Apple Will Still Include a Lightning to Headphone Jack Adapter With This Year's iPhones, Says Barclays

[lederermc]

They should just give them away to >= iPhone 7 user that wants one.

 

[illinois2011]

Change has to happen but the transition to wireless is trying to come sooner than the tech is ready and without an agreed upon standard;

I agree it can be painful, but people said the same thing when Apple released the original iMac without a floppy drive and no cd-burner. Sometimes someone has to push forward to get the tech where it needs to be.

 

[Böhme417]

LOL! Sorry, sometimes these things fire me up! But seriously, you have to admit, that placing USB-C on all your other products, and then leaving your top selling product as lightning port makes no sense.

USB-C isn't on all of their products. It's on two of them. (Three if you want to include its less practical inclusion on the ATV)

Apple is moving forward. If the audio equipment isn't up to par, and this is important to you, then you force the manufacturer to fix it or reimburse you, and you take that in consideration when you buy your next car, or invest in what's necessary to use the new technology, now -- just like I did. Apple has always catered to the new ... Every month new and better Bluetooth products come onto the market, car companies integrate better audio. You have many options available to you to solve Apple leaving you behind, just as they always have. Many Apple customers don't have this problem, and that's why Apple can do it.

The problem with applying this to the auto industry is that they move at a much, much slower pace. Combine that with the fact that most people's "upgrade cycle" for a vehicle is much longer. The options for interim parts upgrades also isn't always ideal. This point is virtually moot for me, as I use a lightning cable in my car, but it still applies to many people out there.

 

[MrGuder]

It's a terrible design just to listen to your music. Glad I have a 6s.

 

[oneMadRssn]

And yet they have no problem using that same standardized connector in their laptop computers and removing their propriety power connector.

The calculus on a handheld device might be different than on a desk or lap device.

For example, the USB controller and license is included when using an Intel cpu, but when not using an Intel chip (like on all iOS devices) it would require a separate hardware controller and a separate license cost.

Maybe Intel gave Apple better pricing if Apple agreed to use USB-C as the charging plug that made it worthwhile.

Maybe strategically, Apple is not planning to do anything wacky or innovative with laptop connectivity, but does have some wacky or innovative ideas floating around with connectivity for handhelds and doesn't want to be at the mercy of a third-party if they ever want to incorporate those ideas.

 

[Tycho24]

Better if they include AirPods
View attachment 696651

My (admittedly, unsubstantiated) estimate is that maybe 1-3% of all iPhone owners use the absolute GARBAGE included headphones, while the rest of us actually love music & respect ourselves enough to invest in decent headphones!
(Or, alternatively- don't use headphones at all)
At any rate... it would literally be the HEIGHT of ignorance to include, for free- hundreds of millions of dollars worth of very crappy quality wireless headphones for the EXTREMELY small contingent that find that suitable to their needs.

 

[Ries]

No ****, the world still uses jack for audio input. Those stereo's everywhere aren't just going away because Apple removed the jack. I'm up to at-least 8 times i've needed to attach my phone to the gym stereo and i've had to say sorry and send someone get their phone because **** you Apple.
[doublepost=1492534515][/doublepost]

My (admittedly, unsubstantiated) estimate is that maybe 1-3% of all iPhone owners use the absolute GARBAGE included headphones, while the rest of us actually love music & respect ourselves enough to invest in decent headphones!
(Or, alternatively- don't use headphones at all)
At any rate... it would literally be the HEIGHT of ignorance to include, for free- hundreds of millions of dollars worth of very crappy quality wireless headphones for the EXTREMELY small contingent that find that suitable to their needs.

Walking down the street I would say 90-95% uses the included EarPods.

 

[travelsheep]

iPhone 6S was the very last phone that came from Apple

 

[Moorepheus]

hhmm, the current Lightning to 3.5MM headphone jack is good, but how about a Lightning to 3.5mm headphone plug, so I can use my Lightning headphones on everything else that has a 3.55mm jack, you know, just about every device out there has it, except the iPhone.

