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

[The Game 161]

I hope Apple plans on making a normal sized phone.

5.8 inch is seen as normal size now with less bezels

 

[falainber]

You're a bit confused about some of the technology it seems. First off, the quality of wireless depends on the quality of the speaker. My B and H wireless have beautiful sound. Second, wireless are now well over half of the revenue in headphone sales, but wireless is also available at all price points. Third, you don't have to switch to wireless! As now hundreds of millions of people are doing, you can simply use either a lightning equipped headphone (Apple gives them to you with your purchase) or you can use any legacy WIRED headphone you want simply by taking two seconds to attach the free adapter they send you and never think about it again your entire life.

About this 50% in revenues:
* earbuds come free with most phones (so no separate sells needed)
* quality wired headphones last decades, wireless headphones don't (especially earbuds)

And while the quality does depend on the speakers, that's not all it depends on. Bandwidth and codec contribute too. And Apple, being cheap, does not even use the best available technology (aptX).

 

[citysnaps]

This sort of logic is just stupid. The QWERTY keyboard is old, so we should get rid of it, after all we can use Siri instead.

I’m sorry the logic escaped you.
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That would assume that the competition, even with the headphone jack, is actually a viable alternative to the iPad.

The iPad has won the tablet wars. You know this, I know this, Apple knows this.

Courage has nothing to do with this.

Sure it does. Some people feel so strongly about the headphone jack it propels them to whine on a public forum. I’m just wondering if they have the courage to actually switch. Whines are easy.

 

[imationlh]

Apple no longer wants me as a customer. I have not found a suitable replacement for my iphone which is why I will continue to buy. I was due to upgrade my Macbook Pro, but Apple stupidly got rid of MagSafe and the SD card slot, and added that crap, Touchbar. I am now an owner of a Lenovo laptop. I despise Windows 10, but I am making it work for me.

I am due for an ipad upgrade, but without a headphone jack, I am not interested. I'll continue to use the one I have until it dies.

I hate wireless headphones with a passion!

 

[aevan]

Apple no longer wants me as a customer. I have not found a suitable replacement for my iphone which is why I will continue to buy. I was due to upgrade my Macbook Pro, but Apple stupidly got rid of MagSafe and the SD card slot, and added that crap, Touchbar. I am now an owner of a Lenovo laptop. I despise Windows 10, but I am making it work for me.

I am due for an ipad upgrade, but without a headphone jack, I am not interested. I'll continue to use the one I have until it dies.

I hate wireless headphones with a passion!

An honest question: are you really getting an iPad to use headphones on it? And do you really don”t want to get one just because you’d have to use a dongle? If you listen to a lot of music and you really hate dongles, I could understand not getting a phone because of it, but an iPad? And what if everything else is really good? That one thing is so important to you?

 

[The Game 161]

What I don’t get is So how would the smart keyboard work? Surely they won’t make you use the keyboard in portrait due to face ID?

 

[pookynubber]

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.

Except Steve removed the additional mouse buttons, floppy drive, optical drive....etc. This is Apple's DNA - from the beginning. They are ahead of the curve which can be annoying waiting for everyone to catch up. I remember being a Mac guy in the early 90's (before the iMac) where you could buy software for Windows machines at the gas station but hardly anything for the mac. I do miss the headphone jack at times.

 

[ekwipt]

I wasn't worried that Apple removed the headphone port on the iPhone once the AirPods became available, but trying to produce beats on the iPad is impossible on my iPad Pro, you have to use wired headphones for latency, it's a must!

 

[MrGuder]

For once can we just see the comments go to 2000 replies and then Apple stops by and says ok ok we won’t remove the headphone jack.

 

[PickUrPoison]

