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

[Dave245]

"PRO" moniker for iPad is just a pure BS to get more $ from that "PRO" device which is in the end just a normal tablet 95% the same as other iPads. Regardless, even "normal" people own quality headphones - your logic doesn't make sense to me. Does it mean that if I want to use a quality wired headphones (instead of crappy wireless .. nowadays) I have to become "PRO" and buy overpriced "PRO" iPad?

Sad thing is that the are not producing "PRO" devices anymore. The MB"P" crappy overpriced laptops they have been releasing last couple of years don't deserve to be called "PRO". I wish Cook and people around him are removed for good and more visionary people step in.

The AirPods are great wireless earphones, they are very popular so for most people it’s not an issue. No you don’t have to buy the iPad Pro the normal 2018 iPad that’s cheaper still has the headphone jack you can buy that if you wish.

Yea Tim Cook is really messing up releasing MacBook Pro’s that are selling really well, not only that but are now more powerful since the 13” has a quad core processor and the 15” now has a 6 core processor and up to 32GB Ram.

 

[0095059]

If you’re 19 and majoring in Chemistry, you don’t need a $3,000 laptop built for writing software, Photoshop, Final Cut Pro, MAYA, etc.

Having the option to run those programs might encourage additional skill sets, but you are also competing with Chromebooks and cheap Windows laptops.

It’s like saying a 19 year old needs a luxury SUV, or a 3 bedroom apartment.

 

[Abazigal]

Anyways, for whatever it’s worth, I think the Face ID rumour is total nonsense. I am still 50/50 on the headphone jack removal though.

 

[Burger Thing]

Because I won't stay seated next to my iPad at all times. You have never had to get up for a drink of water from the kitchen, or otherwise leave your seat for any reason?

I do. I put my headphones down because I don’t usually walk inside my apartment with headphones on. It takes about a sec to remove or put them back. So it’s an absolute non issue for me. Otherwise I would have naturally opted for the wireless option, which I have as well. I find it almost absurd to even discuss such trivialities to be honest.

But if other peeps have different needs or preferences, it’s cool with me. The nice thing is now, that the iPad offers both the wired and wireless option and one can choose. I fail to see how removing the port is moving us forward when the remaining option is not offering anything new at all?

But like I said, I am sure with the “modern” (full of questionable compromises and design decisions) Apple we will see the removal of the port. I will use my iPad Pro 10.5 as long as I can. I use it as a media consuming device only anyway.

 

[0095059]

I do. I put my headphones down because I don’t usually walk inside my apartment with headphones on. It takes about a sec to do remove or put them back. So it’s an absolute non issue for me. Otherwise I would have naturally opted for the wireless option, which I have as well. I find it almost absurd to even discuss such trivialities to be honest.

But if other peeps have different needs or preferences, it’s cool with me. The nice thing is now, that the iPad offers both the wired and wireless option and one can choose. I fail to see how removing the port is moving us forward when the remaining option is not offering anything new at all?

But like I said, I am sure with the “modern” (full of questionable compromises and design decisions) Apple we will see the removal of the port. I will use my iPad Pro 10.5 as long as I can. I use it as a media consuming device only anyway.

The option to use wired headphones makes wireless a luxury.

Forcing wireless as the standard makes it a necessity.

Since the current vision of iPad is that it's a standalone device, you can only use it for yourself.

This is not the vision for iPad:

This is Apple's vision of iPad. So aside from headphones, you would never connect it to an auxiliary audio source.

 

[eVolcre]

Anyways, for whatever it’s worth, I think the Face ID rumour is total nonsense. I am still 50/50 on the headphone jack removal though.

So also is the smart connector on the vertical side. Bollocks. How the heck will you attach a keyboard and type?

I think the only thing accurate here, if even that, is that the 10.5 keeps the same physical Size with a larger 11 screen and the 12.9 keeps the same screen size with a smaller body. Headphone jack removal is probably true as well. That was inevitable.

 

[Roadstar]

Funny seeing this story whilst connected wirelessly with my sennheiser headphones. Come on people, just move with the times, wireless is so convenient

It is convenient and I prefer wireless headphones in most cases. However, when I want to do something with Garageband, wired headphones are the only option that actually works. For after all, you can’t really use e.g. any amp modeling apps if the headphones introduce any delay to the sound.

 

[Dustonfoster]

As I read this article my Fiancé was using her iPad 12.9” in landscape while listening to podcasts via the 3.5mm Jack. She was not very happy when I told her this rumour because I’ve been pumping her up on the upcoming iPads and now she’s lost interest if these rumours are true. Many of the apps she uses for graphic design benefit from landscape mode and it just looks silly using it in portrait mode. I guess we should just wait and see before we all go crazy!

