Purported iPod Touch prototype sports new home button

Photos of a supposed fifth-generation iPod Touch have cropped up online today, first appearing on MacRumors, then later on gadget site Crunchgear. Both show an alleged prototype iPod Touch with two interesting features: 128GB of storage and a capacitive home button.

The current generation iPod Touch tops out at 64GB, putting the version in the pictures at double the capacity. As for the home button, this would be an interesting move given that it has been a moving part on Apple's iOS devices since the original iPhone. Apple briefly dabbled in non-moving, touch-activated buttons with the third-generation iPod, before moving to the clickwheel, which remains as part of the iPod Classic's design.

One oddity in the design, which MacRumors points out, is that the volume buttons on the supposed prototype are still joined, which was changed in the most recent model to match the split design found on the iPhone 4. Given that, this could very well have been a design candidate for the current generation that didn't quite make the cut.