Apple Launches 16 GB iPod touch with No Rear Camera

With WWDC just around the corner, most people are focusing on whether or not Apple is preparing to launch a new iPhone in just a few weeks' time. However, it seems the Cupertino-based company has been prepping a different kind of touchscreen device over the last few months.

Apple this morning surprised us all with the launch of a brand new iPod touch with Retina display and 16 GB of storage. The company quietly updated its store to include a 16 GB model of last year's 5th generation iPod touch. Apple launched the fifth generation iPod last September, bringing color to the iPod range and adding a 4-inch screen, IPS display, support for 1080p video recording and panoramic stills, an LED flash, Apple's A5 chip, and support for Siri. However, the MP3 player was only available in 32 GB and 64 GB capacities.

The new model isn't exactly the same, though. Apple's new 16 GB model of the 5th gen iPod touch is only available in silver and doesn't have a rear-facing camera or a loop for a lanyard. If you can get past these omissions, it's priced at $229 and is available via the Apple store online right now.

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19 Comments Comment from the forums

Mark Honzawa

How is $229 a budget item? I can get a pretty nice Android Tablet with much more space for that much.
Reply
house70

10886739 said:
How is $229 a budget item? I can get a pretty nice Android Tablet with much more space for that much.

That's Apple's notion of a "budget device".
This seems to be designed to be just a media player, nothing more. Thing is, for less money one can get a better player (capacity, functionality-wise, just no fruit logo).
Reply
teh_chem

Sounds like they had a surplus of parts to me.
Reply
edogawa

Serious question, why buy an iPod if your phone can serve the same purpose? That seems rather expensive too for an iPod with only 16GB of space.
Reply
livebriand

Serious question, why buy an iPod if your phone can serve the same purpose? That seems rather expensive too for an iPod with only 16GB of space.
iPod Touches seem to be pretty popular among tweens/teens, since their parents aren't always willing to pay for a data plan. I've seen plenty of them with these, as well as dumbphones for actually making calls.
Reply
livebriand

I'm surprised they're doing this, since their profit margin must be lower than on the 32GB version.
Reply
teh_chem

10887285 said:
Serious question, why buy an iPod if your phone can serve the same purpose? That seems rather expensive too for an iPod with only 16GB of space.

To play devil's advocate, lots of people substitute their smartphone with an ipod touch for activities--gym etc. Some people don't want to carry a data plan on their cell account, so they have dumbphones ("feature phones" lol), a portable media player is a nice thing to have. Other people are parents; lots provide ipod touches for their little kids as entertainment or learning tools.

Don't get me wrong; I use my phone for pretty much everything other than falling asleep to audio books (funnily enough, I have an aging ipod touch for that--but if it broke, I wouldn't buy another one...).
Reply
danwat1234

Better yet buy an iPod classic and put in a 250GB 1 platter 1.8" drive in it.
Reply
Eowsasdf

I work for a government contractor, and believe it or not, no cameras (Meaning no personal smart phones outside of a camera-less Blackberry Bold) are allowed inside the gate. If I want to listen to music while working, or do anything else that one would use an iPhone for besides calls, the iPod touch is really the only choice. iOS and the iPod touch mimic the iPhone in function using iCloud. Judging by this from Apple, my co-workers and I are not the only "non-camera" iOS users out there.
Reply
echozero

Wait a sec.. 32G 2 camera Ipod touch is 299, are people really going to save 70 dollar settle for 16G front camera only ipod touch?
It might be the case if there is SD or Micro SD slot since a 32G MicroSD/SD is cheaper than what Apple ask for 16G extra space.
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