iPhone 7 Again Said to Ship With Lightning-to-3.5mm Headphone Dongle

[pgiguere1]

Technically you're right. But I have found that relying on "technically" as part of a features argument is tantamount to pushing a load of marketing bs. If the effect is barely perceptible then it's useless from a practicality standpoint and serves as nothing more than a bullet point on a marketing campaign.

Why would you, an intelligent person, be okay with the term here? You've already admitted it's, in your own words, barely perceptible. Heck, even speakers on the top and bottom would yield minimal stereo separation. Small speakers that close together is stereo only in the most pedantic sense. Is it okay because it's Apple and not Samsung or any other handset manufacturer? Genuinely curious.

I don't think Apple will promote it as a bullet point on their marketing campaign. Same way they didn't promote it when the iPad mini, then the iPad Air gained stereo speakers.

I think we can both agree that:

• They are stereo speakers
• The stereophony won't provide any significant benefits. The only notable difference will likely be loudness.

Note that I'm not trying to convince anybody it's a useful feature. I just don't like people spreading misinformation. There would have been a way for you to be technically correct while also conveying your point.

"They're not stereo" != "They're stereo but you won't notice"

 

[AFDoc]

I think it is dumb for apple to make the camera on the Plus so much better than the regular model. I don't want the bigger size iPhone, is there really not enough room for the better camera in the regular size iPhone?

obviously not.... or they would have put it in the other phone. Bigger case = more room for cool stuff.

 

[jonnysods]

Man I just stare at those mockups and wonder why they couldn't get the cameras flush. I know the answer, but surely it's something Apple can't live with long term.

 

[enriquesh96]

shipping with an adapter? that makes no sense at all. It is like saying that apple realized it was a huge mistake to remove the headphone jack in the first place so now they have to give us a dongle. they are going to include lightning headphones in the box and sell the adapters separately for those who want to stick to their archaic headphones.
seriously.... im mad now.

i am sorry but this is the dumbest rumor i have heard so far.
the other rumors are pretty much everything we know so they are probably just guessing like us. i mean the fact that they say it will have a new color yet they have no clue as to what color it is...........sounds like ********.
that bank needs to get their **** together next time.

 

[CheMillan]

Sounds unlikely

I like my headphone jack
I like my wired headphones
I like my Technics SL turntables
I like my dual cassette recorder
I like to shop in a real store
I like to buy vinyl records
I like to buy CD music
I like to buy DVD movies
Low tech is still alive and well

 

[SeattleMoose]

I like my headphone jack
I like my wired headphones
I like my Technics SL turntables
I like my dual cassette recorder
I like to shop in a real store
I like to buy vinyl records
I like to buy CD music
I like to buy DVD movies
Low tech is still alive and well

No tech snob here folks...move along.

 

[chazbcn]

When I first read the rumor about an included lightning to 3.5mm audio jack adapter, I thought it was dumb, it made no sense and would potentially be a huge mistake from Apple.
But after a few days it makes sense to me because -based on all the leaks and rumors- the iPhone 7 will be sort of a transitional phone. Thus, including the adaptor to plug regular headphones makes sense this year.
When Apple releases the mythical all-glass "iPhone 8", the dongle might not be included/necessary, because there will be much more lightning-connected headphones on the market by then.
If you consider the "few" (hardware side) changes on the iP7's that we know of so far, they're more than enough to make it really stand out from the 6s:
- No audio jack (for better or worse, this feature alone will make it a new iPhone and not just a 6s-s model)
- Visibly bigger camera lenses
- (Possibly) new or tweaked colors

And of course, all the possible new features that will not be visible in plain sight, like TrueTone screen, haptic feedback, water resistant/waterproof or even a capacitive home button.

 

[fermat-au]

You're thesis is based entirely on Apple not being able to see the forest for the trees. And that seems highly unlikely. My point is that any high end Android will eventually sacrifice features in order to keep the headphone jack, and lose parity with Apple's high end offerings. I remain committed to the belief that Apple would not chose to remove the headphone jack if they didn't have to. What would be the reason? To make more profits from Lightning Licenses, and Beats headphone sales? Not likely. They would lose more from defecting customers to Android than they would ever recoup with such a short sighted business move.

No one has yet to offer a logical reason for Apple to chose to do this. And no "greed" is not a logical reason.

