The iPod Hi-Fi launched 18 years ago this week, marking Apple’s entry into the home audio market. In celebration of that birthday, new images posted to Twitter this week show an ultra-rare iPod Hi-Fi in a stunning black finish.
The iPod Hi-Fi launched in 2006 with a $349 price tag. It lasted just under a year and a half before Apple discontinued it. In the years since 2006, however, it’s become somewhat of a fan-favorite product that has held its resale value surprisingly well.
In the original press release for the iPod Hi-Fi, Steve Jobs said:
“Apple is reinventing the home stereo with the new iPod Hi-Fi, the first iPod accessory that adds true high-fidelity sound quality to the iPod. iPod Hi-Fi’s unrivaled acoustic performance and stunning design is at home in any room in the house.”
Apple touted the iPod Hi-Fi’s “all-in-one design” that could be used either connected to a wall outlet or with “six D-cell batteries for true portability.” It featured a 30-pin dock connector on the top, alongside a 3.5-mm auxiliary input as well.
Apple only sold the iPod Hi-Fi in a white and black finish. The images posted this week, however, show the iPod Hi-Fi with an all black design.
José Benitez Cong, who worked at Apple from 2005 to 2011 and now works at Humane, posted the pictures and said that this is “likely the only black Hi-Fi in existence” today. “Most, even at Apple at the time didn’t realize we did a few prototypes in Black. I believe I ended up with maybe the only one that was not destroyed,” he wrote.
Check out all the pictures below:
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