A peek inside Apple's updated 16-gigabyte iPod touch has discovered that the spaces where the camera and wrist strap loop are located in other models have simply been left empty.
The repair wizards at iFixit got their hands on Apple's new low-end $229 iPod touch this week, and found that the internal design is largely the same as the premium 32- and 64-gigabyte varieties. In particular, the logic board looks nearly identical, aside from the lack of a rear-facing camera.
The teardown did discover that the ribbon cables located on the top portion of the device have been slightly rerouted because of the missing iSight camera. The lack of camera has also led to the microphone, which is rear-facing on other models, to be moved to the top of the device.
And at the bottom of the device, the space where the wrist strap loop is located on the high-end models is empty in the 16-gigabyte version.
Aside from those tweaks, the parts and design of the new low-end iPod touch are identical. Integrated circuits identified on the logic board include:
- Apple A5 dual-core processor, with 512 megabytes of Mobile DDR2 RAM.
- Toshiba THGBX2G7B2JLA01 16 gigabytes of NAND flash
- Apple 3381064 dialog power management IC
- Murata 339S0171 Wi-Fi module
- Broadcom BCM5976 touchscreen controller
- STMicroelectronics low-power, three-axis gyroscope (AGD4/2305/O2LBV)
- Apple 338S1116 and Apple 338S1077 Cirrus Audio Codecs
Apple surprised on Thursday when it unveiled the new basic iPod touch model for $229 in its online store. Previously, the fifth-generation iPod touch lineup debuted in September of 2012 without a 16-gigabyte option, as Apple instead offered the fourth-generation iPod touch with a slower processor and smaller screen for $199.