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I wish iPhone would get on the USB-C train. Lightning is old hat.

Why not calling Lightning the microUSB-C? This could turn the transition less traumatic. The same strategy ocurred at the time of migration from miniDisplayPort to Thunderbolt: they had the same physical connection but Thunderbolt had more features.
 
Except of course that you wouldn't have to buy a wireless transmitter, just the (wired) Lightning to 3.5 mm adaptor. This is not Apple stopping the sale of such adaptors. And your setup already includes one adaptor (3.5 mm to RCA), one more adaptor is hardly great hardship.

You just don't get it do you - wireless, for some, is worse than wired. It's a downgrade, with a higher price tag:

I don't want to charge my headphones.

I don't want to replace headphones every few years because the batteries died. It's expensive.

I want to use one set of headphones on all my devices.

I don't want buggy pairing/repairing/switching between devices vs plugging in a cable.

3.5mm jack always sounds great, wireless, less reliable, supposedly sounds a bit worse

I don't want latency issues - I work professionally with audio/video.

and finally,

CABLES. NEVER. BOTHERED. ME.

Right now, 3.5mm headphone jack does all the above. Wireless never will.

Keep preaching about it being the future all you like, you sound like a corporate shill, apple apologist moron.
 
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I wonder what the environmental cost is of producing hundreds of millions of Lightning cables, power adapters, EarPods and dongles to include with every iPhone.

It probably will never happen, but I'd prefer to see the iPhone sold on its own for a lower price with the option to add accessories you need at the time of purchase. I presume there's some legal requirement for including a charger at the moment? I would guess most people would opt for less than what comes in the box.
People expect all those accessories and more, especially from a luxury brand like Apple. If you make the unboxing experience bad by forcing people to go to stores to buy batteries and cables and earbuds separately, you risk losing that customer forever.
 
lose the dongle? then include airpods.

Losing the included dongle would theoretically increase the likelihood of the lower price rumors. Including AirPods (that I don't want to pay for) would do the opposite.

Why not leave a charger out of the box while you're at it?

Honestly, they could and it wouldn't even bother me. I'm already drowning in USB chargers and Lightning cables (many $2 MFi cords from BB) and don't need any more. Every time I get a new phone I just include all the new accessories in my Swappa listing when I sell the old one and keep using my old accessories.
 
Apple should be lauded for testing the true loyalty of their customers by removing more features from each product iteration and charging more for them. If you’re a real aficionado then you won’t mind this trend. Who needs a headphone jack? Who wants a dongle? Can I interest you in the same old design of yesteryear? Ok then. Will you accept this notch? You wont? Well you’re not that much of a fan then are you? Cough up! Or no Apple logo for you, sonny!
Salty, but deliciously grumpy. :D

I don’t really take this particular rumor to heart but on top of how things have been trending, I had to agree. I like that you put it out there with a bit of grumpy humor.
 
Lately  reminds me of my favorite Wilson cartoon:
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You just don't get it do you - wireless, for some, is worse than wired. It's a downgrade, with a higher price tag:

I don't want to charge my headphones.

I don't want to replace headphones every few years because the batteries died. It's expensive.

I want to use one set of headphones on all my devices.

I don't want buggy pairing/repairing/switching between devices vs plugging in a cable.

3.5mm jack always sounds great, wireless, less reliable, supposedly sounds a bit worse

I don't want latency issues - I work professionally with audio/video.

and finally,

CABLES. NEVER. BOTHERED. ME.

Right now, 3.5mm headphone jack does all the above. Wireless never will.

Keep preaching about it being the future all you like, you sound like a corporate shill, apple apologist moron.
Wireless is the future to most people regardless of the many reasons you list. Same way that thin is also part of that narrative. Apple's job is to sell that future to us first in marketing and then in product form. They are masters of it so for every holdout like you, there are 100 others that have or will buy into that future.
 
I updated to the iPhone 7 when it was released (I still have it). I also got an iPad Pro which is superb for "TV" watching. I originally made use of the dongle for the iPhone and thought little about it - you just get used to using wired headphones. However when I was eventually able to get hold of AirPods it all changed. They are superb and I would never go back to wired ones now.

However I think not putting in this basic adaptor for the sake of shaving a few bucks off the base price is a bit silly.
 
No. I am about to take 13 hours flight. No way in the hell my iPhone can last that long. I will need charging my phone and using my headphone at same time. And no I do not want Bluetooth headphone, because it won’t last that long either.
Actually that depends on what you do with your phone AND what BT headphones you use. If you use your phone JUST to play music over BT with none of the other radios on (and don't play games on it), it will definitely last that long. And I have a pair of noise cancelling QC35 BT headphones that I used from takeoff to landing for an overseas flight consisting of 10.5 hour leg + 3.5 hour leg, and at the end I still had 40% battery left.
 
