Now that the fifth generation iPod touch is reaching the hands of customers, some users have begun to post benchmarks. These benchmarks reveal that, while the iPod touch may share many physical characteristics with its iPhone 5 cousin, it falls far behind the iPhone in terms of performance.
Japanese tech site Macotakara used the System Status app to take a look at the internal hardware of the new touch. While these hardware evaluations may be flawed due to new or unrecognized components, the results currently reveal that the new touch is powered by a dual-core A5 processor, the same found in the iPhone 4S, clocked at 800 MHz.
The display resolution matches that of the iPhone 5, at 1136-by–640, for a pixel density of 326 ppi, but the rear camera, at 5-megapixels, falls shy of the iPhone 5’s excellent 8-megapixel effort.
The battery in the iPod touch, at 930 mAh, is also a bit smaller than that in the iPhone 5, at 1,434 mAh. However, the touch does not include cellular radios, a major factor in a device’s power consumption requirements, and so should receive battery life on par with the iPhone 5, despite its smaller battery.
Armed with a better understanding of the internal components of the new iPod touch, Macotakara also ran several popular mobile benchmarks, comparing the device’s performance to other recent Apple products.
The Geekbench test clearly shows that the fifth generation iPod touch is on par, in terms of CPU performance, with the iPhone 4S, further supporting the theory that the devices share the same A5 processor. Compared to its direct predecessor, however, the fifth generation iPod touch’s score of 625 represents a nearly 70 percent increase over the fourth generation’s score of 370.
It should be noted again, however, that these benchmarks should not be considered authoritative until the new hardware in the iPod touch is fully understood and the benchmark authors are able to ensure full compatibility with their testing routines.
The GLBenchmark, which tests GPU performance, shows significant improvements for the fifth generation iPod touch over its predecessor, although it still falls far short of the superior graphics found in the iPhone 5 and third generation iPad.
Although some customers have seen their orders ship, iPod touch availability for new customers remains unknown. Some Asian Apple Stores reportedly have the device in stock, but Apple’s online store still reports an “October” ship date.