A set of images showing a prototype third-generation iPod touch have surfaced on Twitter, offering a glimpse at a design trialed and subsequently scrapped by Apple which would have seen a centered rear camera on the silver-backed music player.
Prototype collector Giulio Zompetti, who recently shared images of rare original Apple Watch units, has managed to get his hands on an “iPod touch 3” prototype, showing one of the designs Apple had been testing before the device launched in 2009.
At the time, it had been rumored that Apple may be adding a camera to the iPod, but a camera was not present when the device was released, with a report prior to the launch suggesting technical problems had caused Apple to pull the camera from the unit at the last moment.
Best unit of my whole collection.#prototype #iPod touch 3 with rear camera, a feature that wasn’t present on the related production device.#AppleInternal #Apple #AppleCollection pic.twitter.com/SeVxBvTL8w
— Giulio Zompetti (@1nsane_dev) May 27, 2020
Backing up the rumors of Apple intending to add a camera to the device, later teardowns found that the third-generation iPod touch actually had internal space for a camera, further suggesting the feature was pulled at the last moment.
Apple later added a camera to the iPod the following year with the fourth-generation iPod touch in 2010.
