This upcoming May will mark three years since Apple released the 7th
generation iPod touch. That's enough time for a newborn baby to learn to
walk and communicate, so that must mean the iPod touch 8 is coming this
year, right?
Absolutely not. All signs point to the iPod touch maintaining its status as
a product that remains in Apple's lineup, but there are no rumors of an iPod
touch 8 ever existing. I would sooner bet that the
<https://amzn.to/3FbyOpL> iPod touch 7 languishes until it loses support for
the newest iOS version than wager that a new iPod touch is coming.
That's purely my hunch, however, and an 8th-gen iPod touch with a processor
upgrade and not much else is totally possible! Maybe Apple would even bring
its new midnight and starlight colors to the iPod touch. Who knows! Not me,
but it's fun to think about.
"Back in the day."
The iPod touch was legendary when it premiered in September 2007. The iPhone
was brand new, priced at $499 and up with a two-year contract, and limited
to select carriers globally. The first-gen iPod touch, however, was $299 for
8GB (compared to $599 with a two-year contract for the iPhone) and
disconnected from the complexity of carriers.
It was also the most advanced digital music player by leaps and bounds at a
time when the iPod and iTunes were still revolutionizing the music
experience. For context, Apple was celebrating 100 million iPods sold and 1
million iPhones sold during the same week that the iPod touch debuted.
The iPod lineup that year also included a new iPod classic and an iPod nano
that played video on a two-inch display. Meanwhile, the iPod touch ran the
same operating system as the iPhone, featured a 3.5-inch touch screen, and
included wifi for Safari, YouTube, and something called the iTunesR Wi-Fi
Music Store. Things really got good the next year when the App Store
launched.
I was 17 when the original iPod touch came out, and the iPhone was nowhere
near attainable for me. It would be another two years before I had my first
iPod touch.
By then I had gone through a couple Android smartphones (running Cupcake)
that I themed like an iPhone, but my iPod touch was how I experienced what
we now call iOS. (You also paid for iPod software updates for the touch back
then. Weird, right?)
The iPod touch was actually a pretty great device for a freshman in college
living on campus with wifi available everywhere - especially if your carrier
wasn't AT&T. I graduated from iPod touch life with the iPhone 4. Newer
versions came back in my life for my kids before the iPad lineup matured
enough to have more affordable versions.
Now, just like in Apple's retail stores, the iPod touch just sits on a shelf
collecting dust mostly. Now let's return from that nostalgia trip that made
me feel a bit dusty myself.
Will there ever be another?
The question of "will there ever be another iPod touch?" is one that is
older than the iPod touch 7. Yet as the years go by, the possibility that
there won't be seems ever stronger.
Let's face it: In the era of modern smartphones, we just don't see
<https://9to5mac.com/2012/05/22/alleged-front-panel-for-next-ipod-touch-leak
s-suggests-4-1-inch-display/> iPod leaks drop like they once did. It's
easier to look at iPod touch release dates historically or project iOS
version support for current models.
The first four iPod touch models had one year between each version. In 2010,
the iPhone 4 happened, and in 2011 it gained Verizon support after years of
AT&T exclusivity in the US.
The next two iPod touch models each stuck around for three years before
being upgraded. The 6th generation iPod touch extended its lifetime to four
years as the current model until software support became an issue.
That's when the 7th and current generation iPod touch appeared, and now it's
just a few months shy of turning three. You could reasonably guess that the
current iPod touch has another year left in the tank, but how does processor
support look?
The current iPod touch launched in 2019 with an A10 Fusion chip that debuted
in the iPhone 7 in 2016. The current version of iOS (15.2) supports iPhones
from a year earlier. It's
<https://9to5mac.com/2021/12/20/ios-16-device-support-rumor/> rumored that
iOS 16 will drop support for the iPhone 6s, 6s Plus, and first-gen SE, but
the current iPod touch would still be supported.
Since we're looking for the iPhone 7 to stop receiving major software
updates, it's likely that the current iPod touch will continue receiving iOS
updates for another year or two at least.
That brings us to that big, lingering question again. Will there once again
be a processor update and a color swap, or should we expect the current iPod
touch to be the last?
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