Best argument against "headphone jacks are old tech!"

[TurboPGT!]

And yet it still didn't receive as high a water resistance rating as other phones with the jack...

So just the fact that you post this, tells us all we need to know. You are bound to the biased tech media headlines, and reality be damned.

 

[MrBukey]

People have likened this to Apple's removal of the CD-ROM on the MacBook Pro. These are two totally different things. At the time Apple made that decision, most consumers found little use for these drives -- removing them had almost zero downside, on top of allowing Apple to make thinner and lighter devices. This headphone-jack removal should have come next year at the earliest.

When Apple got rid of the floppy drive, as well as the DVD-ROM drive, from their devices, a lot of people still used those things. They adapted, and quite often enjoyed the benefits of alternative technologies.

The headphone jack is an old tech, and it is widely used. That's mainly because there's few mainstream alternatives in headphone tech - there's the 6.33mm jack (which is obviously the wrong direction to go), there's wireless (which is in use quite widely used but nowhere near the 3.5mm jack).

The 3.55mm analogue jack being old tech isn't reason enough to ditch it on itself. However using a non-analogue port does allow better sound via both Lightning port and wireless is a compelling reason. It also allows for a slimmer phone and more space internally for other components to boot.

Apple are providing a way - in box - to use your current headphones. The adapter can even stay connected to your headphone wire, so it's always available. The only downside is people who want to listen to music and charge at the same time. Everyone I've spoken to about it cites this as an issue, but then when we think about it we can't really think of many - if any - times we do this. However, there is an adapter available from Belkin if we want to do that (and no doubts others will follow).

To say it should come next year at the earliest would mean that if it happened next year instead that some people would have said then that it should have come the year after.... Rinse and repeat.

The Moto Z had its jack removed earlier this year. Samsung and Sony are looking at removing it in their devices shortly. This year being too soon is therefore subjective. I really don't think most people charge and listen at the same time, so I don't think it will prove an issue for most....

 

[0000757]

It's not obsolete at all. This was Apple's way of forcing people to buy its new products, and they did so before releasing (or helping third-party manufacturers release) any good, affordable wireless headphones. A bit sleazy, if you ask me. To be fair, the only upside is that it probably helped them make the phone more waterproof.

There have been affordable lightning and Bluetooth headphones and earbuds on the market for a while now. Not really sleazy.

 

[fatalogic]

I don't really mind removing the jack because I use wireless headphones most of the time but it is annoying when they die. What really is frustrating is the lightning connector is an IOS only connector. If the macbook pro leaks are correct they won't have a lightning port either. So how long are they going to keep the lightning port when they don't support it on any of their other products? What if you get a lightning headset today and then in 2 years they switch to usb-C or remove all ports. Now you have useless cords and headphones that only fit Iphones or Ipads.

 

[malevolant]

And yet it still didn't receive as high a water resistance rating as other phones with the jack...

Apple didn't want to rate it that high as they don't want people using their phones like that. There are numerous videos of the phone in high depths for extended periods of time and working perfectly.

 

[Mac 128]

What would you consider a good way for Apple to have removed the headphone jack?

The removal of the headphone jack is inevitable in a device of this size, but currently it is a universal standard. While its removal won't affect all of Apples customers, it will affect many of them. Add to that it is not just used for listening to music over headphones, and it provides audio support for popular apps that use the Lightning jack.

If I had been working for years to remove such a widely used interface, I would hope that I would have had a few more ducks in a row, and been able to answer my critics with more than "it's old" and "courage".

But let's focus on the most immediate problems:

Apple's most compelling rationale for removing the headphone jack is that wireless is the future, and they're setting a course for that future. yet they deliver a wired EarPod in the box, as well as an adapter. OK we all understand that's a cost saving measure, but the wired Lightning headphones can't be used with anything else, besides newer iOS devices, including Macs. So where's the adapter to allow a customer to use those new Lightning headphones on anything else?

Apple went out of their way to work closely with Belkin to make sure an adapter was in place to charge and listen at the same time following the launch, so why not an adapter to make sure a customer could use the Lightning headphones on something other than the iPhone 7? And Apple made sure the Belkin adapter would be there, clearly acknowledging a substantial need, so why not a better solution -- like the one they already incorporate into their external battery case -- a pass-through as part of the included Lightning cable? And to add insult to injury, the Belkin adapter won't even be available until sometime in October, at the earliest.

