After Five Years Without an Update, Apple Officially Kills Off iPod Nano, Shuffle

It has been five years since we last saw an update to the iPod Nano and seven years since the iPod Shuffle was last refreshed.

One could argue, then, that those models were effectively dead already. Still, Apple’s discontinuation of the portable music players this week felt rather unceremonious; they were there, and then they were gone.

With the Nano and Shuffle buried six feet under, the only remaining iPod in Apple’s lineup is the Touch, which was last updated in 2015.

iPod sales peaked north of 50 million in 2008, but dropped to just 14 million by 2014. After that, Apple stopped specifying iPod sales, rolling their numbers in with other products like Apple Watch.

The Nano, which retailed for $150, and the Shuffle, which cost $50, both made their debut in 2005. The Nano went through seven generations and the Shuffle saw four generations before bidding farewell.

While it’s hard to count this as an update, Apple balanced the death of the Nano and Shuffle by doubling the storage capacity of the Touch without affecting its price tag.