Apple’s whiz-bang press event today at the Flint Center in Cupertino, Calif. yielded a stream of announcements, landing at breakneck speed—the iPhone 6, the Apple Watch, Apple Pay, and so forth.
For all that excitement, there were also some big omissions. (Apart from Apple vice president Craig Federighi and his spectacular hair, that is.)
iPod Touch And Apple TV
The iPod touch and the Apple TV were glaringly MIA today. The iPod—that MP3 player-turned-smart gadget—used to be the highlight of Apple’s end of summer–to–early fall event. But it was nowhere to be seen, apart from one version in a cameo for a promo image touting Apple’s music line-up.
And Apple TV, a streaming set-top box, is sorely in need of an update after two years. (For instance, unlike most other streaming setups out there, it still has no app store of any kind.)
iPad
There was no sign of a new iPad, either. Of course, if Apple keeps to its recent pattern, it will probably hold a separate press conference in October to show off its new tablet—which, like the iPhones, is rumored to be getting bigger and to offer a Touch ID fingerprint sensor.
If that’s the case, then Apple might be saving a sixth-generation iPod touch and new Apple TV for then as well. Fingers crossed.
Odds And Ends
Other no-shows include:
- A release date for Mac OS X Yosemite
- A bump up in megapixel size for iPhone cameras
- Sapphire displays for the new iPhones
- More details about HomeKit, Apple’s foray into the smart home
But the most disconcerting omission, at least for small iPhone fans, is that Apple gave no hint as to whether it will continue developing four-inch Apple smartphones. Apple hasn’t yet killed all of its smaller older iPhones, but a read between the lines of its announcement today suggests it will retire that screen size before long.
See also: Apple’s 4-Inch iPhone May Be Doomed
If there’s hope for these smaller iPhones, it may lie in the fact that Apple seems interested in keeping a budget smartphone around. There’s also the fact that if it retires four-inch screens, Apple would also have to transmogrify the iPod touch into a sort of iPod touch-plus of some kind. So far, there’s not much indication that any such move is in the works.
Lead image created by Adriana Lee for ReadWrite
