Apple Said to Be Removing Headphone Jack From Upcoming 2018 iPad Pro Models

[ConfusedChris]

“The Smart Connector on the iPads has reportedly been relocated from the side to the bottom near the Lightning port, which may require a new vertically oriented Smart Keyboard. It's not clear how a vertical Smart Keyboard would work, as it would likely be unstable in that orientation, especially for the larger iPad Pro.”

We know that bit is wrong so I’m ignoring this rumour.

Typing on an undersized keyboard because the Smart Connector is on the wrong side, while using tall-n-skinny side-by-side apps, while your iPad is propped up with cushions to stop it falling over doesn’t sound right to me!

Edit: and charging would require removing the keyboard.

 

[Gilligan's last elephant]

The opinion of anyone who uses the word 'Simples' in any sentence should not be counted.

You don't need anything other than a Bluetooth headset in 2018.

Latency of Airpods is particularly poor being around 250ms which makes them useless for interacting with anything live such as recording music, gaming etc
Majority of better quality Bluetooth headphones use Aptx low latency which has a latency of around 40ms.
Apple won't pay license fees to use Aptx .

 

[Count Blah]

They didn’t because they couldn’t.
AirPods were delayed and supplies were constrained for the first year.
And you still think they could have launched it a year earlier?

You are not understanding. Apple ONLY removed the 3.5mm plug, to sell airpods.

Supply chain genius Timmy blowing the timing, doesn't matter - no airpods = 3.5mm plug remains

 

[Dozer_Zaibatsu]

Seriously? Steve removed the floppy drive and all legacy ports on the first iMac - all it had was a CD/DVD drive and a couple of USB ports. People were furious at first...and then low and behold the entire industry moved in the same direction. The MacBook Air removes the optical drive, and again many were screaming - in particular that Apple was chasing thinness over usability (sound familiar?)...and just as before, the industry has largely moved to removing the optical drive from laptops.

Take off your rose colored glasses. Tim Cook is far from perfect, but neither was Jobs. Apparently the reality distortion field he created lives on even after his death.

People were not "screaming" when the Air came without an optical drive. Apple made other laptops with optical drives up until a couple of years ago, so there were options.

Unlike, an optical drive, I literally have headphones in my iPad about 50% of the time I'm using it. I have bluetooth headphones, too, but they kind of suck and I don't feel like spending another $$ to get another pair when 3.5mm audio is cheap and plentiful.

My iPad is the Apple device I get the most use out of and would absolutely want to replace with another Apple product if I had to. Removing the headphone jack would make me look elsewhere.

 

[Len Banks]

I don't personally care that the jack is going away as long as Apple would be consistent! The fact that it left the phone but remains in the computer frustrates me. I use the same headphones for both devices and the switching for that little adapter is annoying. If they want to remove it, get committed to the idea and do it fully across all devices. Or at the very least give me a lightening port on the mac. The inconsistency to me seems to be the telling story of Apple's missteps.

 

[john123]

I would have been dissapointed if they didn’t remove the headphone jack. It’s time to move on and go wireless.

The real news here is Face ID not working in horizontal mode. It’s really bad on the iPhone X when you have to rotate it to authenticate but it’s not acceptable on the iPad that is used extensively in landscape mode.

I don’t see why this can’t just be fixed in a software update.

Who are YOU to declare that it’s time for everyone to “move on and go wireless”?

The attitude that some people show with their “this is what I do and therefore everyone should do it this way” is appalling.

Lots of people use their devices in lots of ways. Some people are hardcore audiophiles, and some are real audio professionals. Some of those people would be content with Bluetooth options for their iPad, and some would not.

The decision to remove the jack was somewhat understandable for the iPhone. Space is truly at a premium there, and every square millimeter counts. To do the same thing for the iPad would be something else entirely.

 

[FFR]

You are not understanding. Apple ONLY removed the 3.5mm plug, to sell airpods.

Supply chain genius Timmy blowing the timing, doesn't matter.

You can’t be serious. Have you noticed the iPhone X does not have a chin there was no room for it anymore.

You think they can’t sell airpods without removing the 3.5mm Jack. Ridiculous.

AirPods were sold out for months before Apple could keep up with supply.

You don’t seem to understand scale if he could have launched the AirPods with the 6s he would have. Technology wasn’t ready that’s why they had to create the w1 chip in the first place.

