Apple Launches New 16 GB iPod Touch With No Rear Camera for $229
Apple today made a quiet update to its iPod touch lineup, launching a new 16 GB fifth-generation model without a rear camera for $229. The new iPod touch, which is only available with a black front and silver back, replaces the fourth-generation iPod touch that Apple had continued to offer since the introduction of new models late last year. The new model is available now in Apple's online store and should be available in the company's retail stores starting tomorrow.
Apple introduced the redesigned fifth-generation iPod touch last September with the same 4-inch display seen on the iPhone 5 and a number of other enhancements. But with the new hardware pushing the entry-level price to $299 for a 32 GB model, Apple decided to continue offering the fourth-generation models at cheaper $199 (16 GB) and $249 (32 GB) price points.
Now, with production on the fifth-generation models having been underway for roughly eight months, Apple has found a way to shave costs through both natural component cost declines and the removal of several features to be able to offer a stripped-down fifth-generation model at pricing close to that previously offered for the fourth-generation models. Beyond the loss of a rear camera, the new entry-level iPod touch also omits Apple's "Loop" wrist strap introduced on the fifth-generation models last year.
Earlier this year, KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo had predicted that Apple would discontinue the fourth-generation iPod touch in favor of a stripped-down fifth-generation model without a rear camera. Kuo had believed that Apple would introduce an 8 GB version of that device for $199, but Apple apparently decided that 16 GB of storage should be the minimum for the iPod touch lineup.
Popular Stories
Apple has announced it will be holding a special event on Tuesday, May 7 at 7 a.m. Pacific Time (10 a.m. Eastern Time), with a live stream to be available on Apple.com and on YouTube as usual. The event invitation has a tagline of "Let Loose" and shows an artistic render of an Apple Pencil, suggesting that iPads will be a focus of the event. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more ...
Apple today released several open source large language models (LLMs) that are designed to run on-device rather than through cloud servers. Called OpenELM (Open-source Efficient Language Models), the LLMs are available on the Hugging Face Hub, a community for sharing AI code. As outlined in a white paper [PDF], there are eight total OpenELM models, four of which were pre-trained using the...
Apple is set to unveil iOS 18 during its WWDC keynote on June 10, so the software update is a little over six weeks away from being announced. Below, we recap rumored features and changes planned for the iPhone with iOS 18. iOS 18 will reportedly be the "biggest" update in the iPhone's history, with new ChatGPT-inspired generative AI features, a more customizable Home Screen, and much more....
Apple has dropped the number of Vision Pro units that it plans to ship in 2024, going from an expected 700 to 800k units to just 400k to 450k units, according to Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. Orders have been scaled back before the Vision Pro has launched in markets outside of the United States, which Kuo says is a sign that demand in the U.S. has "fallen sharply beyond expectations." As a...
Apple is finally planning a Calculator app for the iPad, over 14 years after launching the device, according to a source familiar with the matter. iPadOS 18 will include a built-in Calculator app for all iPad models that are compatible with the software update, which is expected to be unveiled during the opening keynote of Apple's annual developers conference WWDC on June 10. AppleInsider...
Top Rated Comments
Why would they waste time at WWDC talking about a cheaper iPod?
It still has a camera.
Yeah that would be a bit underwhelming. "Here's our latest product, we've removed the camera and halved the storage capacity. Moving on..."