Doesn't bother me at all. My guess is most people either use the lightning earpods included in the box or bluetooth headphones anyway...
 
No. I am about to take 13 hours flight. No way in the hell my iPhone can last that long. I will need charging my phone and using my headphone at same time. And no I do not want Bluetooth headphone, because it won’t last that long either.

Same problem on long flights, Bluetooth headphones don’t last long enough, so relegated to using normal headphones or bringing a charger for Bluetooth headphones.

Apple makes sure you have to take a bag of dongles with you.
 
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Because it’s true. And also this has been reported in the past. There’s no point in looking at every report or rumor as ‘just a rumor’. That would be dismissing everything other than iOS leaks until the official announcement. If you want to do that then that’s fine, not sure MacRumors is the best place to be though.

Logically, then we'd also have to take the rumors of lower iPhone pricing as factual, too. I'll go on record that I'm fine with Apple keeping all of their accessories if my next iPhone costs significantly less.
 
Wireless is the future to most people regardless of the many reasons you list. Same way that thin is also part of that narrative. Apple's job is to sell that future to us first in marketing and then in product form. They are masters of it so for every holdout like you, there are 100 others that have or will buy into that future.

Again, what exactly do you mean when you say "wireless is the future"?

Will I still have to plug in my TV?
Will my electric car still need plugging in?

In the future, there will still be cables you know? Cables are not something evil that will just one day vanish.

So....why is the headphone cable the worst one? Because it gets in the way of manufacturers charging huge margins on disposable headphones? Because it means the user no longer has an analog output and therefore removing it makes all outputs of a device DRM-able?

Apple can push what they like, you choose your own future. Expensive, "subscription" devices like wireless headphones are not part of mine.
 
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Just another example of Apple pushing the industry forward. It's a constant cycle of paranoia and acceptance. Its happened in 1998 when apple ditched floppy for usb, in 2008 when Apple ditched Dvd and CD in the MacBook Air, in 2012 when Apple switched from 30 pin to lightning, and in 2015 when Apple converted their MacBook line to usb-c. Technology evolves over time, and its natural. I've always adapted and switched to AirPods and eventually purchased Sony 1000xm2s for traveling and studying last year. Not once have I used the headphone adapter for lighting. And if you can afford an Apple product, its not going to bankrupt you if you have to buy an adapter to use temporarily.
 
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Just another example of Apple pushing the industry forward. It's a constant cycle of paranoia and acceptance. Its happened in 1998 when apple ditched floppy for usb, in 2008 when Apple ditched Dvd and CD in the MacBook Air, in 2012 when Apple switched from 30 pin to lightning, and in 2015 when Apple converted their MacBook line to usb-c. Technology evolves over time, and its natural. I've always adapted and switched to AirPods and eventually purchased Sony 1000xm2s for traveling and studying last year. Not once have I used the headphone adapter for lighting. And if you can afford an Apple product, its not going to bankrupt you if you have to buy an adapter to use temporarily.

Is it time to upgrade the wheel yet?

Shall we ditch the tech behind speakers because it's been around 100 years?

You're a useful idiot, doing apple's job for them, selling their expensive disposable wireless headphones.

Allow users a choice (remember every iphone before 7 anyone? They all let you use wireless audio OR wired......funny how I don't remember many people using wireless then, almost as though most people never found wired headphones a hassle....)

Wireless is 'better' only for the company selling them, and a small convenience boost for the 'subscriber'/owner....if you count no wires as convenient. I call dead-batteries in headphones inconvenient, personally.
 
Hooooray! About time. We consumers that care about best sounding audio really want to pay extra so we can hear it. Truly a dream come true. I wish they hadn't waited so long.

Now, please, please, please Apple: Eject the internal battery next. That will let you have your 5 seconds to tout "Thinnest & lightest iPhone ever," ship the first 2 generations without an internal battery but WITH your own battery case (putting battery case makers out of business), then cease including a battery case 3 generations from now.