And speaking of delays, In order to take advantage of Apples wireless future, headphones with the W1 chip are essential. Currently there's only one large, over-th-ear pair available through Beats. The other in-ear buds, including Apple's flagship AirPods, won't be available for a while, with the AirPods not available until "Late October". At a minimum why weren't the AirPods available on launch day? If customers don't want heavy over-the-ear headphones, their only option is to buy a standard BT headphone, which makes the wireless experience not much better than it has been for years.

So, for at least a month-and-a-half, any customer who buys the iPhone 7 and uses headphones, is pretty much relegated to using their old headphones with the free adapter for maximum convenience and quality. And that's a fail, since it does nothing toward encouraging the customer to embrace the new technologies Apple says they removed the headphone to push in the first place, undermining their whole narrative. Even those customers who were open to this change are going to have to wait, getting used to using what they've always used at the cost of slightly more inconvenience, and that's a serious loss of momentum, which may ultimately affect sales.

So what Apple did was remove technology, and replaced it with something that isn't ready, doesn't necessarily offer any major improvements over what we had, and doesn't address all of the functionality of the thing it's replacing. And the sad part is that most of that was unnecessary.

And that's before we've even discussed audio quality issues between wired and wireless, which Apple did little to address in their keynote.

And those are just the major points. There's plenty of lesser uses Apple hasn't addressed, like splitting a Lightning signal between two sets of headphones, or pairing two sets of wireless headphones to one device to share audio.

Now I fully expect many of these things will be addressed over time, but it just seems short sighted and ill-prepared to have none of the replacements necessary to successfully supplant the 3.5mm jack in place for the launch. Add to that Apples seemingly cavalier attitude vis-a-vis it's spokesman, Phil Schiller. Need to charge and listen at the same time? Simple buy a $50 dock that only allows the use of a 3.5mm output. So much for the future Apple was just talking about a day earlier.

Most of this will be lost on the headphone using customer until they've already gotten the phone in their hands and realize their normal routine has just gotten harder, especially once they realize there's no infrastructure in place to easily address their previous uses. Will this affect sales? Will it result in record returns? Probably not. But it will result in a worse customer experience, more resentment and criticism. And all of this could have been avoided, because Apple was in complete control of the hardware this time.

 

[bufffilm]

The removal of the headphone jack is inevitable in a device of this size, but currently it is a universal standard. While its removal won't affect all of Apples customers, it will affect many of them. Add to that it is not just used for listening to music over headphones, and it provides audio support for popular apps that use the Lightning jack.

If I had been working for years to remove such a widely used interface, I would hope that I would have had a few more ducks in a row, and been able to answer my critics with more than "it's old" and "courage".

But let's focus on the most immediate problems:

Apple's most compelling rationale for removing the headphone jack is that wireless is the future, and they're setting a course for that future. yet they deliver a wired EarPod in the box, as well as an adapter. OK we all understand that's a cost saving measure, but the wired Lightning headphones can't be used with anything else, besides newer iOS devices, including Macs. So where's the adapter to allow a customer to use those new Lightning headphones on anything else?

Apple went out of their way to work closely with Belkin to make sure an adapter was in place to charge and listen at the same time following the launch, so why not an adapter to make sure a customer could use the Lightning headphones on something other than the iPhone 7? And Apple made sure the Belkin adapter would be there, clearly acknowledging a substantial need, so why not a better solution -- like the one they already incorporate into their external battery case -- a pass-through as part of the included Lightning cable? And to add insult to injury, the Belkin adapter won't even be available until sometime in October, at the earliest.

And speaking of delays, In order to take advantage of Apples wireless future, headphones with the W1 chip are essential. Currently there's only one large, over-th-ear pair available through Beats. The other in-ear buds, including Apple's flagship AirPods, won't be available for a while, with the AirPods not available until "Late October". At a minimum why weren't the AirPods available on launch day? If customers don't want heavy over-the-ear headphones, their only option is to buy a standard BT headphone, which makes the wireless experience not much better than it has been for years.

So, for at least a month-and-a-half, any customer who buys the iPhone 7 and uses headphones, is pretty much relegated to using their old headphones with the free adapter for maximum convenience and quality. And that's a fail, since it does nothing toward encouraging the customer to embrace the new technologies Apple says they removed the headphone to push in the first place, undermining their whole narrative. Even those customers who were open to this change are going to have to wait, getting used to using what they've always used at the cost of slightly more inconvenience, and that's a serious loss of momentum, which may ultimately affect sales.

So what Apple did was remove technology, and replaced it with something that isn't ready, doesn't necessarily offer any major improvements over what we had, and doesn't address all of the functionality of the thing it's replacing. And the sad part is that most of that was unnecessary.

And that's before we've even discussed audio quality issues between wired and wireless, which Apple did little to address in their keynote.

