The iPod has been dying for a long time. The only model that is sold, and very hidden on the official website, is the iPod touch with the A10 Fusion chip presented just two years ago. It is very strange to see one of those iPod touch being used on the street, and almost everyone believes that the mythical device will have its definitive end soon.
But be careful, because I have said “almost” everyone. During this week have appeared concepts of what they have called an ‘iPod Max’, who seek to awaken the idea of Apple resurrecting the iPod, now focusing on the Apple Music service and its high fidelity audios. It’s not a proper rumor, but … Does it make sense?
An iPod “last hurray” for audiophiles?
In the concept we can see something similar to a classic fifth generation iPod that preserves the clickwheel but it has a bigger screen and more applications in addition to the purely musical. The hook, the excuse of this “iPod Max” would be a special device for audiophiles, those who seek to play the songs in audio lossless.
For that Apple would promote it together with the AirPods Max, and would integrate everything with a new AirPlay technology with a sufficient bandwidth to transmit all the data without compression. Of course, the iPod would include 512GB of SSD storage to be able to store up to 50,000 songs in high fidelity.
The biggest drawback of this concept is that all the technologies that it incorporates can already be in an iPhone
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The idea is not at all bad, even if it is only for a very specific niche of people. But still, it would be necessary to consider if a concept like this ‘iPod Max’ can really make sense. First, all the technologies it incorporates can be easily placed on any iPhone of next generations, including storage that could go up to 1 TB.
Another point is that you would be trying put an additional device in users’ pocket, which is already busy with an iPhone that is getting bigger and bigger. I remember the days when we carried our Nokia brick and iPods, and I don’t really want to go back to it.
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In my opinion, therefore, I see this device as highly unlikely. Maybe as a tribute, one last hit of the iPod range before its final goodbye. It could be a very limited edition, very special, of which very few units would be manufactured. It could be a collector’s item, like the Mac 20th Anniversary, tremendously coveted among the faithful.
Possibilities? Almost nil. But concepts like this are to dream of the impossible.
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