 

[PickUrPoison]

There are a shedload of audio/music Apps for Mac, plus loads of MIDI keyboards and other controllers that boast iPad compatibility, not all aimed at music "pros" (not least, Apple's own Garageband). I think you underestimate the size of that market (and the extent to which it is "pros only").

Pro or not, it’s certainly less than 1 in 10, that’s what I meant by relatively small. The Lightning port isn’t going away in any case. Like I said in my post, I think the built in jack is better.

 

[nbourbaki]

Will adapters no longer work?

I could use a lightning to 3.5mm adapter, but then I'm not able to charge the iPad at the same time. My longest flight is ATL-NRT which is about 16 hours flight time. That's the longest out of the three flights in succession. The next flight is another 7 hours. At best, my iPad would make it for half that 16 hour flight if I'm using the adapter.

I understand that I might be an outlier, but most of the tablets on the planes on my flights are iPads and they are almost all plugged into that 3.5 audio socket.

Seems like Apple is intent on bitting the hands that feeds it.

 

[Gilligan's last elephant]

We’ve seen phones go below 5mm thickness with tge 3.5mm jack and we’ve also seen IP68 rated phones with the 3.5mm jack so that’s not it.

I do however care about the design of my devices to the point that I think a 3.5mm diameter hole that I don’t use most of the time is “slightly ugly” but that’s not my main reason for wanting it gone on the iPad.

I’m mainly a tech geek that wants technology to move forward. It’s kind of complicated to explain my logic about this but it’s mostly because I want everyone to move to wireless. Connecting a wire from a small box in your hand and putting the two end point inside your ears is such a ridiculous thing to do and it’s very inconvenient having that wire hanging there all the time.

That being said you’re saying that Bluetooth is well established so why do I not just shut up about other people’s usage and just care about myself? Well, it’s because I think it’s not and most Bluetooth headphones right now can not replace wired headphones in some cases.

My main complaint right now is latency because my AirPods have a ~250ms delay for real time audio. This makes it impossible to do certian things like fast-paced games and playing on a virtual piano. Apple even recommends using wired headphones in Garageband.

Other people want better sound quality but Bluetooth 4 will compress the audio when transferring it to the headphones.

I’m saying that the Bluetooth market is not well established because there is basically no product that can replace wired headphones and it’s not necessarily because of technology not being there because we have Bluetooth 5 which doubles bandwidth and has better latency.

Apple solved some problems with wireless earbuds with the AirPods. That included better reliability, easy connection and better battery life (24h in case!). The market was not there at all, this is why wireless headphones was not very successful before and why AirPods has become so popular.

Now we need any company to continue with the same ease of use of the AirPods and make a replacement for high quality audio headphones with low latency wireless connection. That in my opinion is the point when wireless can completely take over wired headphones. I’m sure even audiophiles will start to adopt wireless.

We also need cheaper wireless options. Right now, wireless is considerd as a premium feature instead of being a basic feature for every headphone.

What Apple did with the iPhone 7 headphone jack removal spurred a change in the industry and started driving other manufacturers to stop putting headphone jacks in phones. If they continue doing this, more and more companies will start to sell wireless headphones. This will make the market more competitive, lower the pricess and fill the market with more choices and better technology. Why do we still not have a single Bluetooth 5 headphone a year after the standard was introduced?

Apple has shown several times that they can help the industry adopt new and better technology by excluding older technology. Do you remember how many people wanted Flash player on the iPhone? Steve Jobs refused to include it on iPhone and iPad and it took many years but his refusal finally paid off and we got a much better replacement.

The same can be said for the optical disc removal which first started on the MacBook Air mainly to get more space in a thin laptop. A few years later it was removed from the desktop iMac which didn’t really need the space saving but was removed so Apple could put an end to optical discs.

Apple is also forcing the same thing with the USB-C transission. Not doing anything means the market won’t adopt the new better standard.

We’re now in the 3.5mm to wireless transition. Apple started this transition by removing the port from their iPhones and introducing the AirPods. These transitional periods are always very painful to go through for some people but once we reach the point where wireless becomes the basic feature of headphones I think that prices will drop and the wireless market will flourish with more and better choices. This is why I think the removal of the headphone jack is a necessary step on the iPad and even the Macs. Until the transition is over, some people will have to make use of the dongle to connect their wired headphones.

I hope this explains my thought process.

But the industry has already moved on towards what you want and you can experience that if you buy products other than Apple.

Android and other devices will give you latency 6 times less than Apples Airpods

 

[macsrcool1234]

No you don’t

Any normal way you hold your phone it works fine

Nope. Pretty much every objective reviewer, including even Gruber has mentioned this flaw.

