With WWDC 2022 fast approaching, I certainly expected this week to be filled with potential rumors of new software features, perhaps some rumors about hardware that may be coming up, but I wasn't expecting to hear of a death in the Apple family. It wasn't all bad news though, the rumor mill for the iPhone 15 (yes, 15) picked up right at the end of the week to remind of that the world, does, in fact, keep turning.
The iPod will always be special
At the beginning of this week, Apple released a somewhat bizarre press release titled The music lives on, which informed all of us that the 7th-gen iPod Touch will only be available as supplies last.
I was surprisingly shocked at the announcement, even though the death of the iPod could be seen from miles away. It's hard to imagine the death of the device that was so pivotal in Apple's growth as a company. In fact, I would say that it was the device that launched Apple into the cultural zeitgeist as it had never been before.
Those colorful ads with the dancing silhouettes were iconic, and I remember them being everywhere. TV, billboards, magazines, you name it.
Everyone has an iPod story. Whether it's about the first iPod you owned, the first iPod you really loved the design, or you just had iPod envy when you couldn't get your hands on one, seemingly everyone has some sort of memory of the device.
That's not just me getting nostalgic, I have the recipes to price it. This week on the iMore Show, Karen, Stephen, Rene Ritchie, and I all talked about the iPod at length. We reminisced about the first iPod we ever had, what we thought of the product that the time, and even shared some fun personal stories. It's nice to look back and rememeber the days where Apple was first starting to get into our pockets (and wallets) in a big way.
So, after over 20 years, the iPod is done. But it shall not be forgotten.
USB-C on the iPhone, finally?
It seems like ever year, we wonder if Apple will finally ditch the Lightning port on its best iPhone in favor of the more "universal" USB-C port. I put universal in quotes, becuase USB-C can actually be quite messy. Some cables and ports only support power delivery, some support data transfer, but only some can give you the full benefits. Regardless of it's somewhat muddied applications, USB-C is a more standard port that lots of devices have been switched over in the past several years.
In a new report by Mark Gurman, it appears we could see the USB-C on the iPhone in 2023 — that would be the iPhone 15 if the naming convention holds up until then.
While I'm excited fore the idea of a USB-C iPhone, I also have heard this rumor before. And even though both Ming-Chi Kuo and Gurman have pretty good track records, I'll choose to believe that USB-C is coming to the iPhone when I see it with my own two eyes.
That being said, it seems like it would be about damn time for Apple to do this, especially since ProRes video on the iPhone 13 Pro produces massive files that could benefit from USB-C data transfer speeds when you want to move those videos off your iPhone and on to your computer.
A good reminder the world keeps turning
This week was a good reminder that no matter how shocking the tech industry can be, it always keeps turning. We started the week with some sad — albeit not unwarranted news — and ended the week with some rumors that might not even come to fruition until 2023!
Until next time,
- Luke
