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iPod Shuffle Future Up in the Air

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After Apple officially discontinued the iPod Classic just recently, the iPod Shuffle could also be on its way out of the door, as Apple Stores are running out of stock and shipping times online are getting worse.

According to 9to5Mac, it’s said that Apple has warned its retail employees that the iPod Shuffle will be seeing lower stock at physical locations, and that they should direct buyers to the online store if they want to buy an iPod Shuffle.

Of course, those who end up buying an iPod Shuffle on Apple’s website will be waiting at least a week, as shipping times for the smaller music player is currently set at 7-10 business days. That’s much longer than any other iPod right now.

Obviously, it’s not exactly understood what this means for the Shuffle, but we wouldn’t be surprised if this marked the beginning of the end for the screenless gadget, as Apple’s iPod lineup is slowly being ignored by consumers.

iPod Shuffle

Apple sold a whopping 51 million iPhones during the holiday season last year, while only selling a measly 6 million iPods, which is a 52% decrease compared to the same time period a year ago. That’s one of the biggest drops that the iPod has seen in the last few years.

Then again, Apple isn’t too disappointed in those numbers. The iPhone was made to cannibalize the iPod and it’s doing a great job of that. For every iPod that doesn’t sell, Apple sells multiple iPhones to take its place.

So does this mean that Apple will finally kill off the iPod for good at some point in the near future? Apple hinted that a new iPod wouldn’t be coming anytime soon — at least not this year, as the company expects iPod sales to decline even more going into the next quarter.

iPod touch 6th gen - way toolong

Apple hasn’t fully updated any of its iPod since 2012, and the company’s most-recent updates include a measly additional color for the iPod touch, iPod nano and iPod shuffle at its September 2013 iPhone event, where customers could get a matching Space Gray color option that’s also available for the iPhone and iPad.

The iPod Classic, on the other hand, is gone completely, and we wouldn’t be surprised if Apple continued the execution of its iPod line over the next couple of years.

Then again, the iPod Classic serves a real need, and after its discontinuation, iPod Classic models are selling for quite a bit of cash on eBay and other online markets, proving that some users want a ton of storage for their music — more storage than any iPod Touch could provide.

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