I still say that Apple are choosing to remove the headphone jack, they don't have to. Yes there are advantages to removing it, but there are also disadvantages, for some users I think that the disadvantages will outweigh the advantages. I can see two potential advantages; removing the the jack leave extra space for other internal complements such as battery, but the volume if the jack so small this would only be slight. Apple could improve battery capacity more by making the iPhone a couple of mm thicker. The other reason I can see is that the jack may get in the way of screen that extents to all four edges of the phone. This type of design would be a far more radical change than it seems the next iPhone will be. Edge to edge screen would also require the home button to be removed and the touch ID sensor integrated into the screen or moved to the back like some Android phones.

I don't see the problem with using whatever headphones you want with anything you want. Certainly your scenario of office vs. iPhone is the least of the problems, with a simple adapter plugged into your computer all the time. Likewise for the car, and home.

But, that said, there's no reason Apple would have to remove the 3.5mm jack from the iPhone Plus, assuming the 4.7" iPhone is the one they need the extra space for. Just like there's no reason to likely remove it from any iPad -- thus providing an incentive to pay Apple as much as possible for an all-inclusive iPhone. Frankly, I'd bet that Android went big, just so they could add features to compete with the iPhone while keeping everything they always had, while making the battery big enough to cope with the power hungry Android OS.

I see you point about the jack possible staying on the plus but being removed from the 4.7" iPhone. I have a feeling that Apple will remove it from both variation of the new model (or keep it on both). Keeping the jack on the plus would be an admission that removing it from the 4.7" has disadvantages, Apple are type kind of company that goes all in (or all out) on these kinds of decisions.

A couple of Android phones including the Note, when big and people bought them, thus showing there was a market for bigger phones, Apple were late to the 4"+ tread and it hurt them slightly. This comes back to the point of my original post: There are so many different phone running Android if some drop a feature another will not, users have choice eg if removable storage is a must have, there are some phones running Android with removable storage.

The point of my original post was a little tongue in cheek, if some iPhone users are upset that the next iPhone won’t have a headphone jack, no one is forcing them to buy it, there are and will be Android phones with headphone jacks.

 

[Abazigal]

shipping with an adapter? that makes no sense at all. It is like saying that apple realized it was a huge mistake to remove the headphone jack in the first place so now they have to give us a dongle. they are going to include lightning headphones in the box and sell the adapters separately for those who want to stick to their archaic headphones.
seriously.... im mad now.

i am sorry but this is the dumbest rumor i have heard so far.
the other rumors are pretty much everything we know so they are probably just guessing like us. i mean the fact that they say it will have a new color yet they have no clue as to what color it is...........sounds like ********.
that bank needs to get their **** together next time.

Or Apple ships the next iPhone with no headphone jack and no adaptor and people raise a fit over what they perceive as Apple trying to nickel and dime them via overpriced adaptors.

Bluetooth headphones are also way too lucrative for Apple to ship with every iPhone.

The transition won't be an easy one. Lots of people likely have invested in expensive headphones, and naturally won't be happy to see them rendered useless. This is Apple's way of saying "Look, I want you to go bluetooth, but just in case you aren't ready to hop on, here's an adaptor so you can continue using your old headphones until you are ready to make the leap. I won't force you to commit now, but ideally, the sooner the better."

I guess it's the move that will result in the least backlash for Apple.

 

[LordVic]

They won' t launch an iPhone pro.

Instead they ' ll launch an iPhone Bro' .

It will be legen.... wait for it... dary.
Legendary!

High five!

Whatup!

HIGH FIVE!
(I never did finish watching the last season of that)

 

[Gix1k]

That 7 plus/pro looks good! Tmobile Jump on demand. Must have

 

[ValO]

Sjeez, just get a s7 , no camera bump there?
Whiners over here.
Getting mental about a headphone jack.
I hate that thing. Wireless is the future for headphones or another physical digital connection.
So you get an adapter for lighting to 3.5 mm in the meantime. It will probably be as big as the headphone jack itself is now.

HIGH FIVE!
(I never did finish watching the last season of that)

You should, i think it is one of the best comedies around!

 

[kyykesko]

My speculation based on Apple's previous tendencies would be that Apple would try to one-up the limited waterproofing of Samsung's phones by increasing the depth of water exposure. If Apple could somehow engineer their phones to be waterproof to 3 or so metres then I would be sold on the requirement of removing the headphone jack.

