iPod touch Think we’ll ever get a non dumbed down version of an iPod Touch?

[Project Alice]

Title basically says it all...
why can’t there be an iPod touch equivalent of say the iPhone SE 2?
The current iPod is an A10 fusion with two of its cores disabled and underclocked. Really? I can’t be the only person annoyed about that.

People might as well just buy a used iPhone 7 at that point.

 

[Mr. Awesome]

Seriously? Two cores are disabled? Had no idea it was so underpowered.

 

[TGM85]

I'm kind of surprised the iPod Touch is still hanging on, I thought it was eliminated from the line up years ago.

I don't think it will ever be more than it is right now to be honest: a very niche product for a very niche audience.

 

[Project Alice]

I'm kind of surprised the iPod Touch is still hanging on, I thought it was eliminated from the line up years ago.

I don't think it will ever be more than it is right now to be honest: a very niche product for a very niche audience.

Unfortunately you may be right. But if they're going to sell it at all I don't understand why they half-ass it.

Seriously? Two cores are disabled? Had no idea it was so underpowered.

Mac tracker shows it to be an A10 fusion, underclocked to 1.6Ghz and a "4 core (2 active)". Everymac just shows it as a "dual core A10".

 

[Traverse]

The iPod touch is constrained by its physical size (can only fit a small battery). Given that the likely the only reason the iPod touch still exists is because of bulk purchases from business where it’s attached to other physical hardware, Apple will not change that design. Apple will keep the iPod touch as-is until it needs a new underclocked SoC to move to the next iOS version and will drop it once business largely move to something else.

 

[acorntoy]

Unfortunately you may be right. But if they're going to sell it at all I don't understand why they half-ass it.


Mac tracker shows it to be an A10 fusiun, underclocked to 1.6Ghz and a "4 core (2 active)". Everymac just shows it as a "dual core A10".

You don't understand the A10 chip, all A10 chips only have 2 cores active at once. It is a four core chip with two Low power cores and two High Power cores. The low power cores are used for simple task and shut off and enable the high power cores when needed, this why it was marketed as "A10 Fusion". The A10 in the touch is the exact same however it is as you have said slightly underclocked to help preserve battery.

Only with the A11 onward did Apple enable all cores (Low+High) to fire at once if needed.


To answer the original question the last time Apple made a iPod Touch equivalent to the phone was the 3rd gen compared to the 3GS. Same device except for cellular and camera, Jailbreakers loved it because it was faster than the phone as it didn't have as much stuff to run in the background and had more available ram as a result. Ever since then the market has shrunk and the touch has lagged further and further behind.
[automerge]1593382867[/automerge]

Seriously? Two cores are disabled? Had no idea it was so underpowered.

 

[Falhófnir]

I know it's under clocked, as was the A8 in the 6th gen, but I think all cores are active; the A10 presents itself as a dual core because only the two Hurricane (high performance) or the two Zephyr (high efficiency) cores are active at once.

I hope we might see some sort of minor redesign, maybe around the iPhone SE's 4.7" display but without home button and minimal bezels? More likely it will just be iterated again or discontinued though.

 

[Project Alice]

You don't understand the A10 chip, all A10 chips only have 2 cores active at once. It is a four core chip with two Low power cores and two High Power cores.

No, I knew this. I had (still have but don't use it) an iPhone 7. I do not own a 7th gen iPod touch, but what mactracker and everymac are implying is that the iPod only uses two cores, at 1.6Ghz and does not specify which ones. Assuming that's true, this would mean that the iPod has either worse battery life due to using two underclocked performance cores, OR hindered performance using two "efficiency" cores possibly underclocked as well.

Go compare the iPhone 7 and 2019 iPod touch. As far as I can tell the iPod has no reference of using performance cores or efficiency ones, whereas the iPhone obviously does and is able to switch.

Even if the iPod is using the A10 as it was meant to be used (switching between the Zephyr\Hurricane cores) it is still missing 700Mhz vs the iPhone 7.

 

[acorntoy]

No, I knew this. I had (still have but don't use it) an iPhone 7. I do not own a 7th gen iPod touch, but what mactracker and everymac are implying is that the iPod only uses two cores, at 1.6Ghz and does not specify which ones. Assuming that's true, this would mean that the iPod has either worse battery life due to using two underclocked performance cores, OR hindered performance using two "efficiency" cores possibly underclocked as well.

Go compare the iPhone 7 and 2019 iPod touch. As far as I can tell the iPod has no reference of using performance cores or efficiency ones, whereas the iPhone obviously does and is able to switch.

Even if the iPod is using the A10 as it was meant to be used (switching between the Zephyr\Hurricane cores) it is still missing 700Mhz vs the iPhone 7.

You simply have to look at the benchmarks. The iPod Touch shows a general performance decrease relative to the down clock. It uses the high performance cores for the benchmark. I'd assume if the high power cores are down clocked the low ones are as well.

Found some info for you:

7 plus Geekbench 4.0 Low power mode (Forces it to use low power cores)

iPhone 7 Plus - Low power - Geekbench

Benchmark results for an iPhone 7 Plus with an Apple A10 Fusion processor.

browser.geekbench.com

VS
https://browser.geekbench.com/v4/cpu/15593867 Normal mode


7th gen iPod

iPod touch (7th generation) - Geekbench

Benchmark results for an iPod9,1 with an ARM processor.

browser.geekbench.com

Much more powerful than simply the low power cores but still not as fast as the full clocked chip.

 

[Walrus Man]

A new touch based on the iPhone 12 5.4" design would be perfect.

 

[mikehalloran]

The current iPod is an A10 fusion with two of its cores disabled and underclocked. Really? I can’t be the only person annoyed about that.

You might be. If used as a music player, neither that nor Geekbench scores have any effect on the basic functionality.

I like the size and form factor of the Touch 7. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t have bought one to replace the Touch 6 I’m selling. For many of my uses, the 7 runs circles around the 6.