Apple patents half-height 3.5mm headphone jack

[MacGeek7]

What are your thoughts on this Apple patent of a half height 3.5mm headphone jack? I'm not a fan..

http://9to5mac.com/2015/09/22/apple...dphone-jack-ready-for-slimmer-future-iphones/

 

[AdamantAuk]

That will be fun trying to orient properly every time...

 

[Abazigal]

I call "wuss".

Apple, if you want to do away with the headphone jack, just man up and remove it once and for all and stand tall in face of all the criticism that will follow, rather than come up with all these half-assed workarounds that please no one.

 

[unagimiyagi]

there is more and more truth to the designers who say apple is far and away now more about designing true to themselves vs designing what the user needs. Apple is into no buttons, thinness, and simplicity to a fault these days.
To not have a dedicated headphone jack is just ridiculous all in some weirdly misguided effort to eliminate an unsightly hole/port. They may use this half height thing or more likely only use the lightning port. Then how do we charge and use the headphone jack at the same time? It becomes either or. Also, the battery life of the iPhones has been poor simply because they won't even keep the thickness the SAME between generations. The iPhone 6 is super thin already, and if they keep the 7 the same thickness, they could easily improve the battery life, yet they won't.

 

[Fried_Gold]

I like the idea of lightning connector used for headphones, then you just use an adapter for all your non apple headphones. I would expect this adapter to be sold separately though in true apple style.

 

[C DM]

I like the idea of lightning connector used for headphones, then you just use an adapter for all your non apple headphones. I would expect this adapter to be sold separately though in true apple style.

And what about charging while also using headphones? That said, seems like what's brought up in this thread is different than that anyway.

 

[Fried_Gold]

And what about charging while also using headphones? That said, seems like what's brought up in this thread is different than that anyway.

I don't use my phone for music so for me personally that isn't an issue.

 

[scaredpoet]

And what about charging while also using headphones? That said, seems like what's brought up in this thread is different than that anyway.

There are lightning HDMI and VGA adapaters tht include a second lightning port for charging. It's possible that a headphone adapter could have this too.

Even so, I'm a not a fan. The headphone jack needs to stay.

 

[yaboyac29]

If we want a smaller bezel on the iPhone we need to lose the headphone jack.

 

[C DM]

I don't use my phone for music so for me personally that isn't an issue.

Headphones are used for far more than music. In any case, far too many users use headphones for all kinds of needs to make it almost a necessity for Apple to address that use in some fashion.

 

[sunking101]

If we want a smaller bezel on the iPhone we need to lose the headphone jack.

Bezels have nothing to do with the thickness of the phone.

 

[DeftwillP]

Bezels have nothing to do with the thickness of the phone.

And he said nothing about the thickness of the phone.

 

[sunking101]

And he said nothing about the thickness of the phone.

He said that in order to have smaller bezels the iPhone must lose the headphone jack. Why would less width and height mean a thinner phone is necessary?

 

[yaboyac29]

He said that in order to have smaller bezels the iPhone must lose the headphone jack. Why would less width and height mean a thinner phone is necessary?

this is why. look at how much space it takes up. it has nothing to do with thinness, instead of how LONG this OUTDATED piece of hardware is.

if the phone was thicker than it would be easier to do this because then you can hide the port behind the display. but since they want to make everything paper thin we have to make sacrifices

 

[Rufuss Sewell]

I can't believe there's a single person who is ok with carrying around yet another adapter just for headphones.

A regular headphone jack is necessary for interfacing with the entire rest of the audio world. An iPhone without a headlhone jack would be pretty useless to me.

I've had every iPhone from the 3G. But Apple would lose me if they left off a normal 3.5 headphone jack.

 

[lordofthereef]

this is why. look at how much space it takes up. it has nothing to do with thinness, instead of how LONG this OUTDATED piece of hardware is.

if the phone was thicker than it would be easier to do this because then you can hide the port behind the display. but since they want to make everything paper thin we have to make sacrifices

Other phones get by this just fine. You can look at just about any android device and see that the bezel size isn't effected at all by this 3.5mm jack. Take an iPhone apart and you will find the same thing. That space is taken up by other things and completely removing the jack wouldn't even make a difference.