I was determined to hold onto my iPhone 6 because of the headphone jack. The phone itself was becoming painfully slow and I wanted a better camera so I begrudgingly got the iPhone 8 Plus (wasn’t ready to let go of Touch ID yet). I love the 8 Plus and I am so happy I decided to go bigger instead of just upgrading to an iPhone 8. The only thing that I hate about it is the removal of the headphone jack. I fly a lot. With my iPhone 6 I could listen to music and charge my device at the same time. Now I have to use a Belkin adaptor to give me two lightening ports for charging and listening. As if that wasn’t enough, I then need to add the lightening to 3.5mm adaptor to use my Bose QC25 headphones. The whole set up looks ridiculous and every time I pull it out, the person sitting next to me on the plane, without fail, comments on how dumb it was to remove the headphone jack. As much as having to do this annoys me, I put up with it because I have no choice. I know I’ll probably get replies telling me to move onto wireless headphones. AirPods seem great but I need noise cancelling for how often I fly and I really can’t afford/justify spending a lot of money on high quality bluetooth headphones right now. So until they are cheaper or I start making more fun money, this is what I will keep doing. I wish Apple would have just left it in. I will complain about it all the time because that is just the nature of my personality but I understand why they did it. I really hope this decision helps push the industry further but in the meantime, this adjustment period completely sucks for me. Not sure why people on MacRumors forums can’t understand where people are coming from on both sides of this issue. The way people debate this is almost similar to the state of political discussions in this country right now.

Possibly I misunderstand your use case but maybe this is better?

 

[Regbial]

NEVER Huh? Of course wireless can already deliver the same audio quality as wired. Airplay audio is wireless and lossless quality, and the fastest wireless tech has much more bandwidth than even 32 bit 192 kHz audio would require.
Maybe you mean Bluetooth audio isn't currently as good as the best wired audio for headphones? I believe that is true. But then it's good enough for most people, and will keep getting better every year or two.

Yes I meant bluetooth and thats what all these wireless headphones are based on. If we can’t make that jump without loss of quality or an extreme tax on the battery it’s not time yet...

 

[Naimfan]

Dumb if true.

 

[citysnaps]

Apple no longer wants me as a customer. I have not found a suitable replacement for my iphone which is why I will continue to buy. I was due to upgrade my Macbook Pro, but Apple stupidly got rid of MagSafe and the SD card slot, and added that crap, Touchbar. I am now an owner of a Lenovo laptop. I despise Windows 10, but I am making it work for me.

I am due for an ipad upgrade, but without a headphone jack, I am not interested. I'll continue to use the one I have until it dies.

I hate wireless headphones with a passion!

Tip-o-my-hat and respect for actually switching. Most here lack that kind of courage.

 

[fairuz]

Just thinking out loud...

I wonder how many here who are complaining about the loss of the iPad headphone jack, should the story's rumor be true, open their wallets and reward a competing tablet manufacturer with their currency in order keep their coveted 100+ year old headphone jack?

That would require a boatload of courage. Just don't see that happening.

Well there's me with my iPhone 6, refusing to buy the new one unless it's the SE. And I'm sure people with their existing iPads will see the new one and say "why buy it if it's the same thing minus the jack I use." No need to switch.
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That's not really a great comparison. Floppy disks no longer serve a purpose and nobody uses them anymore because they don't hold enough. But the headphone jack still serves a purpose, is used by many, and is superior to wireless in ways that continue to make it relevant.

Yes. The biggest advantage of the headphone jack for the average user is the ease of use. You just plug it in, and it works pretty much 100% of the time. Wireless could be easier to use than wired, but it's not because whoever makes Bluetooth doesn't understand UX.

Users have had the choice to switch to BT headphones since the original iPhone ~10 years ago. The tech for that hasn't gotten much better, and BT is still just as finnicky. If people wanted to switch, they would've done it long ago.

 

[FrankieTDouglas]

Here you go:

Belkin 3.5mm Audio + Charge Rockstar

https://store.apple.com/uk/xc/product/HLJV2ZM/A

Thank you for proving my point.

 

[HVDynamo]

Well there's me with my iPhone 6, refusing to buy the new one unless it's the SE. And I'm sure people with their existing iPads will see the new one and say "why buy it if it's the same thing minus the jack I use." No need to switch.

I still have my 6S and would have bought an 8 if it had the headphone jack. Since the 6S I have literally only bought one AppleTV 4K from Apple. Had it not been for their decisions lately I would have already upgraded my laptop and iPhone in that time. I was also waiting for this update to get a new iPad since my iPad 4 is getting pretty slow, but now they are even making me reconsider that... It's like they don't want my money anymore.

 

[citysnaps]

Well there's me with my iPhone 6, refusing to buy the new one unless it's the SE. And I'm sure people with their existing iPads will see the new one and say "why buy it if it's the same thing minus the jack I use." No need to switch.

And that's potentially me with my 4 year old iPad Air 2. But... If the bezels dramatically shrink, the Ax chip shows a decent increase in performance, the display is better, etc, I'll def switch.

