New iPod touch delivers even greater performance | Hacker News Reader

New iPod touch delivers even greater performance

apple.com

32 pointsArmandGrillet29 comments

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.

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.

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.

They still produce the iPhone 6S in India, IIUC, so it should be supported for quite some time.

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.

Cheapest way to get into iOS development also.

This is what I thought too. I generally develop React native apps on an Android device + iOS sim. Then before launch I borrow an iPhone from a friend or coworker for a quick test. This is a nice entry point to a physical iOS device

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/

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.

I worked in the field services space - sending people places to do things around 2008-2012 programming Windows CE ruggedized devices. The market was large enough even around 2011 for there still to be plenty of jobs for Windows CE programmers even though MS abandoned the platform with VS 2008.

The market has to be much larger now.

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

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.

Came to say the same thing: Shame that one can't run WhatsApp or Signal on them, would be an option for grandma to keep at home.

(Note: not Apple's fault - iMessage, Wire, and other messengers work, if I'm not mistaken.)

Identification and authentication by phone number should die (or at least be an option among several).

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.

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

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.

A use case could be children, but we use old smart phones without a sim card. The functionality is similar and the cost is free if you have an old phone around.

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.

Why not use the watch for this?

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

The iPod does not compete with cheap non-Apple smartphones. It’s a cheap alternative to an iPhone.

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?

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

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?

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.

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

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

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

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.

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