New iPod nano may undergo design overhaul later this year

Apple's iPod nano, according to reports, will undergo a major design overhaul later this year. If a post on Macotakara is anything to go by, the design overhaul on the iPod nano will make it taller in contrast to the last model that the company introduced to the market, and will resemble the previous generation model. A translated version of the text on the site reads: "The new iPod nano, a small square off the body, is again back to the portrait style. Size is the size of three-fourths of the (5th generation) iPod nano, is thinner than the part so that the body was removed from the clip (6th generation) iPod nano. That a click wheel is no resurrection is like, it seems a hole for the buttons such as a home button."

Shedding light on the appearance of the 'taller' nano, the post reveals that as per a reliable Chinese source, the new iPod nano will feature its earlier Oblong shape, and will not be square-shaped, like in the case of the 6th Generation iPod nano. The post further states that, "Case Seems to Become smaller in size than three Quarters iPod nano (5th Generation), and iPod nano Thickness Seems to be Thinner than ( 6th Generation) 's body without back-Clip. Click-wheel interface Will not be back, and for home-button Seems a Hole was on, source said."

Mock-up image by Taiyo Fujii

Reports about the leaked images of the seventh generation iPod nano surfaced earlier this year on a Taiwanese site - Apple.pro. The leaked images show off something that we expected to see last year - the nano was said to feature a camera. In the available images, we see the outer shell of the nano, and it features the clip found on the sixth generation model besides a camera. Rumours back then also indicated that the iPod nano would not feature a clip and the camera would be flushed against the body at the back. With the latest news, the leaked image shows the camera protruding out of the body and flushing with the clip of the music player.

The sixth generation iPod nano saw a design overhaul and turned heads over its tiny iPod Shuffle-like square form factor, integrated with a 1.54-inch touchscreen. Introduced in September 2010, it promised 24 hours of music on a single charge and also bid goodbye to the click wheel and the camera. This year at Let's Talk iPhone, Apple decided to simply touch up the Nano’s UI with a re-sizeable home button, an enhanced fitness app and sixteen new clock faces.