Rumors say that Apple will come out with a new iPod touch this year. Also, with the upcoming release of the iOS 9, the 6th generation of Apple's iconic music player may come with the company's proprietary digital assistant, Siri. 

The last time that Apple came out with the iPod touch music player was in September 2012. With the advancements in mobile technology, generic music players are now almost obsolete, with new smartphones able to take over the media playing functions of music players. In addition, most of the other features in the iPod touch are also present in today's iPhones and iPads. Apple will need to add new features to the next iPod touch in order to make it more appealing to users. 

According to the reports, Apple is thinking of making the next iPod touch water-resistant, much like the recently-launched Apple Watch. It will also get updated support that will make it compatible with the new wearable. 

In addition, the new device will be able to efficiently utilize Siri, making interactions between the user and the digital assistant much more fluid and responsive. Also, it is said to feature Apple Pay, the company's mobile payment system. 

The sixth-generation iPod touch will also come in two sizes. There will be a standard 5.5-inch player, and a much smaller 4.7-inch one. Both are rumored to come out with Apple's new A9 processor under the hood, with 1 GB of RAM and expandable storage through a microSD slot. 

Since the new iPod touch would also reportedly come with iOS 9 out of the box, the expected launch date for the device would be in the latter part of the year, after the annual Apple Worldwide Developers Conference in June. Observers place the date to be sometime in September.