I wouldn't hold my breath expecting the lightning port to be any more waterproof than the headphone jack. Not to mention the rest of the junk. Plus I don't go swimming with my iPhone, so couldn't care less. I know some others do so hooray for them. For me changing to one without a headphone jack would mean I'd need to buy several dongles and/or bluetooth receivers to my car, my office etc. and then live with the mediocre sound quality. Plus I wouldn't be able to charge the phone even that little - or would have to deal with ever increasing battery consumption because of wireless sound. It'd mean my iphone 7+ would run out of battery at 5pm instead of 8pm. Or I could just buy a new car and new sound system for the office - and still live with the crappy battery. Nice lose/lose situation.

Too many reasons not to like it. Trying to make a phablet with "sports phone" features makes no sense to me. Even the current one survives light rain, sweat and whatever else. Been there, done that so many times and the phone still works just as well as it always did.
[doublepost=1469460857][/doublepost]

"Many aftermarket Lightning-to-3.5mm adapters are bulky and clunky looking due to the need for a digital-to-analog converter, however, so it remains to be seen if Apple could create a dongle that meets its high standards of design."

Haha... A sexy dongle! Get serious.

Cheap (as in pennies) DAC ICs are the bane of good analog conversion. It takes a proper design to achieve good sound, one with not inexpensive parts. So if Apple goes this ridiculous route to satisfy shallow trendy folk, your traditional headphones will sound worse than before once plugged into a cheap lightning converter.

I bet they end up with something as beautiful and functional as the iPad HDMI dongle. With it you can actually get some picture out of your device to the TV. Yay! Don't expect FullHD or anything useful, just stick with SD and you see something. They'll probably come up with something equally brilliant for lightning to 3,5mm if they build one. Probably skip a piece of wire and have it transmit internally over bluetooth so the sound quality won't end up being too good.
[doublepost=1469460935][/doublepost]

Don't want the dongle, then its a simple choice. GO BLUETOOTH

Yes, because good quality bluetooth headphones only cost half as much as your iPhone, and everyone is ok with paying $300 extra? Just because they couldn't be bothered to keep the industry standard connector but instead want you to buy proprietary ****?

 

[ENduro]

You sound like my kids. "I know you are but what am I."

You're reading it wrong.

I'm calling you an apologist for bad, user unfriendly design so you either don't understand that you sound like a sycophant when you defend this nonsense or your kids do not understand the meaning of that phrase.

 

[whsbuss]

I wouldn't hold my breath expecting the lightning port to be any more waterproof than the headphone jack. Not to mention the rest of the junk. Plus I don't go swimming with my iPhone, so couldn't care less. I know some others do so hooray for them. For me changing to one without a headphone jack would mean I'd need to buy several dongles and/or bluetooth receivers to my car, my office etc. and then live with the mediocre sound quality. Plus I wouldn't be able to charge the phone even that little - or would have to deal with ever increasing battery consumption because of wireless sound. It'd mean my iphone 7+ would run out of battery at 5pm instead of 8pm. Or I could just buy a new car and new sound system for the office - and still live with the crappy battery. Nice lose/lose situation.

Too many reasons not to like it. Trying to make a phablet with "sports phone" features makes no sense to me. Even the current one survives light rain, sweat and whatever else. Been there, done that so many times and the phone still works just as well as it always did.
[doublepost=1469460857][/doublepost]

I bet they end up with something as beautiful and functional as the iPad HDMI dongle. With it you can actually get some picture out of your device to the TV. Yay! Don't expect FullHD or anything useful, just stick with SD and you see something. They'll probably come up with something equally brilliant for lightning to 3,5mm if they build one. Probably skip a piece of wire and have it transmit internally over bluetooth so the sound quality won't end up being too good.
[doublepost=1469460935][/doublepost]

Yes, because good quality bluetooth headphones only cost half as much as your iPhone, and everyone is ok with paying $300 extra? Just because they couldn't be bothered to keep the industry standard connector but instead want you to buy proprietary ****?

To each their own. I have no issues with any of the points you mention. Stay with what you want.

 

[kyykesko]

No one seems to be talking much about what that dual lens camera will be able to do. We might be getting full DSLR capabilities in the size of a smartphone. That to me is phenomenal and I'm no professional photographer. Might be worth the upgrade in and of itself.