No, actually, I was just adding to your point. Came of wrong, sorry.
[doublepost=1532805167][/doublepost]

Of course not, it works from almost any distance or angle. Much more reliable than Touch ID which doesn’t work when your fingers are even slightly damp.

You should try Face ID before making false assumptions.

Can't read? I own an iphone x.

 

[GIZBUG]

17 pages and 400+ comments about this topic? Damn......

Glad they are removing it

 

[aylk]

I would have been dissapointed if they didn’t remove the headphone jack. It’s time to move on and go wireless.

Reducing capabilities is moving on? All the iPads are already wireless.

 

[apolloa]

If they launch new iPads with Fade ID or even new iPhones with Face ID that still only works in a vertical orientation then this is an utterly failed Apple design IMO, or they are refusing to spend the money in R&D for it.
If they can’t get the simplest thing to work with it, work in any orientation like Touch ID, they need to scrap it ASAP and go back to Touch ID. What’s the point in going 10 steps backwards on convenience. And just annoying your user base? When you had something that worked perfectly fine!

And a vertical keyboard? Sounds stupid.

But IMO I think an iPad without bezels sounds ridiculous considering how tablets are held and used.

 

[Glockworkorange]

I would have been dissapointed if they didn’t remove the headphone jack. It’s time to move on and go wireless.

The real news here is Face ID not working in horizontal mode. It’s really bad on the iPhone X when you have to rotate it to authenticate but it’s not acceptable on the iPad that is used extensively in landscape mode.

I don’t see why this can’t just be fixed in a software update.

I believe exactly NONE of this report. SmartConnector in Portrait only. Lol.

 

[ph001bi]

Apple's upcoming iPad Pro models will feature slightly smaller bodies, a relocated Smart Connector, and no headphone jack, according to information shared by Japanese site Mac Otakara.

Citing supply chain sources, Mac Otakara says the new 10.5-inch iPad Pro will measure in at 247.5mm tall, 178.7mm wide, and 6mm, compared to the current size of 250.6mm x 174.1mm x 6.1mm. The 12.9-inch iPad Pro is said to measure 280mm tall, 215mm wide, and 6.4mm thick, compared to the current measurements of 305.7mm x 220.6mm x 6.9mm.

iPad Pro concept image via Álvaro Pabesio​

These dimensions line up with rumors suggesting Apple plans to introduce a full redesign with the 2018 iPad Pro models, slimming down the bezels much like it did with the iPhone X. Though smaller in size, the new iPads will feature larger displays thanks to the bezel reduction. The new iPad Pros are not expected to feature a Home button, and according to previous rumors, will include a TrueDepth camera system for Face ID.

Mac Otakara also suggests that the 2018 iPad Pro models will not feature a 3.5mm headphone jack, with Apple opting to eliminate it.

iPhones have not had a headphone jack since it was removed in the iPhone 7, and Apple has instead relied on Bluetooth devices like the AirPods along with Lightning-based headphones. Apple is not expected to ship the new iPad Pro models with a Lightning to 3.5mm adapter, which would be in line with analyst predictions suggesting that adapter will not come with the 2018 iPhones either.

In the iPhone lineup, the headphone jack was removed for improved water resistance and to make space for internal components like a bigger battery, the Taptic Engine, and the rear camera system. It is not clear if Apple is facing the same space constraints in the iPad Pro with the introduction of the TrueDepth camera system or if this is a move to align iPad and iPhone features.

A portion of Mac Otakara's report says that Apple will use a "diamond cut" for both the front and the back of the new iPad Pro models, which seems to mean that the tablets could have a design that's similar the iPhone SE with beveled edges.

The Smart Connector on the iPads has reportedly been relocated from the side to the bottom near the Lightning port, which may require a new vertically oriented Smart Keyboard. It's not clear how a vertical Smart Keyboard would work, as it would likely be unstable in that orientation, especially for the larger iPad Pro.

Apple is said to be making this change because Face ID will work only when the iPad Pro is in a vertical orientation, with Mac Otakara saying that it is "impossible to release the lock with the main unit turned sideways." Previous information from Mac Otakara suggested Apple was working on horizontal Face ID for the iPad Pro, and hints of such a feature were discovered in iOS 12.