 

[44267547]

Impressive. Went Bluetooth about 4 years ago and haven't looked back.

Good on Apple for having the converter for another year.

I actually haven't used my included adapter as of yet. But since my Airpods purchase, it's been a seamless experience with using them within seconds with the freedom of wires. I find once you use the Airpods, you almost don't want to return to your wired earbuds, even if those do have superior sound over the
Airpods.

And I do foresee Apple to include the adapter for another year, being they realize not everyone has transitioned iPhone 7 as of yet.

 

[travelsheep]

If the iPhone had dual SIM, Tim Cook would remove it for the iPhone 8.

 

[brownpaw]

Don't particularly mind having to use the adapter, but Jesus, give us a black version.

 

[jblagden]

VGA, eSATA, Firewire, Parallel, ADB, RS232...

USB-A is still commonly used. The rest of the computer industry uses it.

MagSafe was really nice, and it saved many MacBooks.

SD card slots make it easy to transfer photos from dedicated cameras.

Ethernet, while not commonly used, is still nice to have for those rare situations when you need it.


Apple is the only vendor to make USB-C the only port on its laptops.

 

[marty1980]

I agree it can be painful, but people said the same thing when Apple released the original iMac without a floppy drive and no cd-burner. Sometimes someone has to push forward to get the tech where it needs to be.

There are some HUGE difference you are overlooking in the comparison...

* you're referring to a format for media; not the hardware needed to consume it.
* USB and downloadable, online resources were accepted standards compatible across platforms as substitutions for those media

My biggest issue is that there isn't a platform-agnostic standard being used by Apple. They went from one of the most universal ports ever created for electronics and switched it out for a platform-specific, proprietary port that works only with other Apple products. On top of this, Apple only provides the adapter to go from 3.5mm to Lightning; not the other way around which is needed to use the Lightning headphones on any non-iOS device (including Macs)!

Your argument is constantly used, but it's moot and needs to stop being used. I'm not against the removal of the jack. I'm against using a proprietary option in place of a standard; especially this particular standard.

 

[profets]

USB-A is still commonly used. The rest of the computer industry uses it.

MagSafe was really nice, and it saved many MacBooks.

SD card slots make it easy to transfer photos from dedicated cameras.

Ethernet, while not commonly used, is still nice to have for those rare situations when you need it.


Apple is the only vendor to make USB-C the only port on its laptops.

VGA is still commonly used in many offices when needing to use a projector or external monitor.

eSATA makes it easy to connect at a fast speed to external hard drives

Firewire was really nice and would be handy to have for old iPods

Parallel, while not commonly used as much, would make it easy to connect to an older printer on those rare occasions

ADB would be quite nice for the older Apple Keyboards and for those who loved the larger keys they provided.

RS232, while not used by everyone would be quite helpful for us in the tech community when needing to configure certain network hardware

 

[bladerunner2000]

You statement was overly specific by qualifying it with iPhone, you don't buy Apple products at all.

And you know this how?

 

[tonyr6]

Why not include 2 lightning ports. One for charging and another for media usage with the dongle.

 

[thisisnotmyname]

And you know this how?

OK, show me I'm wrong, what Apple products have your purchased in the last 12 months?

Edit to add: everywhere I see you post you constantly disparage their products (fine, you can have an opinion) yet you engage in piracy by stealing their intellectual property to put MacOS on your own non-Apple hardware. So yeah, I don't think you buy anything from Apple anymore. But again, feel free to show me how wrong I am.

 

[JosephAW]

Forgot how needed this dongle is. Was setting up to play some music for a funeral today and I go to plug in the 1/8mm jack into my 7Plus, whoops! Got to head home and get the dongle.

 

[bladerunner2000]

OK, show me I'm wrong, what Apple products have your purchased in the last 12 months?