I love Apple and what they do but come on guys, why remove something that may be essential to some people and a alternative method might not be compatible with their workflow. As stated by others there is a bit of lag issuing wireless and this is a huge no no in the Pro world. Also, stop comparing the removal of the 3.5 with floppy & CD’s because both of those were already on the way out prior to Apple removing that functionality.

 

[dannys1]

Simples:

• Fire up GarageBand with a piano keyboard
• Hit a note
• Notice the half-second lag before you hear the note, making wireless headphones useless for this. Actually, GarageBand even pops up a warning to this effect if you start it while using bluetooth audio.

Cash only please, no cheques.

Hahaha bluetooth latency doesn't count. You'll have to bring your lightning adapter if you to write music with headphones on and be amazed by the fact you have a mobile studio in your hands which requires only one adapter - record producers have never had it so easy.

 

[44267547]

I can only imagine the heat Apple would take for moving the 3.5 mm Jack from the iPad, as the iPhone was a natural gateway for the AirPods, but I don’t know if I see that being the same for those who do have wired headphones that use it with the iPad in a stationary position.

 

[0095059]

Hahaha bluetooth latency doesn't count. You'll have to bring your lightning adapter if you to write music with headphones on and be amazed by the fact you have a mobile studio in your hands which requires only one adapter - record producers have never had it so easy.

You technically could create a case utilizing the smart connector and the lightning port to create a mobile workstation:

However, as of 2018, with iOS 11 and iPad Pro 2, this is not possible.

As for using an iPad as a DAW, this is kind of a ridiculous concept:

 

[Gilligan's last elephant]

Why is there a ridiculous lag for iPad Pro when using lightning to HDMI?

My MacBook Pro 2011, with an inferior GPU, has no problem mirroring the display at 1080p.

The iPad outputs 1024x768. You can’t sit in front of a monitor.

Until that’s fixed, the iPad is not a computer.

So, Bluetooth only headphones for an entertainment device, that’s like arguing that Virtual Boy should have had VGA output.

Android? You mean that one phone that uses Qualcomm’s aptX Low Latency proprietary technology.

https://www.aptx.com/products?field_product_category_tid=126&field_aptx_type_tid=484

Oh and it’s a Vertu phone that sells for $6700, runs Android Jelly Bean and the company went bankrupt last year...

www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/vertu-constellation-announced/

But sure, there are many more phones that uses the standard Qualcomm aptX which have a latency of above 100ms. Not 6x less but still much better than normal.

Just about all Android flagship phones support aptX or aptX HD which give 100ms latency which is far better than 250ms of Airpods. Isn't that a much better option? Why have Apple kept these latencies from their users?

 

[eVolcre]

As I read this article my Fiancé was using her iPad 12.9” in landscape while listening to podcasts via the 3.5mm Jack. She was not very happy when I told her this rumour because I’ve been pumping her up on the upcoming iPads and now she’s lost interest if these rumours are true. Many of the apps she uses for graphic design benefit from landscape mode and it just looks silly using it in portrait mode. I guess we should just wait and see before we all go crazy!

I love Apple and what they do but come on guys, why remove something that may be essential to some people and a alternative method might not be compatible with their workflow. As stated by others there is a bit of lag issuing wireless and this is a huge no no in the Pro world. Also, stop comparing the removal of the 3.5 with floppy & CD’s because both of those were already on the way out prior to Apple removing that functionality.

I’m not buyIng most of this rumor. Not credible. I mean wasn’t there code in iOS 11 that referenced horizontal Face ID? If they can’t get one sensor to do both orientations I bet they just put in two sensors. No other implementation makes sense.

 

[Piggie]

I’ve said this before time and time again....people either, as you, say, have short memories, or they are millennials that got into Apple after the introduction of the iPhone and are experiencing for the very first time the removal of a deprecated or legacy technology in a very virgin way.

I remember the first time I fought hard with Apple’s way and that was when Steve Jobs called blu-ray a “bag of hurt” (for those that are green with Apple, and I mean those who call themselves Apple fans only within the last decade, look it up), and refused to ship any Mac with a blu-ray drive. Being a videophile, I swore that Apple would soon eventually start shipping Macs with blu-ray drives, but in fact the complete opposite happened: instead of upgrading the format, they removed it entirely. It was a huge lesson for me in understanding how Apple fundamentically and unequivocally operates, while my ridiculous self entitled comments are shamefully archived here in the annals of Mac rumors.

History has taught us too much with Apple. Every Apple device, including every Mac will all eventually be digital audio only, in time.