And those are just the major points. There's plenty of lesser uses Apple hasn't addressed, like splitting a Lightning signal between two sets of headphones, or pairing two sets of wireless headphones to one device to share audio.

Now I fully expect many of these things will be addressed over time, but it just seems short sighted and ill-prepared to have none of the replacements necessary to successfully supplant the 3.5mm jack in place for the launch. Add to that Apples seemingly cavalier attitude vis-a-vis it's spokesman, Phil Schiller. Need to charge and listen at the same time? Simple buy a $50 dock that only allows the use of a 3.5mm output. So much for the future Apple was just talking about a day earlier.

Most of this will be lost on the headphone using customer until they've already gotten the phone in their hands and realize their normal routine has just gotten harder, especially once they realize there's no infrastructure in place to easily address their previous uses. Will this affect sales? Will it result in record returns? Probably not. But it will result in a worse customer experience, more resentment and criticism. And all of this could have been avoided, because Apple was in complete control of the hardware this time.

Some very good points you bring up.

Apple definitely could and should have handled this better in all aspects.

 

[joeblow7777]

So just the fact that you post this, tells us all we need to know. You are bound to the biased tech media headlines, and reality be damned.

I stated a fact. The iPhone 7 has a lower water resistance rating, as assigned by independent testing, than the latest galaxy phones. Bias would be ignoring this fact.
[doublepost=1474306104][/doublepost]

Apple didn't want to rate it that high as they don't want people using their phones like that. There are numerous videos of the phone in high depths for extended periods of time and working perfectly.

Unless I'm mistaken about how this works, Apple has no say in what rating it gets, hence the independent testing. They can aim for a certain rating, but I don't know if they can ask for a lower one in order to be conservative.

 

[noekozz]

Very well said @Mac 128, all valid points and that's not even getting into the smaller details.

While Apple's reasons for removing the jack is that of "courage, bigger battery, waterproofing, etc", based on iFixit's teardown, the removal of the jack had more to do with the placement of the tactical feedback in that spot for the new home button more than anything else, or at least based on what we can see.

Either way, I'm passing upgrading this time around, I'm just not ready to give up my jack just yet.

 

[KillaMac]

I stated a fact. The iPhone 7 has a lower water resistance rating, as assigned by independent testing, than the latest galaxy phones. Bias would be ignoring this fact.
[doublepost=1474306104][/doublepost]

Unless I'm mistaken about how this works, Apple has no say in what rating it gets, hence the independent testing. They can aim for a certain rating, but I don't know if they can ask for a lower one in order to be conservative.

Fact is Apple can also set that rating and not have it tested by another company. I just read up on this. Fact is the iPhone was able to handle the depth of the water better than the Samsung.

 

[Knowimagination]

Unless I'm mistaken about how this works, Apple has no say in what rating it gets, hence the independent testing. They can aim for a certain rating, but I don't know if they can ask for a lower one in order to be conservative.

Apple says to the independent tester "We want this phone to be rated ip67" then the independent tester tests it and says it passed that test.

Apple doesn't just hand over a phone and say let me know how it goes.

 

[joeblow7777]

Apple says to the independent tester "We want this phone to be rated ip67" then the independent tester tests it and says it passed that test.

Apple doesn't just hand over a phone and say let me know how it goes.

Okay. Thanks for explaining that. I honestly thought it worked the other way.

 

[solo118]

I don't really mind removing the jack because I use wireless headphones most of the time but it is annoying when they die. What really is frustrating is the lightning connector is an IOS only connector. If the macbook pro leaks are correct they won't have a lightning port either. So how long are they going to keep the lightning port when they don't support it on any of their other products? What if you get a lightning headset today and then in 2 years they switch to usb-C or remove all ports. Now you have useless cords and headphones that only fit Iphones or Ipads.

Personally, I would NOT buy any expensive "lightning" headphones of any kind. They will only be good for the iphone/ipad! The Macbook should hopefully always have the 3.5mm jack, so I would continue buying whatever headphones I want with the 3.5mm jack and if I want to use it on my phone I can use their enclosed dongle.

I do not have the iPhone 7 just yet, but when I do get it I plan on just putting their dongle in my headphone carrying case. I am hoping over the next few months or so there should be a boom of wireless headphone solutions. My ideal setup would be something like the "airpods" but a bit sportier (and maybe a few bucks cheaper!)

 

[malevolant]

Okay. Thanks for explaining that. I honestly thought it worked the other way.

Definitely not. A company pays labs to test specific things. There are labs that specialize in testing shipping durability, etc.