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

[Shanghaichica]

Another redesign to make previous accessories useless?? I mean, I get the headphone jack part. And I would like the iPad to be ligher since I carry it around everywhere. But there must be a way to make their own accessories to work with newer versions. Like at least leave them at the same spot so we can connect the damn $200 keyboard that we only got to use for 1-2 years.
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Hold it at the notch

I doubt the old accessories would have Worked anyway because the new iPads are going to be changing in size due to having smaller bezels. It’s always been this way. The iPad Air cases don’t fit the iPad air 2 for example. Once the form factor changes the previous accessories usually don’t fit and something as precise as a keyboard was not going to fit.

 

[entropi]

Well well, I'm slowly moving away from Apple nowadays anyway. I have used macs since 1993 but I don't feel like they want me as a costumer anymore. Things change I guess.

 

[mrzz]

About time. MacBook Pros next.

you are definitely not a MBP target group, just a silly comment tbh

 

[Mydel]

i dont care too much about headphone jack. But if its true that iPad can only be unlocked vertically than its mistake. I use my old ones 95% of time horizontally. who wanna turn it around to unlock?!

 

[Ma2k5]

Vertical only smart keyboards would ruin the purpose of the 10.5” pro which was to accommodate a full sized keyboard. I imagine most people use their iPads primarily in landscape. If FaceID can’t work in any orientation, it shouldn’t be put in the iPad yet. Hoping this is a false rumor because I was really looking forward to upgrading to the smaller pro to replace my release day 12.9”.

I read of an upcoming change like a month back where FaceID will work in all orientations.

 

[Loge]

Obviously we don’t know, but I don’t think the iPad would require a notch, being that it would have adequate room to incorporate the hardware sensors/camera, but even if it did include the notch, I think would be less noticeable on a larger display versus a 5.8 inch iPhone display in comparison.

It would be very noticeable for typical use cases such as watching movies and reading books which are typically rectangular in shape.

 

[mrzz]

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.

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

 

[H2SO4]

I wasn’t. Your post is disingenuous, as proprietary equals AirPods. Nice deflection.

Not a bit of it. My post contains the words, "a common standard". Now do you think that would refer to a pair of headphones, (airpods vs A. N. Other), or a connector, (lightning vs USB)?
Have a think before you answer that one.

 

[caskin8a]

The problem is the iPads are tools used in a ton of different scenarios. Disabling an audio output is a ridiculous idea. iPhones - sure you’re gonna push migration to Bluetooth headphones. But iPads and Macs - absurd

 

[ikir]

This would be a terrible decision on Apple’s part.

Never used a jack in iPad, lightning earphones are quite cool if you don’t want BT. Making it partially waterproof would be awesome.

 

[44267547]

It would be very noticeable for typical use cases such as watching movies and reading books which are typically rectangular in shape.

I think its subjective, I never noticed the notch even now with a 5.8 iPhone X, perhaps I have adjusted, but it’s never been an issue for me as it is for some others.

 

[Sonic]

hope this isn't true. i will never use wireless headphones due to loss of quality, nor will i use a dongle

 

[otternonsense]

If that rumour is true, I'm holding on to all of my pre-2017 Apple equipment (with the exception of the company-provided MacBook "Pro") and if Apple continues down this road I'm offloading them in a couple of years for whatever the competition is offering. This just doesn't work for me.

My loyalty to Apple is gone, habit and ecosystem lock-in are soon to follow. I've found the value of an Apple product becomes really evident when you own all the other Apple products and have them work as well as can be expected together. Well, they don't, not anymore, not without a slew of dongles. Whenever I plug in my 2017 iPad or iPhone to my 2017 MBP with a USBC to Lightning connector it asks me to "disconnect USB accessories that drain too much power". Seriously now.

Just as the halo effect has nabbed new customers in the past, then the reverse is going to be true as well. People won't just leave one device -they will start questioning their entire ecosystem, one device at a time. Pro users already do that due to Apple's hideous treatment to the Mac. And probably pretty quickly they'll end up with few to no Apple devices at all.

Thanks for nothing, Tim.

 

[44267547]

Never used a jack in iPad, lightning earphones are quite cool if you don’t want BT. Making it partially waterproof would be awesome.

I personally don’t see the necessity to make the iPad with any type of water resistance rating. I certainly don’t see them making iPad water resistant now when they could have done so years back. Besides, electronics and water in general don’t mix regardless of a water resistant rating.

 

[profets]

Other interesting info is the dimensions mentioned. Who knows how accurate, but both shrinking in physical size a decent amount. And the 10.5 not only getting reduced but also going to 11”.

Even crazier would be the thinness at 6.1 and 6.4 mm. That’s iPod touch & iPad mini 4 territory.

 

[Drunkw4rrior]

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.

F<bleep> Steve jobs too! Lol

 

[PickUrPoison]

hope this isn't true. i will never use wireless headphones due to loss of quality, nor will i use a dongle

I don’t really think they’ll remove the headphone jack, but having to use an adapter wouldn’t be end of the world.

 

[MrGimper]

Headphone jack removal, a little annoying but fair enough.

Portrait only Face ID and Smart Connector. Behave, total killer on an iPad.

 

[Piggie]

Apple told the world, live on stage, they removed the jack due to space limitations.

Looking at the iPad, there's enough wasted/empty space to not only have multiple jacks and sockets all over, but even almost get a pair of headphones AND a Stylus/(pencil) inside the dam thing!

 

[dantracht]

Remove the headphone jack? I can see that happening. We survived it on iPhone, I guess we will survive it here.

Portrait only Smart Keyboard? Can’t see that happening. I remember years ago a co worker had a Samsung tablet that plugged into a keyboard that way and it looked ridiculous.

Portrait only Face ID? Perhaps at first, but will be introduced by years end with a software update, like portrait mode on the iPhone 7.

If these rumors are true I’ll hang onto my 2017 IPP, but I have to believe these rumors are way off.

 

[twistedpixel8]

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.

Completely different situation. The floppy disk was obsolete when Steve removed it. The 3.5mm headphone jack is currently the most mainstream audio input. Apples and oranges.

The optical drive removal was a similar situation as streaming was becoming more popular and broadband speeds had become fast enough to replace it without issue.

Currently though, no wireless headphones can replace the quality of wired ones. That is why people are pissed.

 

[Zarniwoop]

Apple sees margins are getting low in the future, so they need to make profit with dongles and AirPods's

 

[fooyork]

I miss Steve. He was smart enough to see that people did not like the idea of them removing the 3.5mm jack from the phones. Tim appears to have the attitude of, "Hey if everyone hated it then we should do that on our products as well" None of this would be going on if Steve was still running Apple.

Blimey, you clearly don't know much about Steve Jobs - he was totally against legacy connectors, and user upgradable parts. Remember, it was Steve's decision to get rid of the floppy drive, to get rid of SCSI legacy ports (in favour of USB 1.0), to get rid of the optical drive, and on and on and on...

 

[Shanghaichica]

I’m sure it’s been reported that there are hints in the ios 12 code that Face ID will be supported in both orientations? Could be wrong.

However I don’t think Apple would put Face ID in on the iPad unless it worked pretty well.

The headphone jack I personally don’t care about but I understand that others care about it.

As for the smart connector I’d have to see it before I could speculate on how it would effect the functionality of the Smart Keyboard.

I think I’ll get a new Mac this year and keep my 10.5 iPad Pro.

 

[Dave245]

Removing the headphone jack makes total sense, since having the AirPods I don’t use it on my iPad or Mac’s anyway.

The Face ID only working one way I don’t believe for a second, Apple will have found a way to make it work both portrait and horizontally in my opinion.