LOL, that logic. Because you only get to be labeled a consumer of Apple products if you make purchases every twelve months.

Yeah, I'm done with you.

 

[JesterJJZ]

Just put the jack back instead...

 

[2010mini]

No there's issues... but people just roll with it because "the rest" keeps them clinging to iPhone instead of rejecting the entire product because the hassles of a decision regarding this one part. Of course, it's not "life ending"- just an added nuisance ... for no significant tangible gain for us consumers. Apple got something(s) out of it- internal space or perhaps lower unit costs & a high-profit accessory to sell. What did we consumers get out of it? Another piece of hardware to have to keep in the bag just in case we need it. I don't know about everyone else but being an Apple consumer seems to now mean needing more and more accessories in the bag. I don't think "thinner & lighter" makes sense if one pretty much needs to carry some other stuff to make the latest "just work" as readily as it used to work when such functionality was built inside.

For all the pro-Bluetooth or even pro-Lightning connection arguments, all iPhones ALREADY offered BOTH of those options. If they were more appealing to those who will argue so hard for them, all such people could readily go that way without any hinderance. If they were genuinely better than 3.5mm, the masses would migrate for genuinely better too (contrary to popular spin, people don't have to be forced to embrace genuinely better if they can see (or hear) that it is genuinely better).

What this did do is remove something useful and thoroughly ubiquitous that "just works" with pretty much anything & everything and shift to a fragmented mix of options involving adapters or trying to embrace either alternative but make that work everywhere else one wants to use such alternatives or just carry along adapters plus TWO sets of headphones/buds everywhere one goes to be ready for any scenario. Even the ready ability to use any type of phones/buds between iPhone and Apple's own Macs is complicated unless one chooses the Bluetooth option, which then fails when trying to enjoy the easy connections to all kinds of other audio stuff without Bluetooth. We Apple people used to ridicule competitors on their forced fragmentation decisions, but now that Apple has made choices to do it, we spin it as positively as we can... every chance we get.

And "best selling" arguments don't really prove such points. It just proves that consumers want "the rest" enough to put up with such aggravations. That works just fine... until it doesn't. Should Apple decide to eject the camera or battery out to an accessory, they might be able to get away with that too. But eventually, there is the proverbial straw that makes people give up. Look through most threads here- especially Mac threads- and you see admissions of "always Apple until..." people who reached their brand loyalty breaking point because Apple did or didn't do something to meet such users wants or needs.

Apple is not forever immune to such brand defections... no matter how much some of us will spin that any such decision that disappoints chunks of the Apple consumer base proved inconsequential because Apple keeps rolling in the dollars. Sony, Palm, Blackberry and countless others used to have best-sellers beating their best-sellers year after year. And then their customers tired of seemingly out-of-touch or losing-touch corporate decisions and migrated to something more connected to their wants & needs. Record revenues & profits are not automatic and guaranteed but earned... and part of earning them is not losing too much touch with the source of the money. Blackberry once had such a passionate following, their product was referred to as crackberry. Where did all of those crack-heads go and why?

The lightning only headphone thing was really blown out of proportion IMHO. I personally have not used wired headphones with my devices for the last 6 years. And from my own experiences traveling for work, I rarely see people using wired headphones/in-earphones. The market has been moving towards full wireless for some time now. For iPhones, removing the 3.5mm jack was not a big deal. Now if they did it 3-4 years ago, it would've been. Remember MOST of the electronics consumer market doesn't care about backward compatibility or universal ports like we, tech nerds, do. And They represent the lion's share of the market.

 

[thisisnotmyname]

LOL, that logic. Because you only get to be labeled a consumer of Apple products if you make purchases every twelve months.

Yeah, I'm done with you.

OK, two years. Three years. What's the last thing you bought from Apple? Point remains the same, you don't buy Apple products yet you feel entitled to steal their intellectual property.

 

[thequietaussie]

VGA, eSATA, Firewire, Parallel, ADB, RS232...