Keep the iPhone price the same or raise it (we prefer the latter of course). Then, sell us only your battery case starting with that 3rd generation. Don't worry: while some of us will whine about this move, the bulk will just fall right in line because whatever you decide is best for all of us IS actually best for all of us. Don't be fooled by naysayers who offer counterpoint. They know that whatever a corporation decides is actually best for all consumers: "$2XX Billion in the bank can't ever be wrong"

Ideally, roll out Lightning 2 right before you stop including a battery case in the box and be slow about approving third parties for Lightning 2 accessories, so that only YOUR battery case can power the iPhone that rolls out with Lightning 2. Charge as much as you want because you'll be the only supplier. Again, don't worry: while some will whine about this, the bulk will work overtime spinning it as best for everyone and shouting down anyone who "thinks different." Unlike this headphone adapter, you can make even more money from us because ALL of us will need to buy a battery case.

Tweak the wireless charging standards, patent the tweaks and basically repeat with the slow licensing, so that only an Apple wireless charging pad is also sold as an add-on accessory.

Then, repeat this tactic with the camera. Shift it out to an add-on module, include it for a generation or two, then roll out several ("collect them all") camera modules at premium prices and stop including any camera module in the box. Make sure the camera module connector is proprietary and do the slow licensing thing so that only Apple camera modules are available for purchase for months after launch. And again, do not cut the price of the phone itself. We would MUCH rather you INCREASE the price so we can keep slinging around "but who makes the most profitable phone" in all those market share threads.

In both scenarios, raise the price of the phones and just lengthen the payment plan terms so that you and some of "us" fans can spin seemingly cheap monthly payments "it's only $X.XX more per month." That the payment plan people are on the hook for 36 or 48 or 60+ months doesn't matter- just get the payment amount low enough so that any higher price can sound like it's not much higher spread over ever-lengthened payment time tables.

The future is bright! All hail the Apple. ;)
Your business model still has more potential to grow.
Look at BMW’s subscription for CarPlay.
Apple shall also include that as well.
 
You (and Apple) are forgetting those users with a half-dozen devices in our world that we use weekly/daily with a 1/8-inch input, which we've used for the past 20+ years and could use for the next 20+ years due to their simplicity, cost-effectiveness, and near-instant activation/implementation. Just yesterday I played a wedding and, as usual, on our break I fed music into the mixing board via my iPhone's headphone jack to a 1/8-jack/RCA cable adapter. If I had to purchase then manage a wireless transmitter, making sure it's charged always before gigs, and take the time to get it set up for breaks (plus buy add'l wireless transmitters for similar applications in my garage, workroom, kitchen, etc), that would get real old real quick.
In your case I wouldn't suggest converting those half dozen devices to wireless - I would spend $54 and buy one adapter for each and leave it plugged onto your ⅛" jack/RCA cable (and the others).
 
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You just don't get it do you - wireless, for some, is worse than wired. It's a downgrade, with a higher price tag:

I don't want to charge my headphones.

I don't want to replace headphones every few years because the batteries died. It's expensive.

I want to use one set of headphones on all my devices.

I don't want buggy pairing/repairing/switching between devices vs plugging in a cable.

3.5mm jack always sounds great, wireless, less reliable, supposedly sounds a bit worse

I don't want latency issues - I work professionally with audio/video.

and finally,

CABLES. NEVER. BOTHERED. ME.

Right now, 3.5mm headphone jack does all the above. Wireless never will.

Keep preaching about it being the future all you like, you sound like a corporate shill, apple apologist moron.
Where in my post did I advocate that somebody should use wireless? I just pointed out even without a headphone jack, you don't have to use wireless if you don't want to (thanks to the Lightning to 3.5 mm adaptor).

And, btw, with wired headphones I actually did have to buy new headphones every fricking six months (because the cable started fraying at the headphone jack end, once I even managed to break off the plug part while it was inside the jack). That sucks quite a lot after you had spend $200 on a pair of high quality headphones.
 
Maybe they are dropping the non-standard interface, and reverting to industry standard hi-fi 3.5mm. That would explain why they don't need the extra dongle anymore.
 
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In your case I wouldn't suggest converting those half dozen devices to wireless - I would spend $54 and buy one adapter for each and leave it plugged onto your ⅛" jack/RCA cable (and the others).

And when we want to charge and listen for hours, simultaneously? If $$ is no object perhaps you could buy all of us y-jacks? And when we're out and about with phone-in-pocket and want to input to someone else's system using their 1/8" cable? Oh now we have to trudge along dongles/connectors just to maintain the same flexibility and ease of use?

There's always a solution, but this supposed simplification of removal is never as clean to most users as the marketing copy suggests.
 
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Same problem on long flights, Bluetooth headphones don’t last long enough, so relegated to using normal headphones or bringing a charger for Bluetooth headphones.

Apple makes sure you have to take a bag of dongles with you.
In case of the Airpods, they actually come with their own very portable charger: their case.
 
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