Play it again, Apple: Is the iPod coming back?

By David Nield Published April 25, 2015

play it again apple is the ipod coming back touch — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Few gadgets are as iconic as the iPod. It may not have been the first portable digital music player on the market, but it revolutionized the way we listen to tunes on the go with its huge capacity and its intuitive clickwheel. Since the arrival of the iPhone, however, the iPod has taken a backseat in Apple’s planning.

The iPod Touch hasn’t seen a major update since the end of 2012, and when the iPod Classic was discontinued in September that seemed to be that. However, new reports from the usually reliable AppleInsider suggest that Apple is considering breathing new life into the range sometime this year, at least as far as the Touch models are concerned. iPod fans, stay tuned.

AppleInsider spoke to a source “familiar” with the Cupertino company’s plans, and it sounds like any new models are going to retain the same 4-inch screen size of the current iPod Touch. It’s a safe bet that any new devices will use chips previous seen in the iPhone, but the storage capacity could get a boost. A higher-quality camera lens could also be introduced, according to the anonymous insider.

But why would Apple suddenly rekindle its love for the iPod after all these years? The imminent arrival of an iTunes streaming music service could have something to do with it — a service that Apple has yet to confirm officially — as could the launch of high-fidelity audio devices like Neil Young’s PonoPlayer. What’s more, with the iPhone such a runaway success, Apple doesn’t have to worry about the iPod affecting sales too much.

Could the next iPod be a premium music player with Beats branding? We’ll have to wait and see what Apple has got in store.

Topics

Contributor

Dave is a freelance journalist from Manchester in the north-west of England. He's been writing about technology since the…

Mobile

Forget AirPods — here’s why I use Samsung earbuds with my iPhone

Galaxy Buds 2 Pro with iPhone 13 Pro Max on a table

AirPods Pro 2 are the go-to flagship earbuds for an iPhone user; you get all the ecosystem benefits alongside brilliant sound quality and active noise cancellation (ANC). But what if you use your iPhone with a Windows laptop, or what if you have an Android phone as a secondary device? That’s where you’ll require a second pair of earbuds — unless you can find something that works well with the iPhone as well as Windows and Android. Surprisingly, the Galaxy Buds 2 Pro are one such product.

I’ve been using the Galaxy Buds 2 Pro with my iPhone 13 Pro Max and Galaxy Z Fold 4. While there are obvious reasons for someone in the Galaxy ecosystem to purchase the flagship Samsung earbuds, they work shockingly well with an iPhone — even if there are a couple of caveats.
Open, pair, and play

Audio / Video

Apple Music Sing brings karaoke singalongs to iPhones, Apple TV

Apple Music Sing.

Apple wants you to sing like everyone's listening with its new Apple Music Sing feature, a karaoke mode that works with the music streaming service's popular lyrics experience.

Available later this month on iPhone (11 and later), iPads (third-gen and later), and the 2022 model of Apple TV 4K (not earlier models, for some reason) to really max out the karaoke experience in living rooms, Apple Music Sing will be incorporated right into the Apple Music app, giving you the option to use a slider to control the volume of the vocals in Apple Music's song library so you can sing along. With the slider, you can tweak the volume to either blend your voice with the singer's or drop them out completely to go solo. Background vocals are also viewable independently from the main vocals for budding backup singers to follow more easily, and a Duet view separates multiple singers' lyrics on opposite sides of the screen.

Mobile

Forget Apple’s newest iPad — the Galaxy Tab S8 should be your next tablet

Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 alongside the tenth-gen iPad.

For a while now, the tablet industry has been rather boring. That's not due to the lack of compelling devices, but because of lopsided competition. Apple’s iPads have reigned supreme, and with the arrival of iPadOS, Apple made it clear that it was serious at playing the tablet game.

The dominance has been particularly evident at the entry level, where the $329 iPad has been the default choice for an affordable, reliable tablet. That’s not the case anymore in 2022. The "entry-level" 10th-gen iPad now starts at $449. It looks fresh, offers USB-C nirvana, and comes with a new Magic Keyboard to sell its computing chops.