iPod touch 6th generation in 2015: rebirth or end of the line

By Phil Moore | April 26, 2015

With the iPod touch 6th generation well past its expected launch timeframe and Apple still continuing to offer the nearly three year old 5th generation model as if there were nothing out of the ordinary about it, most consumers don’t appear to know or care any different. That leads to the old joke: Did you hear that Apple discontinued the iPod touch? Both remaining users were disappointed. But for those who do still care about the niche product, the next model is a make or break point in the iPod touch lifespan – if indeed there is a next model.

Apple originally introduced the iPod touch as a stopgap to compensate for the fact that the iPhone wasn’t available on most carriers in most nations, and wanted to offer the remaining consumers what the late Steve Jobs once referred to somewhat derisively as “training wheels.” But seven-plus years later, the iPhone is available to nearly everyone everywhere. The iPod touch only still sells to specific niches, from teenagers whose parents don’t yet want them to have a phone, to restaurants who want their waiters to take orders on them.

That means it’s not crucial that the iPod touch offer the latest tech specs or a fresh design. Still, the current model has the same specs as the vaguely obsolete and long discontinued iPhone 5, meaning Apple doesn’t consider the 5th gen Touch to be a legitimate circa-2015 product even as it continues to sell it. And yet again, few people seem to care one way or the other.

That gives Apple two options for the iPod touch 6th generation going forward. One is to soup it up and give it modern features like Touch ID and Apple Pay and a 4.7 inch screen, and market it as an iPhone sidekick. The other is to simply allow the iPod touch to fade away, either by releasing an underwhelming sixth gen product to sate the niche, or by letting it fade away entirely. At this point that decision won’t seem to come until the fall, when Apple turns over its iPhone lineup and must make a decision one way or the other.