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.