In addition to these changes to the iPad Pro, Mac Otakara also shared a bit of information on the rumored 6.1-inch low-cost iPhone. Confirming previous rumors, the site says the device will use a "Full Active" LCD display sourced from Japan Display. Full Active panels allow Apple to slim down the bezels of the LCD iPhone, bringing it in line with the two OLED devices.

Possible front glass panels for the 2018 iPhones, with 6.1-inch model in middle​

Mac Otakara's sources have also echoed previous reports pointing towards production difficulties for the 6.1-inch iPhone. When production on the phone started this month, Apple was reportedly seeing a 1 percent completion rate, suggesting a delayed November launch for the device.

Morgan Stanley analyst Katy Huberty made a similar prediction earlier this week, suggesting issues with "LED backlight leakage" could lead to a one month delay in production. Huberty's information indicated the delay had originally been six weeks, so it's possible Mac Otakara is working with older data. Other sources, such as Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, are not expecting launch delays, so it's unclear what's going on with the 6.1-inch iPhone at this time.

Mac Otakara has a somewhat mixed track record when it comes to rumors, sometimes sharing information that's spot on and sometimes missing the mark. For that reason, though this information is quite specific, these new details should be viewed with some skepticism until confirmed by secondary sources.

Article Link: Apple Said to Be Removing Headphone Jack From Upcoming 2018 iPad Pro Models

What about resolutions? Are we to expect some improvements?
I could do with 4 or 5K screen on a 12.9 inch

 

[DevNull0]

Apple Said to Be Removing Headphone Jack From Upcoming 2018 iPad Pro Models

Yep, nothing says "pro" like deleting useful features for no reason or benefit at all. Scratch audio mixing and video editing off the "pro" uses for the iPad. I'd say no more gaming too, but then the kool-aid fans would ignore the rest of this post to tell me the "pro" if for real work and not gaming. Despite all the real work this change will rule out.

They shouldn't call it the "iPad Pro" anymore, they should call it the "iPad Timmy's Courage Edition"

 

[SecondOpinion]

"Citing supply chain sources, Mac Otakara says the new 10.5-inch iPad Pro will measure in at 247.5mm tall, 178.7mm wide, and 6mm, compared to the current size of 250.6mm x 174.1mm x 6.1mm. The 12.9-inch iPad Pro is said to measure 280mm tall, 215mm wide, and 6.4mm thick, compared to the current measurements of 305.7mm x 220.6mm x 6.9mm."

Notice that the new 10.5" iPad Pro is 4.6mm wider than last years model, but the new 12" model is narrower? Could it be that the new 10.5" iPad Pro will place the Face ID camera on the horizontal edge and keep the Smart Connector in its present location? (hence, the increased width)

This scenario would still fit the leaked data, if Apple would move the Smart Connector and Face ID to portrait orientation, but only for the 12" iPad Pro.

 

[Septembersrain]

Looks like once my pro goes out, I'll be moving to an Android tablet as well or perhaps a Windows one. I've already moved to Android for my daily driver.

I'm not enjoying where Apple is going.

 

[dirtylilhobo]

NO! Stop removing ports and earphone jacks! I don’t need another device that requires charging. I despise bluetooth. Just STOP IT!

 

[GIZBUG]

NO! Stop removing ports and earphone jacks! I don’t need another device that requires charging. I despise bluetooth. Just STOP IT!

LOL

 

[PictorGuy]

No headphone jack? This foolishness is why I went back to android.

Really? My first reaction was "my iPad Pro has a headphone jack?"

 

[oldmacs]

the proper replacement for headphone jack is bluetooth. thats a 20 year old technology which hasn't seen any known improvement. Maybe you should buy a AirPod or another good bluetooth device and see if your opinion changes instead of jumping into conclusion without trying

I’ve tried AirPods, and have owned Bluetooth earphones and do not like them.

Bluetooth is not a proper replacement and there are many good reasons why it is not.

 

[newyorksole]

NO! Stop removing ports and earphone jacks! I don’t need another device that requires charging. I despise bluetooth. Just STOP IT!

Lmaooo seriously I’m not trying to be a d1ck, but some of you are acting loony.

You don’t have to buy Bluetooth earphones/headphones! Just use the dang adapter. It’s not that difficult.

Jeeeee Louise.

 

[oldmacs]

Is that what your doing?
Kinda getting repetitive there but it’s not going to change apples mind is it?


Of course not, no benefits at all.
/s

Do you think i’m dumb enough to think that anything I say or do will influence Apple?

You refuse to expand on the benifits beyond a lack of cable so I must assume there aren’t any.