Apple Refreshes The iPod Touch With A8 SoC And New Cameras
by Brandon Chester on July 15, 2015 11:54 AM EST- Posted in
- Apple
- iPod Touch
- Mobile
Today Apple released a new version of the iPod Touch. The previous model of the iPod Touch was released back in 2012, and over time it has seen a few changes with the addition of a 16GB model without a rear-facing camera, and then the camera being added back to it further down the road. This 2015 model of the iPod Touch is an evolutionary improvement, but still the biggest improvement to the product that we've seen in quite some time. To see what has changed, you can check out the chart below for a comparison of the 2012 iPod Touch and this new 2015 edition.
iPod Touch (2012) | iPod Touch (2015) | |
SoC | Apple A5 2 x Cortex A9 at 800MHz |
Apple A8 2 x Typhoon at 1.1GHz |
GPU | PowerVR SGX543MP2 | PowerVR GX6450 |
RAM | 512MB LPDDR2 | 1GB LPDDR3 |
NAND | 16/32/64GB | 16/32/64/128GB |
Display | 4.0" 1136x640 IPS LCD | |
Dimensions | 58.6 x 123.4 x 6.1 mm, 88g | |
Camera | 5MP rear-facing 1.2MP front-facing |
8MP F/2.4 rear-facing 1.2MP F/2.2 front-facing |
OS | iOS | |
Other Connectivity | 802.11a/b/g/n + BT 4.0, Lightning connector | 802.11a/b/g/n/ac + BT 4.1, Lightning connector |
Price | $199 | $199/249/299/399 |
By far the biggest improvement with the 2015 iPod Touch is the adoption of Apple's A8 SoC. This brings the internal hardware of the iPod Touch up to par with the iPhone, which is something we haven't really seen since the third generation iPod Touch as the fourth gen didn't have the 512MB of RAM of the iPhone 4, and the fifth gen used Apple's A5 SoC while the iPhone 5 sported A6. Along with the obvious improvements to performance that Apple's Typhoon cores bring when compared to the dual Cortex A9 cores in A5, there's also a doubling of memory and significant increase in memory bandwidth. Moving to A8 also brings Apple's latest ISP, which allows for features like slow-mo video recording and larger panoramas which were not possible on the previous iPod Touch. Interestingly enough, the iPod Touch is like the iPad Air 2 in that it's limited to 1080p30 video and 720p120 slow-mo, while the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus can record 1080p60 and 720p240 video.
As for the cameras themselves, the 5MP rear-facing camera of the previous iPod Touch has been bumped to an 8MP sensor. It's likely that we're looking at the same F/2.4 sensor with 1.1 micron pixels as the iPad Air 2, but this would require a deeper look to confirm. The front camera is still 1.2MP, but it has the wider F/2.2 aperture from the front cameras on the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus. Apple's A8 ISP also enables features like single-shot HDR for photos taken with the front-facing camera.
Other changes include a new 128GB capacity, and the addition of 802.11ac WiFi connectivity. Apple's listing for Bluetooth 4.1 support also confirms that their Bluetooth software stack has been updated to that version.
As far as the design and form factor of the iPod Touch goes, the 2015 model is unchanged from the 2012 model. Apple has revamped the selection of colors you can choose, but the chassis itself is exactly the same. This means that's we're still looking at a 4" 1136x640 IPS display, rather than the 4.7" or 5.5" displays found on the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus. Buyers interested in the iPod Nano or iPod Shuffle should note that the new colors for the iPod Touch have also been brought over to Apple's other iPods as well.
Despite its improvements, the 2015 iPod Touch maintains the same price. It starts at $199 for 16GB, with a $50 increase bringing you to 32GB, an additional $50 to get 64GB, and another $100 to get 128GB. This makes the 128GB model the same price as two of the 16GB models, which is a lot of money for some flash memory.
