Teens pay $300 on eBay for old iPods — and Apple's services math keeps it dead
aakashgupta · x · 2026-11-05
Gen Z teens are paying $300 on eBay for iPods older than they are, chasing an escape from notifications and infinite feeds — and Apple makes nothing from it.
- In fiscal 2008 Apple sold 54.8M iPods for $9.15B ($167 per buyer, one-time hardware purchase)
- Services now bring in $30B+ per quarter: app subscription cuts, iCloud storage, plus $20B from Google in 2022 for Safari search default
- A new iPod would cannibalize that recurring revenue, so Apple has no incentive to revive it
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