Finishing Touch
After two decade, these might be the final days of the iPod.
Now in its 7th generation, the iPod touch feels out of place amongst Apple's current product lineup. Featuring the oldest processor (A10) & the smallest screen (4") available of any current iOS device, it feels very much like a forgotten device from a different era. Even Apple's product shots do little to discourage that belief, advertising the iPod touch with screenshots running as far back as iOS 12.
But it wasn't always this way. The touch harkens back to a time not too long ago when music players were the chief breadwinner for Apple. Hot take: in the mid-2000s, Apple was likely better known for the iPod than the Mac! In this era, the iPod, iPod mini, & iPod shuffle reigned supreme, and in turn, so did the company itself.
The original iPod touch: Mail, Notes, adding calendar events, Weather, Stocks, & Maps not included. Nevertheless, I lost my damn mind when this product was released as it was the closest thing to an iPhone that I could get/afford at the time.
The original iPod touch was introduced only a few months after the iPhone became available in September 2007. Steve famously touted the iPhone as being "the best iPod ever" & decided to bring those qualities into a device that would function like an iPhone, just without the phone. It offered the same touch screen and UI that made the iPhone a hit, only with a STRONG emphasis that it remained a dedicated music player. So strong in fact that the original iPod touch shipped without apps like Mail, Maps, Notes, Stocks, or Weather - and when they eventually did become available, early adopters had to pay $20 for an update to install them!
The iPhone's early years were a crossover period for the iPod line, as both lines peacefully coexisted without one eating into the other's market share. But this began to change as the iPhone continued to surge in popularity, with fewer and fewer people seeking out a dedicated music player as an adjunct to their smartphone. Sales of both product lines continued, but the iPhone began to push the iPod to the fringes with each passing day.
The first to go was the iPod, which was discontinued on September 9, 2014. Three years later, on July 27, 2017, the last generation iPod nano and shuffle were removed from Apple's lineup after being released in 2012 and going more than half a decade without any upgrade sans a colour refresh in 2015. I was certain that the upcoming release of iOS 13 in 2019 would deal a death blow to the iPod touch as the OS dropped support for any device with an A8 or older processor. But then, right before WWDC that year, Apple shoved an A10 into the touch, added an extra GB of Ram, bumped up the storage, changed literally nothing else, and in doing so, breathed life into the iPod touch for few more years.
One of these is nearly half a decade older than the other; care to venture a guess which?
What Comes Next?
It is rumoured that the next version of iOS, iOS 15, will drop support for devices running off of Apple's A9 processor. This would mean devices like the iPad Air 2, iPad mini 4, iPhone 6S, first-generation iPhone SE, and others would not transition to iOS 15, but the current iPod touch, running an A10, might survive the upgrade.
At $200 cheaper than the lowest-cost iPhone (iPhone SE: $399), and only $130 less expensive than the lowest-cost iPad (iPad 10.2; $329), the iPod touch retains the title as the cheapest iOS device in Apple's ecosystem. This makes the iPod touch a potentially desirous option to people using the device as a POS system or gaming device. But with a measly battery, slower processor, and comparatively diminutive display, keeping the iPod touch in the line may have more tradeoffs than just laying it to rest.
So while I imagine Apple may drag the iPod along to iOS 15, I'm even more confident this time around that its time has finally come to an end. I don't see Apple trying to jam an A12 or newer processor into the existing touch, just like I don't see any desire on Apple's part to update the touch with a larger display or redesign. This would mean that the iPod touch would still run the latest iOS until at least Fall 2022, presumably when iOS 16 is released, and supported with supplemental security updates for a while longer. I predict we'll see the product one day vanish from Apple's online storefront, perhaps on some random, inauspicious July day just like the iPods that preceded it.
I have a lot of sentiment towards the iPod; its halo effect is what initially drew me into Apple's ecosystem. So while perhaps no significant loss to Apple's bottom line, the end of the iPod touch will also be the death of the iPod brand. For many, including myself, its symbolic loss is perhaps more significant than the eventual disappearance of this iconic music player's last device.
