Email from Phil Schiller explains lack of ambient light sensor in 5th gen iPod touch

Yesterday we emphasized the lack of an ambient light sensor in the 5th generation iPod touch after initially highlighting the omission in our iPod touch 5th gen review.

Now a reader claims to have emailed Apple’s SVP of worldwide marketing, Phil Schiller, and received a response explaining the drop of the sensor. The reason for the omission? It’s just too thin.

Here is the purported email from Schiller. While it would be impossible to 100% prove the legitimacy of such an email, Apple’s executives have been known to respond to emails, and the explanation isn’t exactly far fetched. Judge for yourselves.

For what it’s worth, I measured both devices for myself, and here’s what I found:

iPod touch 5th generation: approximately 6.13mm at its thickest point (not including the protruding camera lens).
iPod touch 4th generation: approximately 7.13mm at its thickest point.

While I still find it a bit odd that Apple couldn’t have engineered an ALS to fit within the confines of the 5th gen’s new shell, it is the best explanation I could think of for the lack of the sensor.

What do you think?

Thanks to Raghid for filling us in.