Josh Ong
HardMac, the English language version of France's Macbidouille, posted an illustration of the next generation iPod touch in a clear case. The website claims the source of the image is "very reliable." The image appears to show a rounded back with a rear-facing camera and flash.
A rounded back would be a clear departure from the design of the iPhone 4, which has a flat glass back.
According to HardMac, the source has been reliable in the past, correctly confirming the inclusion of a camera on last year's iPod nano. Technical issues have been cited as the reason for the lack of a camera on last year's iPod touch model.
Although rumors of a camera-enabled iPod touch have persisted for several years, the June unveiling of Apple's FaceTime video call feature for the iPhone 4 served to strengthen the rumors. At that time, CEO Steve Jobs expressed plans to make the feature an "open industry standard" that works between different devices. When speculating which devices are likely to adopt the FaceTime standard, many analysts have kept the iPod touch at the top of their lists.
Reports from "supplier" sources corroborate the iPod touch camera rumor, although the details don't always match. In July, U.K. retailer John Lewis claimed the next iPod touch will have a 5 megapixel camera, while the Taiwanese publication Digitimes cited sources predicting a 3 megapixel camera.
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62 Comments
Makes sense to differentiate the iPod Touch form the iPhone. The iPod Touch is a thing of beauty and a unibody design makes sense due to its robustness. The camera will make many many users upgrade even if they don't technically need to do so. For just about all kids under the age of 20 (25?) the lack of a camera is a BIG bummer.
One thing to take note is the lack of the iTunes icon...
I am wondering about the screen. Will they go Retina or leave it as is?
Apple - add a camera, increase RAM to 512MB and give us something like 800Mhz processor and make it 16GB min. iOS will add a crapton of new users.
I am wondering about the screen. Will they go Retina or leave it as is?
Would be nice but I find it doubtful. How much money do they want to dump into just the Touch? And how could they keep up demand for the iTouch's that are identical to the iPhone 4 when they can't even keep up with the iPhone 4 itself? Only about a month away till we find out!