And yet still, BluRay delivers the best quality of image to the general public.

Apple wanted to make money from selling Apps, so they did not support flash on their new mobile machines.
Apple wanted to make money selling films themselves, so they removed such drives from their machines.
Apple wanted to make money from wireless headphones so they removes such ports from machines.

It does not take much intelligence to see the REAL reason behind all this. Making more money from their user base.
I don't criticize them for doing this. Many companies would love to.
The only reason Apple can get away with it is that they have loyal fans locked into their eco-system.
If most other brands tried this, their customers would just buy a competing product.

 

[AlexJoda]

Yes, finally! About time! I hated that jack, as well as that lightning port!

BTW, Apple will turn that 80s Movie “Port Bandits” into a tv show...

Espacially

Apple is going to remove the headphone jack and make the Smart Keyboard portrait? This rumor is so absurd I don’t know why anyone is printing it.

Absolutely stupid. It would make the ipad useless for music creation with attached devices like the Apogee JAM. Why? Because of the wireless audio playback via headphones, there will be a significant delay and high latency compared to cabled headphones. Which with wireless audio makes playing and recording instruments like guitars, drums, and other things, completely useless.

There is NO way around it. No bluetooth based audio has the necessary low latency required for these types of uses.

I can understand the removal of the headphone jack on a small phone, but on a tablet designed for the "pro" market it literally does not make sense AT ALL, and would be a tremendously STUPID decision, and a big slap in the face of the users that ACTUALLY uses the iPad Pro for anything that revolves around CREATING rather than just consuming the latest games and youtibe vidz.

I see it the same way as you but are there any physical problems using the adapter for that? If you use the iPad for professional purposes with lots of other stuff this additional small piece of equipment won’t be that big problem...

 

[dantroline]

And yet still, BluRay delivers the best quality of image to the general public.

Apple wanted to make money from selling Apps, so they did not support flash on their new mobile machines.
Apple wanted to make money selling films themselves, so they removed such drives from their machines.
Apple wanted to make money from wireless headphones so they removes such ports from machines.

It does not take much intelligence to see the REAL reason behind all this. Making more money from their user base.
I don't criticize them for doing this. Many companies would love to.
The only reason Apple can get away with it is that they have loyal fans locked into their eco-system.
If most other brands tried this, their customers would just buy a competing product.

People just love getting ripped off. They love it so much you can see them lining up, begging for more each time. I just wish there was a real alternative to MacOS and Windows. I love Linux but it has proven to be just too hard over the years to make it the go-to desktop OS for the masses. Ubuntu came close but actually Android has killed Linux' desktop advancements I think. Oh well.

 

[theluggage]

Hahaha bluetooth latency doesn't count. You'll have to bring your lightning adapter if you to write music with headphones

...and what if you need the lightning adapter for something else (audio input, maybe, MIDI keyboard etc...)? If you do the research, you'll find that although the USB/Lightning dongle has a lightning socket, its only for charging. The biggest restriction of the iPad in terms of audio/music production is its limited connectivity and dropping the separate headphone jack would make that worse.

 

[cyb3rdud3]

I have 2 high quality pairs of wireless headphones and one pair of a conventional headphone, the Shure 1540. And yet, when I listening to music or watch movies on my iPad, i usually only use the Shures. To me, just to plug in and play without ever to worry about charging the headphones, is convenience. When I watch something on my iPad, I lay stationary in my bed or sit on the couch. Why would cable be a hindrance?

But I absolutely believe in the rumor. Nowadays it’s not about Apple moving us forward into the future. Bluetooth can't be it, because Bluetooth has been around for ages.

It's about Apple not being able to design something without compromises. Small bezels? "Ok, then a 3.5 mm jack can’t be done!" [\s]

We all do things differently. If I’m on the sofa I rather watch on the big screen or listen on the full stereo setup. When I’m in my bedroom and don’t need headphones, if my wife is around we have better things to do that look at an iPad

There isn’t a single usecase for all, but there is one guarantee. The future is wireless, for everything.
[doublepost=1532859908][/doublepost]

...and what if you need the lightning adapter for something else (audio input, maybe, MIDI keyboard etc...)? If you do the research, you'll find that although the USB/Lightning dongle has a lightning socket, its only for charging. The biggest restriction of the iPad in terms of audio/music production is its limited connectivity and dropping the separate headphone jack would make that worse.

And then there is the touch screen as well etc. Just use a MacBook or PC

 

[AlexJoda]

Apple screwing it all up again.

Or this rumor author screwed it up which is more likely....

