

The purpose of this refresh is to be able to drop support for 1 GB RAM in future versions of iOS. That's basically it. iPhone 5s, iPhone 6 / 6 Plus, iPad Air, iPad mini 3, and iPod Touch 6 will likely lose support in iOS 13.

Currently A7 devices are supported, and the Touch 6 is A8. Apple has never dropped support for two generations of chips at once, so it would be a new precedent.

Yup it's clear that this update was only to ensure future iOS compatibility for another 3 years.

It should be a bit over 4 years of iOS compatibility, unless Apple changes their patterns.

 

[retta283]

And 15, and probably 16.


Currently A7 devices are supported, and the Touch 6 is A8. Apple has never dropped support for two generations of chips at once, so it would be a new precedent.


It should be a bit over 4 years of iOS compatibility, unless Apple changes their patterns.

The A8 chip is notorious for being a small step up from the A7. Most A8 devices also have just 1GB of RAM, so it is heavily rumored that they will be dropped.

 

[Quu]

The iPod touch isn't for people looking for the latest and greatest.

And yet they charge latest and greatest prices for it. They must think very little of their customer base. With the prices they are charging we expect innovation. Not an almost three year old CPU put into a 7 year old design.

 

[pshufd]

I don't expect a 12. An 11 would be nice.

 

[redheeler]

Currently A7 devices are supported, and the Touch 6 is A8. Apple has never dropped support for two generations of chips at once, so it would be a new precedent.

Not really, thanks to Apple's attempt to prematurely obsolete the iPad 1 in 2012. That device had an A4 but was dropped by iOS 6, in addition to the iPod Touch 3 with an earlier generation of CPU, both dropped in the same version.

In this case it's a bit more justifiable than the iPad 1, because of the amount of RAM and age of the devices. Just like not all A4 devices were dropped in iOS 6, certain A8 devices with 2 GB RAM (iPad Air 2 and mini 4) likely will be supported still in iOS 13. At least that's my assumption.

 

[subjonas]

The A8 chip is notorious for being a small step up from the A7. Most A8 devices also have just 1GB of RAM, so it is heavily rumored that they will be dropped.

It’s certainly possible. But it would be a surprise considering it would set two new major precedents—one being support for two generations of chips being dropped at once, and two being a device losing support 3-4 months after being sold in stores (previous precedent is over a year).
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Not really, thanks to Apple's attempt to prematurely obsolete the iPad 1 in 2012. That device had an A4 but was dropped by iOS 6, in addition to the iPod Touch 3 with an earlier generation of CPU, both dropped in the same version.

In this case it's a bit more justifiable than the iPad 1, because of the amount of RAM and age of the devices. Just like not all A4 devices were dropped in iOS 6, certain A8 devices with 2 GB RAM (iPad Air 2 and mini 4) likely will be supported still in iOS 13. At least that's my assumption.

Ah I didn’t know my history that far back. Looking at that chip, the pattern of support droppage does become a little muddled when it comes to chip generations with differing ram. For example, the 4th gen iPod touch had the same chip and ram as the iPad 1 but was not dropped until a year later with iOS 7. And later, all A5 devices were dropped at once, despite differing ram. So it’s very possible, although I don’t know if I’d say likely, that the 1gb ram A8’s will be dropped. If they do get dropped, it will make it a bit harder to predict support droppage from here on out since all newer chips have differing ram on different devices.