Will they update the iPod Touch this year?

If by late spring / early summer, the Touch 5 is not discontinued or the Touch 6 is not released, IOS 9 will be supported on the Touch 5 this fall.

 

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so you're saying that the 5th generation iTouch is going to be the only 512 MB of ram device running iOS9?


that doesn't make sense, they already announced they're dropping support for iPad 2 and iPhone 4S after iOS8. Why would they keep the Touch when it'll have the same performance issues. If they keep support for the 5th gen touch, then they'd support the iPad 2 and iPhone 4S.


it already crashes at 200MB of memory, i assume iOS9 is going to consume more memory, what then? 150MB? god forbid it crashes at 100MB.


You wouldn't be able to run many apps, only native and basic ones, and they're still going to sell that? Yeah, thats not happening.


They're either going to drop the touch or come out with a new version. If they keep iOS9 for the 5th gen Touch, theres no reason why they shouldn't support iPad 2 or the 4S

 

You are right about retail. The thing is the iPod touch with old specs will work just fine for retail applications so apple may keep it around but without the kind of specs seen on other devices which won't satisfy most consumers.

 

I was saying that you will know by late spring / early summer.

If Apple does not discontinue the Touch by late spring / early summer or Apple does not release a Touch 5 replacement by late spring / early summer, the Touch 5 will run IOS 9.

If you go to the Apple store, Apple does not sell the iPad 2 or iPhone 4S. Apple does currently sell the Touch 5. Also, if the Touch 5 does end up supporting IOS 9, I would expect the iPad 2 and 4S to also support it.

 

I hope Apple will update the iPod Touch line. However, judging of their recent "jerkiness" with their products, there is a chance they will also give it up completely. My iPod Touch 5th generation is what brought me to the world of Apple and smart phones, because it is cheap. A new one would be useful if I wanted to test apps on it without having to throw 700$ for an iPhone.

 

they might just keep it to promote their B2B store and such. they're really trying to promote iOS to be the standard business OS for mobile devices.


If they don't, its going to have smaller companies probably go with cheaper android options, considering that they disabled manual installation of provisioning profiles. maintaining android devices will be much easier.

Apple is seriously going that greedy route. they literally removed installing of provisioning profiles to cash in what little money they make from the b2b store and to promote it.


its seriously ridiculous, and we have to go through all this enrollment crap with our customers.

 

When did apple say they were not going to support the iPad 2 or 4S?

Do you realise that currently 59 percent of ipad users are estimated to be on A5 devices? That includes 23 percent on the iPad 2 and 22 on iPad mini 1 which has the same internals as the iPad 2.

Add to the fact that they are still selling not 1 but two A5 devices currently. Dropping all A5 devices would severly fragment apples ios installed base.

If Apple can at least keep performance at ios 8 levels there is no reason for A5 devics not to be supported. And if you support the iPad mini 1 and iPod touch 5 (the devices they are most likely to support as they are still selling them) the 4S and iPad 2 have no reason not to be supported.

 

They announced it. It was pretty official, it was from apple. Im a developer, i don't remember exactly where because iOS 8 was given to us about 9 months ago.

60 percent of users are on iPad 2 and Mini 1? thats ridiculous. you're saying that 2 Generation has more totals then 5 generations together?

Not to mention the fact that the iPad 2 didnt get a huge price break till much later on, which would still promote users to get the infamous iPad 3 and then the 4 there after, because they'd only spend a couple hundred more bucks to get the retina display iPads.

Not to mention with the Air came out the iPad 4's became exceptionally cheaper.

The only thing appealing about the iPad Mini 1 was that it was only 50 bucks more then the iPod Touch. But its internals are old and antique.

The Mini 1 crashes more often then not, and most apple consumers would know and want to get the newer retina models. considering the Mini 2 is only a hundred more.


Lol at severely, i was thinking they were going to drop all non-reitna models and the 4S with iOS 8 but i guess they're milking it one more year.


Theres plenty of apps (non basic ones) that already dropped support for these devices.

Again 200MB of ram does out of 512 usable? thats just crazy.

 

Two firms who track iOS adoption as well as device distribution have reported this that between the iPad 2, 3 and Mini, they take up around 59 percent of the iPad installed based - plus its reflected in the statistics published by an App developer on who downloads his app. The iPad 2 is still the most used iPad, followed by the iPad Mini. Apple was still selling them in volume right up till the end of 2013.

In December 2012, Apple 27 percent of iPads sold were iPad 2s and 30 percent were iPad Mini 1. In June 2013, 33 percent of iPad 2s sold were iPad 2 and 32 percent were iPad Mini 1. In September 2013 22 percent of iPads sold were iPad 2s and 32 percent were iPad Mini 1s. EG Apple continued to shift HEAPS of A5 iPads well into the end of 2013. It was also reported that they were still selling well into early 2014 (After the festive season finished). In addition to that, Apple (In Q4 2014) sold more iPad Mini 1s then they sold iPad Mini 2 or 3s. Regardless of how well they run, people are still buying A5 iPad Minis.

