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With the use "believes", what you say has far more merit.

As for the dongle itself, they're easily breakable. Every added joint is a point of contention. But fofr what will probably be $20 for a replacement dongle, it's another hidden market.
Bingo

Right now, Apple has zero control and zero revenue / profit from the vast majority of headphone usage on the iPhone. either because of bundled headphones, or because people who want better quality will often go to 3rd party headphone makers, who make high quality parts. The 3.5 MM jack being a purely open standard, that has decades of devices sold for it, provides apple zero revenues.

Removing the headphone jack, an open standard, and switching to lightning as the only primary means for wired headsets is a revenue tool. even if they do include 1 free dongle, they're expecting people to lose or need to replace them. Its likely that it will retail for 29.99 (and will likely have to include a DAC, so go even more).

if users choose to buy lightning headsets, they also receive revenue from MFI program, or directly from beats sales. again, controlling the connector allows Apple to control revenue in avenues they couldn't control before. if a company wants to make lightning headphones they have to pay Apple for that.

At the end of the day, removing the headphone jack right now is user hostile. it will drive the price of ownership of using an iPhone 7 up as you will need to either buy adapter, pay for the passhtrough of costs for MFI, and require MFI producers from including DAC's or AMPs in their headphones (which add to the overall cost)
 
This would be a great phone, if it ships with these specs. Much better than what I expected for the "7".
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Without separation of channels, which there cannot be with tiny speakers so close, you do not have stereo regardless of signal. Spin it all you but it's still mono when it reaches your ears unless your ears are 4/5 of inch apart.
Really stupid.
Do you also think people with one ear can't detect stereo?
 
I hear you but you have to understand that you're not speaking for the majority. Most people use whatever comes with their phones or bluetooth. They will not be affected because they didn't spend a lot of money on wired headphones because they either don't use headphones with their phone at all (many more than you think) or they just don't care or notice audio fidelity difference (probably 75% of all iPhone users). Only Apple has these numbers but you can bet they won't make this move unless they are sure most customers won't be affected.

Regarding the bold - that's exactly my point. Consumers will use whatever comes in the box, so it's quite stupid to not include lightning headphones, and instead require the use of an adapter. In an ideal world Apple wouldn't get rid of the headphone jack, but, as they are, it makes a lot more sense for them to include lightning headphones, but the new rumour suggests they won't.
 
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Unless your head is 4/5 of an inch wide and you hold the phone to touch your nose it won't sound any different.
Not true if one speaker does highs and one does lows then the sound will be better. It's not trying to create stereo, just better sound.
 
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Sorry not going to argue the obvious anymore good luck
If this all so obvious, what is the obvious minimum distance required for two speakers to create a stereo sound? I can throw in one that appears to be unchallenged, the 9.7" iPad Pro in portrait orientation. The centre of two speakers seem to be about 80 mm (about 3 inch) apart. And last time I checked my head more than 80 mm wide (I don't know about yours), so the minimum distance implied in your original post, the width of a human head doesn't seem to be the so very obvious criterion.
 
Regarding the bold - that's exactly my point. Consumers will use whatever comes in the box, so it's quite stupid to not include lightning headphones, and instead require the use of an adapter. In an ideal world Apple wouldn't get rid of the headphone jack, but, as they are, it makes a lot more sense for them to include lightning headphones, but the new rumour suggests they won't.

Apple will do as little as they can get away with, and given their target audience, they'll probably succeed at it, and someone who owns 2 shares in Apple will declare Tim Cook as the greatest businessman alive because of it
 
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This design -- not only the ugly raised bevel - but more importantly the pointless failure to work with standard headphone / audio interfaces -- suggests this is going to phail. And when it phails, watch the calls for Tim Cook to depart. You can walk on someone else's coattails for only so long ... any decent tech company needs to be run by a techie.

He's running on the platform that their "Original intended iPhone design" materials weren't ready until the iPhone 8 and it will buy him another year.
 
It's not about the millisecond travel difference it's about the apparent volume difference. I.e. That the right speaker is louder to the right ear than the left speaker and vice versa. This is why headphones actually give better stereo separation than car speakers even though the latter is further apart.

If you hold the new iPhone design to your nose you *may* get some stereo separation, but you will certainly look ridiculous.
"The auditory system uses several cues for sound source localization, including time- and level-differences between both ears, spectral information, timing analysis, correlation analysis, and pattern matching."

And in case this wasn't clear, I am not saying that it is possible to create a stereo sound on iPhone (in portrait orientation). I am simply saying that I don't know and that those who claim it is not possible don't know for sure either and are just making an educated guess. But apparently admitting that one is making a, possibly highly, educated guess is something some people aren't able to do.
 
I'm not sure why people would be upset about a rumored second speaker. Also, I'm not exactly sure if anyone is upset about a rumored second speaker. To be fair, I haven't read every comment so there may be someone upset about it.

I am only upset about the second speaker because of what they are taking away to make room for it (the headphone jack). The benefit of the second speaker is tiny/nonexistent by comparison to the benefit of the headphone jack so it is not a worthy trade by any means. Stereo speakers that close together are virtually useless. They may give a slight noticeable effect, but even if you do notice it, it will be a minor change. Who really listens to music or watches movies on their phone such that they would care about stereo on that tiny speaker anyhow?!?
 
