The brave people at iFixit teared open a 32 GB third-generation iPod Touch to look at the parts inside.  They found two interesting differences with the older iTouch.

1. There us a Broadcom BCM4329  Wi-Fi/Bluetooth combo chip, which supports the 802.11n Wi-Fi standard in addition to 802.11a/b/g standards.  The Broadcom BCM4329 integrates a complete IEEE 802.11 a/b/g/n system (MAC/baseband/radio) with Bluetooth® 2.1 + EDR (Enhanced Data Rate), and FM radio receiver and transmitter. This is a step up from the  BCM4325 chip used in the iPhone 3GS and the second-generation iPod Touch. The BCM4325 chip only supports the 802.11a/b/g standards. The 802.11n capability is not activated in the new iTouch, but the inclusion of this chip indicates that Apple intends to supporting the more advanced 802.11n standard, which offers longer range and higher data rate using MIMO (muti-input and multi-ouput) antenna technology.

With the inclusion of 802.11n capability in the new iTouch, we expect the same capability will be included in the next version of iPhone as well.

Since the BCM4329 integrates a complete IEEE 802.11 a/b/g/n system (MAC/baseband/radio) with Bluetooth® 2.1 + EDR (Enhanced Data Rate), and FM radio receiver and transmitter, Apple could activate the FM tuner functions for FM radio and/or to transmit music on iPod Touch wirelessly to card audio systems. These functions are not activated, but the hardware capability is there.

2. Compared to the old iPod Touch, the new iTouch has an empty space of about 6 mm x 6 mm x 3 mm at the top of the circuit board. This space could fit the same type of camera used in the new iPod Nano.  This may indicate that Apple may have plans to add camera to the next version of iTouch, or it was planned for this version but scrapped at a later stage of the development.