You will not. In perfect situations you may get something decent with a phone camera, but there's a reason DSLRs are still going strong. It's just that they're not for everyone. For a casual snapper phone is probably a much better option. Me, I take a good lens attached to a good DSLR body any day. And get much, MUCH better results than with any ~4mm phone camera lens.
[doublepost=1469461298][/doublepost]

Not sure which is worse, that adapter, or the phone the anti-3.5mm jack removal crowd wants is:

[doublepost=1469229576][/doublepost]

It would be a worse move to encourage customers to continue to use their old 3.5mm products rather than at least investigate alternatives which may offer a better overall experience.

That's a pretty sad strawman.
[doublepost=1469461466][/doublepost]

Just keep it on the end of your headphones. Problem solved.

And plug another in my car and keep it there? And yet another at the office? And one in my home stereo? Wow, problem solved! And it only cost me $100.

Take the lightning-microusb dongle. Plug it into your phone and put it in your pocket. walk around all day and let's see who has a broken dongle at the end of the day. And that's the smallest dongle I can think of. I bet you love the extra dongle in your pants. I hope you don't mind if I don't.

 

[calaverasgrande]

this whole headphone jack removal is so ridiculous. Not only will it require us to carry around a dongle in order to continue to use our current headphones, it will require a different approach to battery backs. Now the battery back has to not only charge via the lightning, but furnish a pass through for the lightning to interface with the headphone. Or else perform the DA conversion itself.
I still do not understand what excluding the jack solves.
Can Jon Ive please just leave Apple.
Tim too.

 

[kyykesko]

Well, maybe (if you truly LOVE your 2008 Mazda and plan on keeping it for some time), you should get a 3rd party receiver that supports Car Play. Otherwise, there's other options (varying levels of expense and quality to add BT to your existing setup).

Yes, because buying a new phone shouldn't be less than $1000 investment in total! We're getting off way too cheap at the moment. Buy the CarPlay receiver and half a dozen dongles to be sure you don't waste your money for anything else.
[doublepost=1469461975][/doublepost]

Umm...Linux, ok, but Windows?! Really? Ok....getting off topic. (and, yes, used Windoze for decades)
You just may (if you haven't) give the latest BT wireless offerings a listen before putting yourself through the turmoil of leaving the ecosystem.

Yes, really. It's a matter of either replacing a few $k worth of equipment to make it all iphone 7 compatible or just giving up. Then again, if the rumors about the new retina macbook are true there's a second reason not to look towards Apple for anything anymore. Two reasons: only USB-C -ports (and only 4 of them) and probably the same crap-awful keyboard they had in the Macbook 12". If either comes true Apple doesn't have a device I'd want to use. Windows world is anything but great, but at least there's still manufacturers who make laptops with working keyboards. It matters more to me. You can keep all the wafer-thin macbooks, I use mine for working, not slicing tomatoes.

 

[gregoryalee]

Or

The transition won't be an easy one. Lots of people likely have invested in expensive headphones, and naturally won't be happy to see them rendered useless.

My Beyer Dynamics won't be rendered useless. They will work with every single other device I use them with today, and there won't be an issue with them working with an iPhone either because I won't be buying one.

 

[kyykesko]

I've been thinking the same thing. I'll only upgrade to 7 if there's some massive changes that justifies this move, otherwise I'll just replace my 6 with a 6s and wait until the madness settles.

I'm not going to reward them with money if they go with that kind of change. I'll stick with my 6+ until it breaks and then either find another phone with a 3,5mm jack or if none is available I'll at least go for one with a standard usb-c connector.
[doublepost=1469462792][/doublepost]

Nonsense. They can include lightning EarPods as well as an adaptor if they really want to look good (which they won't do). To remove such a long standing and ubiquitous port and then make anyone who wants to use it pay £10-£20 to use it would be a mini PR disaster.

Even if the phone comes with an adaptor that's pretty much useless while you walk round with the phone in your jeans pocket. The lightning connector couldn't handle it. You sit down, it snaps. Yay, let's buy another dongle assuming the lightning port didn't break.

What comes to wireless EarPods - show me a bluetooth headset the size of them that has even semi-decent battery life. Then again, it would make sense you'd have to recharge your headset twice a day - that's what the iPhone requires these days with those microscopic batteries. But at least it's thin!
[doublepost=1469463105][/doublepost]

Of course you will be able to to plug in headphones and charge the phone at the same time, using a charging cable that has a pass-through lightning port or a 3.5 mm port for legacy headphones.