Sigh. Can we stop with this nonsense please. Every one of the ports on your list were replaced by an obviously superior one. Analog -> digital, specialised -> multi-purpose.

Our replacement for the headphone jack? Lossy Bluetooth and another device that needs to be charged with all the joys of dealing with Bluetooth syncing unless you want to use AirPods with their mediocre audio quality.

Great.

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

The lightning only headphone thing was really blown out of proportion IMHO. I personally have not used wired headphones with my devices for the last 6 years. And from my own experiences traveling for work, I rarely see people using wired headphones/in-earphones. The market has been moving towards full wireless for some time now. For iPhones, removing the 3.5mm jack was not a big deal. Now if they did it 3-4 years ago, it would've been. Remember MOST of the electronics consumer market doesn't care about backward compatibility or universal ports like we, tech nerds, do. And They represent the lion's share of the market.

In my own experience traveling for work, it's almost just the opposite. In fact, in my own experience traveling, I keep encountering options where good old 3.5mm would "just work" while Bluetooth or Lightning will not (1 major example: in flight video/audio systems, none yet offering a Bluetooth or Lightning connection). Perhaps you are just sensitive to only noticing support for your own (or Apple's) view of the world and/or I'm sensitive to only noticing support for my own view? What I find though is that since I'm not solely locked into only an Apple product world, this "for the best" argument just breaks down.

Perhaps next time you travel, try counting how many wired headsets you see vs. wireless to test your own perception. I suspect your "rarely" tag will change if you actually do some counting. I certainly can concede seeing some people with wireless buds/headset, but then notice them having to use something else when they need to make a connection(s) and Bluetooth is not available. For example, as good as Bluetooth may seem to some of us, what if you want to watch (and listen) to the inflight movie or TV show? Does your airline have an easy way to make them work? Does your airline have ANY way to make them work? Is carrying along 2 basically same-use items (2 kinds of headphones) great for us consumers? How about having to carry along multiple adapters to try to make 1 choice work well with just about anything we encounter?

Until this decision was somewhat forced upon us, the ability to put on a movie and share the audio with anyone else was just a matter of a 3.5mm splitter. Now it's Lightning to 3.5mm adapter AND a splitter. Is anyone able to share a Bluetooth only audio stream with someone else? Meet the person on the plane and jacking them in to watch a video or listen to some tunes together used to be so easy, and their headphones (even if Windows/Android) could easily jack right in. Now, one of you better have an adapter or two, or if either of you are dependent on Bluetooth, there's probably no audio sharing. That was a nice experience mostly lost now unless one of you happens to be carrying the right combination of adapters.

Furthermore, when traveling for work, I will inevitably find myself needing to connect to something NOT made by Apple. For example, a client might have some device with a 3.5mm jack readily available (because it is far more ubiquitous than Bluetooth or Lightning) but not be as set up for a Bluetooth-only connection... and certainly not Lightning.

Or just working between an iPhone and a Mac requires the adapter unless one tries to make Bluetooth their answer... which then locks them out of all kinds of other audio streams where Bluetooth is not available.

So again, I can appreciate the "Apple is always right"-type rationale except not all of us believes that. This decision is a hassle for me in some way at least once a week but often every day when traveling for work. All the "Apple is right" counterpoint doesn't change that fact for me. Perhaps I am an extreme exception, or just one willing to write down the reality of the impact.

Worse, I don't expect this to fully resolve (on par with 3.5mm ubiquity) for many, many years. The rest of the tech world will go USB3C for a hard-wired connection and only some audio stuff embraces Bluetooth. I wonder if the non-Intel-driven Audio component world will ever embrace USB3C or Lightning over just continuing to include 3.5mm because it's a cheaper & far more ubiquitous component. So we consumers get to enjoy carrying 1+ adapters for years and years to approximate a ubiquty benefit that used to be built inside iPhone (and that had no adverse effect on those happy with or coveting either Lightning or Bluetooth options when it was there).