The other day it was also reported that iOS 9 for iPhone was turning up in site logs, running on the 4S,5,5S and 6. So not sure why apple would be running iOS 9 on the 4S in testing if it wasn't going to support it. Also Apple would not have kept 2 A5 devices around if they were looking to drop support.

I was a registered developer for a few years and I never recall being informed of devices being dropped in iOS 5,6 or 7 - so its strange for them to be telling people that.

I am a user of an A5 iPad 2 as my main iPad, and I can tell you that it is still useable. It may be slower than iOS 7, but it is still quite usable. The general consensus of users who I support (Plus friends and family) is that their A5 devices are a bit slower, but in some cases worth it for the new features, and others who don't see a difference, but appreciate the new features.

If Apple focuses on performance with iOS 9, it will presumably better than iOS 8, so why leave off the significant installed base of A5 users.

Its also not in Apple's tradition to abandon device support till a device has been off the shelf for over a year, and the iPad Mini and iPod Touch 5 are still on the market.

At the very very least, the iPad Mini 1 and iPod Touch 5 will get support in iOS 9. They could probably get away with bumping off the iPod Touch 5, but not both (Considering the iPad Mini 1 holds an impressive market share). If they are supporting the Mini 1 and Touch 4, there is no reason for them not to support the iPad 2 and iPhone 4S. (Especially if it improves performance)

Of course Apple could go out and make a crazy decision and strand people who have bought devices only 6 months without updates, which would severely fragment iOS distribution but it would surprise me. Even Tim Cook was praising Apple in an interview last week for not only providing great products but products that are "kept fresh as we update them". If Apple wanted to drop support for the iPad Mini 1 and iPod Touch 5 they should have dropped them in September 2014.

 

Actually, sales were down even before they decided not to update the IPT last year. The IPT isn't a financial success anymore as their other products are (i.e.: iPhone, iPad, etc...). I really don't think Apple is that concerned about keeping the IPT updated.

J

 

I'm in an "off year" upgrade cycle ;(

have another year to go on my contract for my iPhone so I like to pick up an iPod then... and a 5.5 inch iPod would be great for reading books or games. So I was disappointed they didnt do it. Perhaps they didnt have enough resources to build them while trying to churn out as many high profit phones.

so now i have to wait another year to upgrade the phone instead ;(

iPods are great entry products. and so much thinner than Sony PSP or Nintendo 3DS. OK so buttons are always going to be an issue but maybe that's the niche the other devices are left. Their only sales pitch. Storage on iPods is already better. If Sony had a non-proprietary memory card then maybe things would be different. PSP was good when you use a regular MS card. At least they were so rediculously overpriced (well smaller markup anyway). Piracy will happen no matter what if people are determined. Accept that and move on and make product more people will be happy to pay for.

Phones chew battery more than iPods. Always good to have a separate music/games/book reader on hand.

So Apple, please rethink and make a larger iPod. Please

 

I'm hoping that the Beats integration will incentivize Apple to update the Ipod Touch, perhaps those rumors of a mini-Iphone with a 4 inch screen were in reality the 6th generation Ipod Touch being manufactured?

I was going to buy the 5th generation but I decided to wait and bought a Lumia 635 for $40 from Radio Shack to use strictly as an Ipod Touch alternative and while it does the basic job for now I don't like the OS and the Xbox music player is mediocre at best. I have already spent hours getting rid of every invasive location and information sharing setup in the phone. Album artwork does not show up when you sync music from Itunes to an sd card. I turned off all of the tiles, at first I thought they would be an improvement over the static IOS icons but then I realized, no Apple has it right, stay in the background, allow me to use the machine for what I want, a clean interface is so much better. I am tired of wasting time searching for solutions, the app store is weak, the music player does not even have a stop button.

I don't want a smartphone and don't want to pay the prices to use an Iphone strictly as a media player. But on the Windows phone there is a Nokia music streaming app that works pretty well and I think Apple would be wise to see the value of a rock solid Beats integration with a new Ipod Touch.

 

I've lost my hope ...

I was hoping for years for a iPod touch with 128gb, but since there are no leaks nor real signs of such a device, I decided to drop my hopes and will probably get an iPhone. And this is probably what Apple likes me to do.
Seriously, all the rumours are just based on presumptions, while every other device released in the last few years was leaked all over the place.

They don't need to update the iPod Touch to serve the bottom segment nor businesses which use iPods for internal purposes. Since iOS9 will probably not be as much a revolution like to 6 to 7 or SnowLeopard to Lion. The iPT5 will probably be able to run it.

The only alternative to an iPhone 6 with 128gb would be one of the audiophile music-players out there. But since my collection is stuck in iTunes and pretty well organised, I'm not willing to lose all of this metadata and the ease of syncing my device.
I did consider the iPad Mini, but it's definitely too big to replace an iPod.