 

[imationlh]

An honest question: are you really getting an iPad to use headphones on it? And do you really don”t want to get one just because you’d have to use a dongle? If you listen to a lot of music and you really hate dongles, I could understand not getting a phone because of it, but an iPad? And what if everything else is really good? That one thing is so important to you?

I own an iPad for watching movies and videos during my two flights per week, every week. I don't want to use a dongle. That one thing is so important to me. I have to vote with my dollars.

 

[fairuz]

I still have my 6S and would have bought an 8 if it had the headphone jack. Since the 6S I have literally only bought one AppleTV 4K from Apple. Had it not been for their decisions lately I would have already upgraded my laptop and iPhone in that time. I was also waiting for this update to get a new iPad since my iPad 4 is getting pretty slow, but now they are even making me reconsider that... It's like they don't want my money anymore.

I've got two main Macs, and Apple definitely doesn't want me to update them to their newer versions. Especially the Mac Pro, lol. Otherwise I'd 100% buy a new MBP right this second and probably replace my Mac Pro with it.

 

[notabadname]

Tip-o-my-hat and respect for actually switching. Most here lack that kind of courage.

Oh please. Courage? He’s not kicking in doors in Afghanistan. Jeez he’s changing hardware. Maybe it would be just as much “courage” to plug a freaking 2 inch lighting adaptor to his headphone. If he wants to change Operating systems for a headphone jack that’s fine. But that’s not courage. Man, the hyperbole in this thread is out of control. If you don’t want a device for lack of headphone jack, fine. But Apple will sell their countless millions of devices to those like myself that left wired headphones about 5 years ago. It was really a courageous move back then.

 

[throAU]

At least with the iPad pro i can get a third party keyboard...

 

[Greymacuser]

Since the hyper-sensitive Apple Fanboys that mod this board deleted my last post, here it its in text form,
*facepalm*

 

[Feenician]

Since the hyper-sensitive Apple Fanboys that mod this board deleted my last post, here it its in text form,
*facepalm*

You should probably read the rules. You didn’t get moderated because the mods are “fanboys”. You got moderated because your post was crap.

https://macrumors.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/201265337-Forum-Rules

1. Frivolous and one-word posts. Such posts waste everyone's time and will be deleted. Examples includes posts with only one or two words (e.g., "cool", "LOL", or a smilie), posts celebrating being the first post in a thread, posts saying "I agree", "+1", "this", "me too", or the equivalent, posting overused memes, or making posts with images or videos that contain no relevant, constructive text or commentary. If you aren't interested in a thread, skip the thread; don't post to tell us you aren't interested.

Now that you can see the rules, perhaps you can work out which ones you’ve broken with this post.

 

[eVolcre]

Tip-o-my-hat and respect for actually switching. Most here lack that kind of courage.

I did too actually in the fall of 2016. Needed something to replace my beloved MBA 11 (2011) and realized that Apple no longer made a laptop I wanted. I’m an author and my absolute main consideration is the keyboard and second the screen. All the keyboards were rubbish.

Desktop the iMac has no competition. Same with the iPad. Laptops however are simply not innovative anymore.

I use an iPhone as well as a blackberry and am not bound to the Apple ecosystem.

Ended up going with a thinkpad yoga and have been very happy. I live in safari, email, calendar and office (on my laptops) and all those are pretty much the same across OS. Windows 10 has been fine for me. No real issues.

I’m going to try and move my mobile workflow to the iPad Pro starting this fall so i definitely do still like apple. Simply can’t see myself buying an Apple LAPTOP ever again.

 

[citysnaps]

Oh please. Courage? He’s not kicking in doors in Afghanistan. Jeez he’s changing hardware. Maybe it would be just as much “courage” to plug a freaking 2 inch lighting adaptor to his headphone. If he wants to change Operating systems for a headphone jack that’s fine. But that’s not courage. Man, the hyperbole in this thread is out of control. If you don’t want a device for lack of headphone jack, fine. But Apple will sell their countless millions of devices to those like myself that left wired headphones about 5 years ago. It was really a courageous move back then.

No disagreement at all. The point I was making is there are so many here who will complain month after month, year after year about how awful Apple's products (and changes) are, yet are paralyzed into not taking any action purchasing a device that meets their needs, and ultimately finding happiness.