The best thing to do, I think, is leave the special charging cable at work (since that's where you always use it). So you don't have to carry this special cable with you back and forth. Getting a charging dock that performs the same function would also be worth considering.

You're soon talking about a dongle the size of the iPhone if you keep adding stuff to it.

Regardless of the size, it sucks. If you disagree, go buy the lightning-to-microusb dongle, plug it in, put your phone in your jeans pocket and sit down. Just. Sit. Down. Next!
[doublepost=1469463555][/doublepost]

this is the thing for phone wired headphones are so freaking annoying. Certainly in the gym it gets in the way as it does when you are walking. I get that it cost more but they are just frustrating to use at times.

I've got a set of bluetooth headphones for gym. There's so much noise there sound quality doesn't matter plus I need them to be sweat resistant so I got a pair. Works ok but the sound quality isn't anything worth mentioning plus the biggest drawback is the battery life. They survive one gym visit. After that I need to remember to recharge them or they will run out of juice in the middle of the next workout.

Would I want to suffer with something like that in my every day life? Hell no. I rather take a wired good quality headphone that allows me to enjoy the music, that never runs out of power no matter what I do so the only piece of junk I need to keep charging all the time is my iPhone.
[doublepost=1469464458][/doublepost]

The transition won't be an easy one. Lots of people likely have invested in expensive headphones, and naturally won't be happy to see them rendered useless. This is Apple's way of saying "Look, I want you to go bluetooth, but just in case you aren't ready to hop on, here's an adaptor so you can continue using your old headphones until you are ready to make the leap. I won't force you to commit now, but ideally, the sooner the better."

I guess it's the move that will result in the least backlash for Apple.

Plug anything in your lightning connector, put the phone in your jeans pocket and sit down. Then tell me a dongle is a good idea. Lightning connector simply can't handle it. It will snap. I've destroyed two cables accidentally by thinking they were magsafes and just slightly twisted them. *snap* I feel safe with the 3,5mm jack connected to my phone even when it's in my pocket. I'd never dream of plugging a lightning cable in there. If I was lucky I'd only break the dongle. With a little less luck I'd destroy the lightning port.

 

[maxsix]

Dongles? wtf.

Apple loves to make money any way it can. Knowing the masses will buy anything Apple sells, dongles will be a great source of additional profit.

Dongles are easily lost, therefore sales will be robust and highly profitable.

This thread alone reveals how many eager Apple devotees love dongles. Programmed to open their wallet on command, it's an easy sell.

 

[doelcm82]

You're soon talking about a dongle the size of the iPhone if you keep adding stuff to it.

Regardless of the size, it sucks. If you disagree, go buy the lightning-to-microusb dongle, plug it in, put your phone in your jeans pocket and sit down. Just. Sit. Down. Next!

I see your point. The people who need to charge their iPhone while it's in their pocketusing micro-usb are out of luck. All five of them.

And what more do you need to add to the dongle. The iPhone currently has two ports: one just for audio out (though a few accessories have tried to use it for other purposes), and one for everything else you want to do with a hardwired connection. Once the single-purpose audio port is gone, there's nothing more to do except get rid of the lightning port itself. I expect that to happen eventually, once true wireless charging takes hold.

Next.

 

[bigchief]

Without wireless charging who would want this? Not me.

 

[steve62388]

When will Apple realize that NOBODY, I repeat, NOBODY wants stupid, octopus-like dongles on ANY of their devices?! It's like Apple's trying to do the new MacBook thing again, except worse because the iPhone uses Lighting instead of USB-C (If they opted to use USB-C, I'd support them 100%). This is outright STUPID! Advancing forward in technology does NOT involve making products LESS functional!

It's completely illogical for you to complain about dongles but in the next breath say you would support USB-C 100%. Both would result in the same number of ports (which is looking like one right now), and both would require most users to buy new headphones or use an adaptor. USB-C would have exactly the same drawbacks that you're pinning on a Lightning port.

 

[macsba]

If Apple produces an adapter for the lightning port, I would like to see it in a "T" shaped item. In the center is the lightning jack then on each end, a mini-headphone jack and the other end another lightning port (for concurrent charging).

Just my peanut thought.