discontinued Archives

Apple discontinues the iPod touch and no longer sells any iPods

The news: After years of stagnation, Apple has put the final nail in iPod’s coffin: the iPod touch has been officially discontinued.

“Customers can purchase iPod touch through apple.com, Apple Store locations, and Apple Authorized Resellers while supplies last,” the press release says
The iPod touch was last updated in May 2019, where it received a slight spec bump with a new A10 fusion chip
Apple’s first iPod touch went on sale in September 2007…just months after Apple released the game-changing iPhone

Sam’s take: “The music lives on.” That headline made me oddly emotional today. And as out-of-left-field as it is for a press release announcing the death of the iPod, it’s pretty beautiful. And it made me start reflecting on the iPod and how it unequivocally changed my life.

I got the second-generation iPod touch for my 11th birthday in 2009. I still vividly remember taking it out of the box for the first time, powering it on and seeing the white Apple logo and promptly installing my first ever app from the App Store: Tap Tap Revenge. I sat there for hours that night going through every part of the operating system and quickly became enthralled with the device. It was the first thing I had ever touched that felt like it could do everything I ever wanted. And for me, it was everything.

I could text my parents and my friends on an app called textfree. I could play Angry Birds on long family road trips for hours on end. And most importantly, I could sync all of my iMovie creations directly to my iPod touch. I could bring them anywhere. I could show anyone, anywhere what I made. It was magical.

And it still is today. Only now, the videos I shoot go up on a website called YouTube…and making them is my career: not the quirky hobby of an only child looking to pass the time.

So to the iPod touch, I say thank you. Thank you for giving me a new way to express myself. Thank you for showing me media in a way I had never seen before. Thank you for showing me how to love a piece of technology. Thank you for the magic.

If it wasn’t for you, I wouldn’t be writing this today.

Apple discontinues the beloved 27-inch iMac

The news: Following their “Peek Performance” event, Apple has gotten rid of the 27-inch iMac on their website.

The iMac 27-inch was last updated in August of 2020
Unlike the smaller 24-inch iMac, the 27-inch never got updated with Apple Silicon
Rumors point towards a 27-inch redesigned iMac being branded “iMac Pro,” which is said to ship with M1 Pro and M1 Max chips, and possibly a higher end offering such as M1 Ultra

Ian’s Take: At first, I was very confused because a redesigned 27-inch iMac was widely expected, but it now makes sense. The upcoming 27-inch iMac will be branded as a “Pro” product, replacing the iMac Pro from 2017: Apple will no make a larger consumer-level iMac in the future. In the meantime, those looking for a larger iMac could pick up an M1 Mac mini and newly unveiled Studio Display for a similar price to the discontinued 27-inch iMac.

Apple discontinues Beats Pill+ speaker and now doesn’t sell any Bluetooth speakers

The news: Apple’s first cancelation of 2022 has been the quite removal of the outdated Beats Pill+ speaker, as first spotted by 9to5Mac.

The speaker, which launched in 2015, is no longer available for sale from Apple or Beats…even though the companies haven’t publicly made a statement about the product’s future yet
With this being discontinued, Apple no longer offers a battery-powered, portable Bluetooth speaker
If you want a speaker from Apple, you’ll have to grab the only one they make: HomePod mini

Our take: I honestly forgot about this until I saw the headlines that Apple discontinued it. Which I don’t blame myself for, considering that it was last updated in 2015 and has been greatly out shadowed by the HomePod mini (which is much cheaper). Really, I’m just sad (and confused?) that Apple doesn’t make a really good Bluetooth speaker. It seems like such an obvious product that they could nail…considering that they literally make HomePod speakers already.