iPod touch (5th generation)
The 4-inch Retina touch, 6.1mm thick in five colors. This body carried the iPod through to the final 2019 model.
Released October 11, 2012 · Discontinued July 15, 2015 · From $299 (32 GB)
The touch caught up with the iPhone 5 and stayed there. A 4-inch Retina display, the A5, a 5-megapixel camera, and a body 6.1mm thick in five anodized colors with a small wrist loop button on the back that Apple called the loop. It weighed 88 grams. At $299 it was still the cheapest way to get iOS and the App Store without a contract, and schools bought them in bulk. This is the body Apple kept using through the sixth and seventh generations, updating only the chip, which means the last iPod ever sold was shaped like a phone from 2012.
Reviews & Reception
The 4-inch touch arrived close to the iPhone in capability, and the price was where reviewers pushed back.
This is a very good piece of hardware that-due as much to pricing and competitive options as anything else-may wind up being lost in the pile.
Although it comes closer than ever before to the current flagship iPhone, the $299 starting price just seems unrealistic for the features Apple is offering compared with the latest crop of small tablets.