The 6th-gen Apple iPod touch is the first major update to Apple’s iPhone-without-a-phone since 2012. So it’s not surprising that the new model is faster than the 5th-gen version.

But the folks at Ars Technica ran a few tests and found that the new model is a lot faster. Like 5 times faster… and graphics performance has improved by as much as 900 percent.

Meanwhile the folks at iFixit have cracked open the new iPod touch to see what’s on the insides.

itouch ifixit

As promised, the 6th-gen iPod touch has a 4 inch, 1136 x 640 pixel display, an Apple A8 processor, 802.11ac WiFi, an 8MP rear camera, and a 720p front camera.

What Apple didn’t tell us is that the new model has 1GB of RAM, which is twice as much as earlier models (and the same amount used in the iPhone 6), or that the A8 processor would be running at 1.1 GHz, which is little over 25 percent slower than the version of the chip used in the iPhone 6.

That means that while the new iPod touch is way faster than the model it replaces, overall it performs more like an iPhone 5S than an iPhone 6.

That’s still a huge improvement, especially when you consider that the starting price for the new iPod touch is still $199 for a model with 16GB of storage.

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4 replies on “6th-gen iPod touch dissected, tested (it’s a lot faster)”

  1. One would have expected that given the long duration between product
    refreshes, that Apple would have given added functionality to the device
    besides the requisite spec bump. Had this product come from a lesser
    brand, it would likely not alter the model’s sales slide. Maybe even the
    Apple branding won’t change the model’s fortunes.

    1. The primary market for the ipod touch is for parents to buy their kids for entertainment/communication, but they don’t feel comfortable buying them a cellphone.

      Its a waste of money nowadays, when you can buy a $199 Android smartphone. And it has the extra benefit of still being able to dial 911, even if you don’t pay for a phone plan (at least it works that way here in Canada).

  2. Should be a great gaming device. Crazy that they can sell this at $199 and its $600 for one that is clocked 25% faster and has a cellular chip, But, the market bears it,,,

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