Apple has announced plans to kill off the iPod nano and shuffle, the company’s last two music players without the ability to run streaming service Apple Music.
The move is part what’s been described as a “simplification” of the iPod range to leave just the Touch model.
Apple did not give a reason for discontinuing the models, but the huge popularity of smartphones, music streaming apps and growing storage capacity mean that the iPod Nano and iPod Shuffle are just the latest in a long line of single-use devices killed off by the smartphone.
In a blog announcement, Apple said: “Today, we are simplifying our iPod lineup with two models of iPod touch now with double the capacity starting at just $199 and we are discontinuing the iPod shuffle and iPod nano.”
That product, which is like a slimmed down iPhone but without the ability to be used as a phone, has been updated.
Nanos and shuffles have already been removed from Apple’s online store and will soon be made unavailable for purchase from physical stores as well.
The two discontinued models could only play songs downloaded from iTunes or from physical singles or albums.
When it was released in 2005, the shuffle was controversially innovative by dropping the screen, leaving users blind to which of the potential 500 songs stored on the 2 gigabyte handset would play next.
Arriving in the same year, the Nano was a replacement for the iPod Mini and kept the screen.
At its peak, arguably when the 7th generation model was released in 2015, it could store up to 4,000 songs across 16GB on a range of six colours.
Apple stopped making the original model in 2014, saying it could no longer source the necessary parts.