 

For talks of system memory, I believe you meant MB, not GB. But yeah, 1 GB would've been nice. Folks on these forums will claim 2 GB should've been the minimum. It's certainly quite the marketing how they trump higher resources for blazing faster speeds, newer iOS features, but then leave out that your device won't necessarily run that much better, if at all then a previous version of an OS.

 

I think the iPod Touch will get an update this year. The iPT is a gateway drug for iOS. It's great for kids and education. Get kids/families to invest in the ecosystem early and hook them for a lifetime.

Between the last update and now, the only real (perceptible to non-nerds) change between the iPhone and iPT is screen size - moving from 4" to 4.7"/5.5". They couldn't update the iPT to the larger screen just yet as they're only just now catching up with iPhone demand.

Another reason that Apple waited is to ensure the iPT gets the A8 chips to run the larger screen. By waiting until this year they can move the flagship iPhone 6S onto the next gen A9 processors to keep their tiered distinction between it and the iPT.

We will see an updated iPT this year with a bigger screen and higher capacity (to help appease the Classic crowd). But... They'll gimp the camera, skimp on RAM and drop in the A8 chips. Touch ID will come next year [along side TID for Macs ]

 

LOL, forgive me, i was looking for a new SSD harddrive for my gaming rig so i was used to 512 GB lol.


yeah that 512 MB is just horrid. Everything on the app was going fine, then did some testing on the iPod Touch, and i was pulling my hairs.

 

I've never seen a device chew battery like the iPod touch 4th gen and 5th gens....

 

Apple isn't a company that's afraid of dropping support for devices. It wouldn't fragment their user base, it would actually defragment it. Developers don't have to code for non-retina iPads or 3.5" displays and can focus on 4", 4.7", 5.5", and the retina iPads. Nor do they have to make sure apps work on A5 or 512 MB devices (though most will do regardless if they don't want to lose customers). Not dropping A5 devices because of "too many users" isn't something Apple will do or Apple would still be supporting older devices which they don't.

 

I think Apple would be a little worried about dropping over half its iPad installed user base. There are more people on A5 iPads than there are on A6, A7 and A8 devices combined. So yes dropping them would lead to fragmentation. Apple boasts at each event how un-fragemnted their installed base is. Leaving the majority of iPad users + a reasonable number of iPhone users would ruin that - people would be scattered over iOS 7, 8 and 9.


iPad users are not upgrading as much, so Apple needs to maintain brand loyalty, so that these people actually buy a new iPad, when they decide to upgrade. Dropping support for say iPad Mini 1 users within 6-7 months of selling them (assuming that they dropped the Mini 1 tomorrow) would be very poor form. Besides, Apple's tradition is to provide support for its devices for 1 year after they are discontinued (Besides the iPod Touch 4, which isa whole other story).

If Apple wants to be greedy and sell device that will shortly loose support, they should have a big fat sticker on the front informing them of that.

In addition to that, Apple has never dropped a device with a market share as big as the A5 devices EVER. The iPhone 4 had a market share around 12-14 percent, the iPhone 3GS had 6 percent (IIRC) and the iPad 1 also had a low market share when support was dropped.

 

Will they update the iPod Touch this year?

Apple stopped to sell Touch 4gen only 6 months before iOS 7 launch.

But the worst was with iPad 1, which didnt have support for iOS 6.

iPod touch 5th gen still sell and will not have support for iOS 9, same thing for 4S, ipad mini and iPad 2.

Like other companies, Apple is not a charity institution. And yeah, Apple cares bout userbase, since userbase "car€$" bout Apple.

Welcome to the capitalism.

"You know its sad but true!", Metallica

 

The iPod Touch 4 was ONE instance and it had a tiny market share. The iPad 1 had been off the shelves for over a year once it didn't get iOS 6 and it also had a tiny market share.

Apple isn't a charity, but leaving 59 percent of its users on iPads behind is a little extreme.

Not sure why consumers are so eager for these devices to loose support. Longer support cycles can only be to the advantage of users! The whole point of iOS 9 is supposedly to improve performance, so if performance is better than iOS 8, there is no reason to drop A5 devices.

In addition to that, supporting a device that consumers are being sold right now is not 'charity' its justification for spending the premium on apple devices.

 

Apple did NOT announce anything about which devices they may or may not be dropping.

 

Will they update the iPod Touch this year?

iPhone 4 had and still have its userbase too. Here in Portugal some companies sold iP4 refurbished for 200 euros, few weeks after ios8 launch (yah, ridiculous...).

iPad 1 has the same SoC and RAM like touch 4gen. Market share is bad excuse, since touch 4gen had iOS 6 and iPad 1 did not...

So in September, its time to A5 get discontinued support...

 

It's not going to happen unless the Touch 5 is discontinued in late spring / early summer or a Touch 5 replacement is released by late spring / early summer.