
New iPod touch delivers even greater performance - ArmandGrillet
https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2019/05/new-ipod-touch-delivers-even-greater-performance/
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wlesieutre
I've wondered if they plan to drop support for 4" screens in iOS 13 or 14 on
account of the iPhone SE being discontinued now. With a new product launch in
this form factor maybe that pushes it out a bit.

A10 is from the iPhone 7, previous iPod Touch was an A8 from the iPhone 6. So
the other thing hanging over the iPhone SE is the A9 processor from the iPhone
6s. We'll see how long that part stays supported.

~~~
antome
Apple seems to provide IOS updates, at least with the iPhones, for about 4-5
years. Assuming the trend holds with the SE, I would probably expect them to
at least support it into mid 2020.

~~~
wlesieutre
I suspect the SE's support is tied to the 6s's, being a small offshoot model
released mid-cycle that Apple doesn't care too much about.

So based on that, the 6s was the 2015 phone launch, running iOS 9. Updates in
2016, 2017, 2018, probably 2019, hopefully 2020, probably not 2021.

Last phone they dropped support for was the iPhone 5 in iOS 11. Compatibility
list was the same in iOS 12 (with nice performance fixes on older hardware),
but 13 is probably the end of the line for the 5s and 6.

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ghaff
I sort of assumed that the vast number of hand-me-down (or second hand)
iPhones would have pretty much eliminated the market for iPhone Touches. I
guess there's still some demand but Apple has never been that big on creating
products for niches.

~~~
filleokus
It also feels like there are enterprisey uses case for it, stuff like museum
tour guides etc [0]. But I can't imagine that market is so large.

[0]: [http://www.paratsolutions.com/museums-
destinations/](http://www.paratsolutions.com/museums-destinations/)

~~~
TYPE_FASTER
Putting an iPod Touch in a rugged case with a barcode scanner is a really good
way to approach warehouse inventory management and other scanner use cases.

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dvfjsdhgfv
It's a pity WhatsApp cannot be officially installed on iPods - they could
replace phones for some people.

~~~
aleem
Privacy centric messaging apps like Signal don't work either and that's a real
shame because the iPod touch is inherently more secure than the iPhone.

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m_ke
Speaking of iPods, has anyone been able to find a modern replacement for a
nano or shuffle? Ideally something with bluetooth. I'm guessing the best bet
these days would be an apple watch.

~~~
filleokus
Probably an Apple Watch, or if you are more of a Spotify person I've heard
good things about [https://bemighty.com](https://bemighty.com)

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Kurtz79
When the first smartphones came out, they were prohibitively expensive, and
for a few years I carried a very basic traditional cellphone and an iPod
touch.

In 2019, when there are smartphones at any price point, each of those with the
same funcions of the iPod touch, plus being a phone on top of that, the use-
case for this device kind of escapes me.

~~~
horyzen
I bought the previous gen last year when it was on sale and mainly use it for
gym or jogging because my phone is too big to carry around. If only they had a
up-to-date, small form factor phone (hoping a SE2) then yeah I would switch my
phone altogether.

~~~
Redoubts
Why not use the watch for this?

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horyzen
I don't own an iPhone and the watch was 2x more expensive than the iPod.

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hyperpallium
Is there any sign that Apple will eventually allow development tools on iOS
itself? (there's ssh clients, but I mean locally)

What's their motivation for preventing it?

~~~
singularity2001
There's pythonista, which is perfect unless you want to publish in the app
store.

~~~
hyperpallium
TY, good to know! Now I think I recall Apple allowing "scripting" languages,
since they're often used in apps/games (like lua).

Although py is pretty fast, esp if using opengl (or I guess metal now?) or
even use JS with webGL (but Apple dropped openGL?), I'd like something faster,
C or objective-C or even Java.

Is it known why Apple opposes non-"scripting" development on iOS?

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Isamu
Very welcome news here, I was wondering if they would end-of-life this product
and hoped for the best. It fills an important niche, sort of a micro iPad.

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aparashk
An honest question — this or a mint condition iphone 7, they should be at
comparable price points?

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js2
Odd that there is sufficient demand for an updated iPod touch but not an
updated iPhone SE.

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Causality1
I will never understand why anyone would build an ipod (read:non-smartphone)
without physical playback controls.

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scarface74
Why? I can’t think of a use case where it would be more convenient to use
controls on the device than the headphones or the Bluetooth controls in my
car.

