Regarding new iPods on September 12

By Rene Ritchie
last updated

Back in July when iMore learned about Apple's plans for a September 12 iPhone event, we learned some new iPods would likely be coming with it, including a new iPod touch and iPod nano. Specifics were scarce, however. Now Mark Gurman from 9to5mac has a few more details:

[We] believe that there will be at least two new/updated iPod lines and possibly a third. All these new lines will come in multiple colors, one of the lines will come in two size capacities, and the other two lines will come in a single storage capacity.

iMore has learned that the new iPod touch is getting the same 4-inch, 16:9 aspect ration screen as the new iPhone. Whether it's the same exact panel as the iPhone 5, or Apple once again goes for a cheaper panel like the non-IPS one they went with in 2010, however, remains to be seen.

While the iPhone 4S last year got the Apple A5 processor and a bump to 64GB, the iPod touch got no processor or storage bump, only a white option. It seems logical that Apple would rev the iPod touch processor this year, but whether or not it goes to 128GB also remains in question. A 128GB iPod touch could let Apple retire the venerable iPod classic line. However, services like iTunes in the Cloud and iTunes Match have made iOS devices far less storage-constrained than they were in the past.

There have also been rumors about Bluetooth 4.0 and Wi-Fi direct device-to-device communications and connectivity. If those have any validity, while the iPhone would no doubt get much of the attention, those features could be even more compelling on the non-cellular iPod lineup.

As for the timeline, it does make sense for Apple to introduce the new iPods at the same event as the new iPhone, like they did last year. That leaves October clear for the iPad mini and whatever else Apple intends to showoff with it. Gurman's information on the iPod nano and iPod shuffle sounds reasonable as well.

Perhaps the biggest wildcard, as M.G. Siegler points out on TechCrunch, is whether or not iTunes 11 is finally good to go.

Whispers have a team from Facebook in Cupertino, actively engaged in the ongoing development. That clearly seems to confirm the end of Ping, but also — hopefully — a completely reworked experience. Be warned: there have been many false-starts here. So it’s not clear if we’ll hear more next week, next month, or alas, next year.

Some answers, at least, are just a week away...

Rene Ritchie
Rene Ritchie
Contributor

Rene Ritchie is one of the most respected Apple analysts in the business, reaching a combined audience of over 40 million readers a month. His YouTube channel, Vector, has over 90 thousand subscribers and 14 million views and his podcasts, including Debug, have been downloaded over 20 million times. He also regularly co-hosts MacBreak Weekly for the TWiT network and co-hosted CES Live! and Talk Mobile. Based in Montreal, Rene is a former director of product marketing, web developer, and graphic designer. He's authored several books and appeared on numerous television and radio segments to discuss Apple and the technology industry. When not working, he likes to cook, grapple, and spend time with his friends and family.

12 Comments
  • I'm kind of hoping that the classic and the shuffle are discontinued this time. It would make for a better, more focused product line and we could stop calling the "iPod touch" by that ungainly and seemingly un-rememberable (by most people) name, and just call it "iPod" instead.
  • That would be really stupid. lots of people buy shuffles and the classic is also bought by many
  • I think it's time to start dialing BACK on the use of cloud based storage for portable devices, since the major cellular carriers are eliminating unlimited data. Do you really want to eat up your data quota on music and then have no data left when you need to send that email? The local device needs to have enough storage capacity to hold the media content the user wants to carry around. Also, iPods do not have data everywhere, only where you have a WiFi connection. Good luck with that when driving or walking around town.
  • I think it should be more accessible to turn on and off as needed. I find that it often fails to download songs in real-time allowing them to slip into my listening stream. Instead of having it automatically downloading songs in my playlists that are missing, I'd like to chose. Most times, I'd rather just keep running then stop and try to go into airplane mode to get it to stop trying to download a song!
  • You can do that with some Jailbreak tweaks, but I think you just proved my point about cloud storage and non-cellular devices.
  • I agree with both of you. This assertion that cloud streaming alleviates storage issues is a fallacy. Sure, it has the potential to do so, but with the way carriers are raping consumers for data and as previously mentioned the wifi only models don't even have that option. Not to mention the lousy performance when you DO use streaming over 3G and the still porous 4G coverage, iCloud streaming isn't ready for primetime yet.
  • Good points. Apple really wants everyone to use iCloud. Heavily. It could be the next decade's iTunes in terms of building Apple's ecosystem and "subscriber" base. But yeah, the cell carriers are (as always) the gating factor. How are we ever going to get from here to the all-streaming 1Gb/sec "real 4G" future without uncapped data plans? (And how can the carriers justify separate voice and data plan fees when everything is converted to the same stream of IP packetized data over "real 4G"?)
  • No kidding! The carriers are the Achilles' heal of the whole 'cloud' thing and advancement of related technologies. I have no interest in 'in-the-cloud' for iPod type devices, as I have no intention for them to have wifi or cellular connection many of the places I'd use them (bike riding, hiking, etc.). Even around home, I turn off wifi most of the time on my iPod touch to save battery life.
  • Note: this was supposed to be a replay to gordol above.
  • You're right, however what I would do is keep the stuff that I continuously listen to on the iPod. Delete everything else from the device and only stream that. I have almost 5000 songs on my iPod and I'll bet I listen to maybe 1/4 of them. That way you can still listen to your favorite music while driving, then when you get the urge to listen to that lesser known albums, listen to them when you're near wi-fi.
    Problem solved.
  • That only works if you still use iTunes to cycle music on and off the iPod/iPhone via Smart Playlists. I have over 14K songs in my library, of which about half to two-thirds are rotated on and off my iPod as I listen to them.
  • I'm a bit disappointed (if the rumors are true) that the iPod touch will have the same screen (size) as the new iPhone is supposed to have. I could care less about 16:9 and this just make the a device which is already approaching too big, bigger. I just don't understand this move Apple is making, on the iPhone or the iPod touch (outside simply trying to match specs with other various mobile bloated devices).