 

[C DM]

this is why. look at how much space it takes up. it has nothing to do with thinness, instead of how LONG this OUTDATED piece of hardware is.

if the phone was thicker than it would be easier to do this because then you can hide the port behind the display. but since they want to make everything paper thin we have to make sacrifices

What makes it "OUTDATED"?

 

[yaboyac29]

Other phones get by this just fine. You can look at just about any android device and see that the bezel size isn't effected at all by this 3.5mm jack. Take an iPhone apart and you will find the same thing. That space is taken up by other things and completely removing the jack wouldn't even make a difference.

android phones are generally thicker than iPhone's so you can easily hide the jack behind the display.

the galaxy s6 has a bezel at the bottom just millimetres smaller than the iPhone 6. we can shed those same few mm as well on the iPhone or we can remove them completely.

the one plus two has almost the same size bottom bezel as the iPhone.

look at the lg g4. the headphone jack is as close to the edge as possible, giving enough room for the display.

so as you can see, either you shed a few mm or you thicken up the phone and hide it behind the display. and for reference, here are the internals of the iPhone 6. not much more you can do.

 

[oneMadRssn]

I like this older Apple patented audio jack better:
http://www.cultofmac.com/85736/apple-patents-ways-to-make-an-ipod-thinner-than-a-headphone-jack/

 

[XTheLancerX]

I don't understand what this half height jack. Can someone explain what this really is?

 

[lordofthereef]

android phones are generally thicker than iPhone's so you can easily hide the jack behind the display.

the galaxy s6 has a bezel at the bottom just millimetres smaller than the iPhone 6. we can shed those same few mm as well on the iPhone or we can remove them completely.

the one plus two has almost the same size bottom bezel as the iPhone.

look at the lg g4. the headphone jack is as close to the edge as possible, giving enough room for the display.

so as you can see, either you shed a few mm or you thicken up the phone and hide it behind the display. and for reference, here are the internals of the iPhone 6. not much more you can do.

I'm ok with hiding the jack. The obsession with thin is not necessary imo. Not all phones are thicker, by the way. But you're right. Most are. And not by much.

As far as the iPhone comparison, I would say a whole lot of other things are taking up "bezel space", and not just the jack itself. Of course, the internals change with each revision so that could be a non issue.

This once again boils down to the lust to be razor thin. I think getting rid of the jack would be more detrimental to the average consumer than fractions of milimeters in thickness.

That and I'm not even convinced apple is even considering shrinking the bezels. Nothing to suggest that at all so far outside of us on fan sites wanting it (by the way I would support shrinking the bezel and maybe even getting rid of the port in order to do so).

I don't understand what this half height jack. Can someone explain what this really is?

It's effectively a new plug standard that I believe is still usable by older plugs by means of a small adapter. Said adapter, by way of physically design, would be much smaller than any such lightning port equivalent.

What makes it "OUTDATED"?

We've gotten away from the "if it is t broken don't fix it" mentality. I guess we figure the standard has been around for decades and therefore we should have something better. That's good and fine. But there are standards for s reason. A lightning audio port will never become standard unless apple starts licensing it out.

 

[johannnn]

Also, the battery life of the iPhones has been poor simply because they won't even keep the thickness the SAME between generations. The iPhone 6 is super thin already, and if they keep the 7 the same thickness, they could easily improve the battery life, yet they won't.

You can't be the slimmest AND have the longest battery life. I'll let you decide what most people think is more important. Thin is sexy.

 

[24kmex]

so the screen can be edge to edge? that's what I figured they're doing it for along with virtual home button

 

[Pnr2020]

I can't believe there's a single person who is ok with carrying around yet another adapter just for headphones.

A regular headphone jack is necessary for interfacing with the entire rest of the audio world. An iPhone without a headlhone jack would be pretty useless to me.

I've had every iPhone from the 3G. But Apple would lose me if they left off a normal 3.5 headphone jack.

Spot on answer we need the headphone jack. who the hell wants to be plugging adapters in every time you want to use headphones or plug into car stereo it's a stupid idea to loose it

 

[24kmex]

Folks still use auxiliary cord in cars? lol. I'm just kidding