Apple introduced a new iPod touch on Wednesday as we expected after selling nearly the same model for almost three years, and today iFixit has shared its routine teardown to grade the device’s ability to be repaired and catalog exactly what’s inside Apple’s newest iOS device.
While the exterior of the new iPod touch remains largely the same aside from new color options and the removal of the Loop camera strap, the teardown does confirm the RAM upgrade caught in benchmarks earlier this week and a slightly larger battery than the previous model…
Alongside the A8 chip, underclocked compared to the iPhone version, Apple’s 6th-gen iPod touch features the same 1 GB LPDDR3 RAM found in the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus. Between the processor jump from the iPhone 4S level A5 chip to the iPhone 6 level A8 chip and the doubled RAM compared to 4 Gb (512 MB) of Mobile DDR2 RAM found in the the 5th-gen iPod touch, Apple’s new $199 and up iOS device packs in plenty more power for the price.
More power under-the-hood can mean more juice needed to keep everything running, and the iPod touch 6th-gen delivers with a slightly higher capacity battery. The new iPod touch includes a battery rated at 1043 mAh over the battery included with the 5th-gen iPod touch rated at 1030 mAh. The only slight battery capacity increase isn’t as large as the shift between the 930 mAh in the 4th-gen iPod touch and the previous model, but the casing remains mostly unchanged with the same 4-inch display while the previous model jumped from 3.5-inches.
iFixit notes a few other trivial changes including the inclusion of a white bezel on the inside of the display and a few other known differences including a smaller ƒ/2.4 aperture compared to the iPhone 6’s ƒ/2.2 aperture despite the same 8 MP spec. In terms of repairability, iFixit rates the new iPod touch model at a 4 out of 10, coming in at the low end of the scale but jumping 1 point since the 5th-gen model in 2012 despite citing the same issues including no external screws and use of adhesive. Check out the full teardown here and stay tuned for our hands-on coverage soon.