 

[cyb3rdud3]

And yet still, BluRay delivers the best quality of image to the general public.

Apple wanted to make money from selling Apps, so they did not support flash on their new mobile machines.
Apple wanted to make money selling films themselves, so they removed such drives from their machines.
Apple wanted to make money from wireless headphones so they removes such ports from machines.

It does not take much intelligence to see the REAL reason behind all this. Making more money from their user base.
I don't criticize them for doing this. Many companies would love to.
The only reason Apple can get away with it is that they have loyal fans locked into their eco-system.
If most other brands tried this, their customers would just buy a competing product.

Flash was/is ****, that was all nothing more and nothing less. In addition it doesn’t scale well for a mobile responsive interface, and utilises way to much power.

Blu-ray from a laptop was never a good working low energy solution. Besides the drive mechanisms take up a lot of space. Even on a desktop they are fiddly and not that great in supporting everything. It’s much much better to use a quality player like an Oppo used to be or if you want it on the move get the digital download version.

Reality is Bluetooth headsets and car connectivity is everywhere now. It’s 2018. Having to plug in a cable and getting it tangled up is inconvenient and takes up more space.

No beats headsets in my house

 

[0095059]

People just love getting ripped off. They love it so much you can see them lining up, begging for more each time. I just wish there was a real alternative to MacOS and Windows. I love Linux but it has proven to be just too hard over the years to make it the go-to desktop OS for the masses. Ubuntu came close but actually Android has killed Linux' desktop advancements I think. Oh well.

Currently, the only real option for your 18 year old graduate is this:

Assuming that you need to use a computer for school, your textbooks are digital, and you need to make phone calls.

And you also need a television:

 

[Ruggy]

just a person who clearly doesn't own any quality headphones

Maybe someone that owns quality headphones but also has a tiny bluetooth receiver that costs about $15 and which stays on the end of the headphone lead?
Who really wants to be tethered to a device? I've lost count of the cords I've broken, or the times I've turned quickly and pulled something off the table. It's hateful. I go back to the days when I had a long springy thing connected across the room to my living room stereo. Horrible.
The receiver allows me to stream from the iphone to my excellent living room system, or listen to the TV on excellent, comfortable headhones, or the Macbook or ipad on a table not 30" away from me. It works with so many devices that would otherwise be useless it's hard to be without it.
Plus, it will change track, change volume and even take calls for $15. It includes a (poor quality) mic.
The sound is the same. Once you go digital it strictly does what it's told and either works or doesn't. You're at the mercy of the DAC in the machine you are connected to but that's not changing whether you plug in or not.
Lag is device dependent. For audio it isn't a problem anyway but for video it can be. Very difficult to predict if there is a lag on video or not but some devices allow you to adjust for it.

 

[cyb3rdud3]

It is convenient and I prefer wireless headphones in most cases. However, when I want to do something with Garageband, wired headphones are the only option that actually works. For after all, you can’t really use e.g. any amp modeling apps if the headphones introduce any delay to the sound.

I guess you don’t only have the delay of the wireless connection but also the touch screen as well. If you are that Pro that you need that, then maybe looking at other options is better. I still see it very much as a consumption device primarily.
[doublepost=1532860681][/doublepost]

As I read this article my Fiancé was using her iPad 12.9” in landscape while listening to podcasts via the 3.5mm Jack. She was not very happy when I told her this rumour because I’ve been pumping her up on the upcoming iPads and now she’s lost interest if these rumours are true. Many of the apps she uses for graphic design benefit from landscape mode and it just looks silly using it in portrait mode. I guess we should just wait and see before we all go crazy!

I love Apple and what they do but come on guys, why remove something that may be essential to some people and a alternative method might not be compatible with their workflow. As stated by others there is a bit of lag issuing wireless and this is a huge no no in the Pro world. Also, stop comparing the removal of the 3.5 with floppy & CD’s because both of those were already on the way out prior to Apple removing that functionality.

And you didn’t think wired connections were on their way out? No Bluetooth in your cars? No Bluetooth headset? Don’t know where you are but it’s been for over a decade since that capability became standard here in Europe.

 

[krakman]

Regardless of who preferers wireless to wired headphones, the simple matter of fact is that by removing the headphone connector they are removing our ability to choose what best suits our needs.

Which seems ironic, since Apple's corporate message is all about freedom, self expression and liberalism but their products are prime examples of totalitarianist design.

 

[AlexJoda]

It's about Apple not being able to design something without compromises. Small bezels? "Ok, then a 3.5 mm jack can’t be done!" [\s]

So that means that a headphone jack is too deep to integrate when the display is so close to the border?