In any case, the new iPod Touch is definitely a welcomed improvement over the 2012 model. This update means that the Apple A5 SoC no longer exists in any iOS products, with the exception of the Apple TV which has no app store. A8 represents an enormous leap over A5 in every respect, and users will definitely notice the improvements in speed when running iOS 8 and soon iOS 9. I'm not sure of exactly how large the market for a device like the iPod Touch is with how ubiquitous the smartphone has become, but with Apple updating the line there's obviously some group of users who are interested in a product like the iPod Touch. For those users, the 2015 iPod Touch appears to be the best model yet.
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ltcommanderdata - Wednesday, July 15, 2015 - link
If Anandtech's chart is accurate then the iPod Touch's A8 has been downclocked to 1.3 GHz from 1.4 GHz in the iPhone 6 which will help. The battery is probably denser and bigger now that they removed the post for the hand loop. But yes, while light usage battery life is probably the same or better than the old iPod Touch, full load battery life is probably worse.Brandon Chester - Wednesday, July 15, 2015 - link
It turns out it's even lower than that at 1.1GHz, at least according to Geekbench anyway.ltcommanderdata - Wednesday, July 15, 2015 - link
Hopefully someone runs a GPU test too. With the ~25% resolution drop and apparent 25% CPU clock-speed drop, a 25% GPU clock speed drop from the iPhone 6 would be about right.psychobriggsy - Thursday, July 16, 2015 - link
This makes sense - can't have a game running smoother on the iPod Touch than on the iPhone 6!In addition, 25% slower clock speeds could mean significantly lower power consumption at those clock speeds, which means longer periods of gaming.
All in all, a very compelling portable games console (when coupled with a controller shell), music player, video streamer and general application device. And it shows just how expensive the phone components are in an iPhone 6...
ltcommanderdata - Thursday, July 16, 2015 - link
https://gfxbench.com/compare.jsp?benchmark=gfx30&a...If these benchmarks are accurate then it looks like the A8's GPU was not downclocked in the new iPod Touch vs the iPhone 6. The new iPod Touch looks like it has the fastest onscreen at native resolution performance of any iDevice.
Jon Tseng - Wednesday, July 15, 2015 - link
Awesome... A tethering-only iPhone 6C for a quarter of the price! :-) :-)iPod Touch has always been great for keeping an oar in the Apple ecosystem. I think of it more as an "iPad Nano".,,
cfenton - Wednesday, July 15, 2015 - link
My speculative answer to the question about who is still buying these things is that it's mostly parents for their children. $200 is a fairly cheap price for a device that can play games, stream from just about every service, browse the web, and play music. Considering it's about the same price as a Vita or 3DS, it's a good value, especially when you factor in the cost of software (obviously there are still big software quality differences, but it's hard to beat iOS gaming when it comes to value).I also would't be surprised if that 128GB model finally gets some of the iPod Classic holdouts to upgrade.
kmmatney - Wednesday, July 15, 2015 - link
I think you are better off buying a used iPad - they are around $200 for a used iPad 3 (64GB versions are $250 on Swappa right now, in excellent condition). The touch is obviously more portable, the the iPad is just better overall. It nice to see an iPod Touch update, but its really a niche product now.supra2jz - Wednesday, July 15, 2015 - link
I don't really agree. Young people are trying to have an iPhone but not pay a $30 per month data plan. They want to have all the features an iPhone is used for, such as iPod functionality, alarm, etc The iPad serves as a good home device, but is not as good for young people who would probably want to be texting, listening to music, etc all the time.cfenton - Wednesday, July 15, 2015 - link
I think the iPad 3 is a bit too old at this point if you want to play games. I replaced mine with an Air 2 last year because it was getting too sluggish even for normal tasks. I am admittedly very sensitive to slow devices, but the iPad 3 really seemed to be on its last legs to me. Even if you don't mind the sluggishness, the A8 in the new iPod will run circles around the A5X in the iPad 3, especially on the lower resolution screen.