iPod touch (3rd generation)
Discontinued 1 Sept 2010On sale for 357 days (1 year), from 9 Sept 2009.
Announced
9 Sept 2009
Released
9 Sept 2009
Discontinued
1 Sept 2010
Lifespan
357 days1 year
Launch price from
$299
- Category
- iPod touch
- Status
- Discontinued
- Apple support status
- Obsolete (Apple no longer services it)
- Release type
- Refresh of an existing model
- Previous model
- iPod touch (2nd generation)
- Replaced by
- iPod touch (4th generation)
- Official Apple page
- No longer available on Apple’s website
- Tech specs
- Apple specs ↗
- Press release
- Apple Newsroom ↗
- More information
- iPod Touch (3rd generation) on Wikipedia ↗
Notes
The iPod touch (3rd generation) cost $299 and looked exactly like the one before it. The case, the screen and the single button were unchanged, and everything Apple did was on the inside.
The processor went from 533MHz to 600MHz and the memory doubled to 256MB, which Apple put at up to 50 per cent faster. Better graphics support came with it, which mattered more for games than for anything else. Voice Control arrived, so the device could be told what to play, though it needed a microphone on the headphone cord to hear anything.
Storage was the headline change. The iPod touch (3rd generation) came in 32GB at $299 and 64GB at $399, the largest an iPod touch had been, where the model before it had stopped at 32GB. Music playback dropped from 36 hours to 30 in the process, while video stayed at six.
There was no camera. Apple had put a video camera into the iPod nano on the same day, at $149, and left it out of a device costing twice as much, which was the thing most people noticed.
It was announced on 9 September 2009 at Apple’s ‘It’s Only Rock and Roll’ event. It went on sale worldwide the same day, priced from $299.
Read about the iPod touch (2nd generation) that came before.
iPod touch (4th generation)
Discontinued
2013 discontinued 30 May30 May 2013
iPod touch (7th generation)
Discontinued
2022 discontinued 10 May10 May 2022
iPod touch (6th generation)
Discontinued
2019 discontinued 28 May28 May 2019
iPod touch 16GB (5th generation, Mid 2013)
Discontinued
2014 discontinued 26 Jun26 Jun 2014
iPod touch (5th generation)
Discontinued
2015 discontinued 15 Jul15 Jul 2015
iPod touch (2nd generation)
Discontinued
2010 discontinued 1 Sept1 Sept 2010
iPod touch release history
- 2026
-
Sept 2026
iPod touch (4th generation)
- ↑ 4 years, 4 months later
- 2022
-
10 May 2022
iPod touch (7th generation)
- ↑ about 3 years later
- 2019
-
28 May 2019
iPod touch (7th generation)
iPod touch (6th generation)
- ↑ 3 years, 10 months later
- 2015
-
15 Jul 2015
iPod touch (6th generation)
iPod touch (5th generation)
- ↑ about 1 year later
- 2014
-
26 Jun 2014
iPod touch 16GB (5th generation, Mid 2013)
- ↑ about 1 year later
- 2013
-
30 May 2013
iPod touch 16GB (5th generation, Mid 2013)
iPod touch (4th generation)
- ↑ 8 months later
- 2012
-
11 Oct 2012
iPod touch (5th generation)
- ↑ about 2 years later
- 2010
-
1 Sept 2010
iPod touch (2nd generation)
8GB model
iPod touch (3rd generation)
- ↑ about 1 year later
- 2009
-
9 Sept 2009
iPod touch (3rd generation)
iPod touch (2nd generation)
32GB and 64GB models
- ↑ about 1 year later
- 2008
-
9 Sept 2008
iPod touch (2nd generation)
iPod touch (1st generation)
- ↑ 7 months later
-
5 Feb 2008
32GB model added at $499
- ↑ 5 months later
- 2007
-
14 Sept 2007
(1st generation) 8GB and 16GB