Apple has announced that after more than 20 years of history, it will stop producing portable iPods. After the stock of the latest model iPod touch (7th generation) is sold out, it will disappear from stores forever.

The company motivates its decision by the fact that the ability to listen to music today is successfully integrated into the line of Apple products – from iPhone and Apple Watch to iPad and Mac.

“Music has always been part of our core at Apple, and bringing it to hundreds of millions of users in the way iPod did impacted more than just the music industry — it also redefined how music is discovered, listened to, and shared,” said Greg Joswiak, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing, “Today the spirit of iPod lives on. We’ve integrated an incredible music experience across all of our products, from the iPhone to the Apple Watch to the HomePod mini, and across Mac, iPad, and Apple TV. And Apple Music delivers industry-leading sound quality with support for spatial audio — there’s no better way to enjoy, discover, and experience music.”

The original iPod, introduced on October 23, 2001, was the first MP3 player to hold 1,000 songs and a 10-hour battery and weighed just 184 grams.

Video from the presentation of the first iPod in 2001 by Steve Jobs.

Introduced on February 20, 2004, the iPod mini combines all the basic features of the iPod, but in a smaller design weighing only 102 grams.

Introduced on September 25, 2006, the iPod nano (2nd generation) offered a slim design, bright color display, six stylish colors and up to 24 hours of battery life, and could contain up to 2,000 songs.

The iPod touch, first introduced on September 5, 2007, received a Multi-Touch interface as well as a 3.5-inch display.

Introduced on September 12, 2012, the iPod nano (7th generation) is still the thinnest iPod – only 5.4mm, but it also had a 2.5-inch Multi-Touch display.

Introduced on July 15, 2015, the iPod shuffle (4th generation) offered an elegant design and up to 15 hours of battery life, 2GB of memory for hundreds of songs and a VoiceOver button to listen to song title, playlist title or battery status.

The iPod touch (7th generation) with the A10 Fusion chip, introduced on May 28, 2019, became Apple’s latest portable music player.