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.