I know I'm probably pouring gas on the fire but 3.5mm jacks for headphones are essentially legacy (read - obsolete) technology for smartphones. Here is one article of several that is on-point. Food for thought: is 3.5mm audio plug the new floppy drive?

Camera and battery technology are older than 3.5mm. Shall those "legacy technologies" get ejected next?

An add-on camera seems very compatible with add-on headphone jack- much of the same rationale about better quality, etc would apply by just subbing in a different subject.

There's already add-on battery packs. Why not just kick the internal out and people can choose whatever battery size they want? Apparently, we don't care... we can always count on a fair number of our fellow Apple consumers rationalizing every change Apple wants to make.

Ejecting both of those would support "thinner" too (especially the battery).

And, of course, leave the price the same- as they are probably doing here- as that fattens the profit margin for Apple so every one (who counts) can win!:rolleyes:
 
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The time had come for the headphone jack removal, it is very old analog technology that has to be converted to a digital signal within the iPhone. It's time for all digital headphones to be the norm.

Reasons to remove jack:
1) Will improve waterproofing
2) Will allow the iPhone to be thinner
3) Will save space internally by not have a DAC.
4) More space for a larger battery
5) Wireless has become a much better experience than current wired Apple headphones

I would be socked if the iPhone 7 does not come with wireless headphones. If it comes with wired lightning headphones or a dongle then Apple had started to lose its way.
 
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iPhone still has to convert digital to analog within the phone for it to work as a phone. Human ears cannot convert digital. The phone will definitely ship with a (probably the same old) DAC & AMP onboard.

#1: water only wants to enter round holes... but not a larger rectangular hole just millimeters away? And not smaller round stereo speaker holes?

#2: does ANYONE outside of Apple HQ want "thinner"?

#3: There will still be a DAC. iPhone can't be a phone without a DAC. This just gets us to buy a redundant second DAC for headphone use.... and a second AMP... and probably an extra dongle or two... and perhaps entirely new headphones.

#4: Alternative would be to give up on #2 and create the space by making it modestly thicker. Would anyone (outside of HQ) complain if it was 1 or 2mm thicker and filled that space with much more battery? How about making it iPhone 5 flush with the thickness of the camera and fill the space with MUCH much more battery?

#5: If you are pointing towards Bluetooth, it still has lag, still sounds poorer than wired and is one more thing to try to keep charged.

And no need to set yourself up to be shocked. Ship with bluetooth wireless vs. ship with a lightning-related requirement: which one is the more profitable option for Apple?
 
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If your vision is a future without the headphone port, then shipping devices with a dongle that will only serve to keep people using the connection is not going to happen. Apple will sell you a dongle, but the price is the penalty they want you to pay for holding up the necessary progress they see.
 
This would be a great phone, if it ships with these specs. Much better than what I expected for the "7".
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Really stupid.
Do you also think people with one ear can't detect stereo?
What makes you think these specs, specifically the 3GB on the larger phone is true? Apple never ships more than what is barely necessary. The ram is the only reason I need to upgrade my 6+.
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If your vision is a future without the headphone port, then shipping devices with a dongle that will only serve to keep people using the connection is not going to happen. Apple will sell you a dongle, but the price is the penalty they want you to pay for holding up the necessary progress they see.
Or the iPhone falls by the wayside and other phone s stick with the traditional jack or use USB C.
 
Very!

It would be like an admission that the 3.5 mm jack is still a necessity for most but that they have removed it anyway. I will be amazed if this happens. They will ship it with lightening earpods I think
I hope the iPhone 7 ships with Lightning EarPods, or who know, AirPods!!
 
So all the talk and bashing on samsung camera bumps etc...with this release it will be known as beauty.

I still remember the voices from Apple "design first, ours will never be compromised" i think that term of apple is long gone, its about $ and get out what people want which is good camera's.
 
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So all the talk and bashing on samsung camera bumps etc...with this release it will be known as beauty.

I still remember the voices from Apple "design first, ours will never be compromised" i think that term of apple is long gone, its about $ and get out what people want which is good camera's.
Or they think this is good design . The end times are near.
 
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Camera and battery technology are older than 3.5mm. Shall those "legacy technologies" get ejected next?

An add-on camera seems very compatible with add-on headphone jack- much of the same rationale about better quality, etc would apply by just subbing in a different subject.

There's already add-on battery packs. Why not just kick the internal out and people can choose whatever battery size they want? Apparently, we don't care... we can always count on a fair number of our fellow Apple consumers rationalizing every change Apple wants to make.

Ejecting both of those would support "thinner" too (especially the battery).

And, of course, leave the price the same- as they are probably doing here- as that fattens the profit margin for Apple so every one (who counts) can win!:rolleyes:

Camera and battery technologies have improved dramatically since their inception. Digital cameras replacing chemically based emulsions and Lithium Ion batteries replacing of lead-acid or carbon-zinc based batteries as some examples. We're seeing the continued march of technology with cameras, batteries and connection strategies that we've seen throughout the history of those technologies. IMHO, replacing the 3.5mm jack/plug is a good thing and reasonable people can certainly disagree and make their purchasing decisions based on it but, given what I see as the industry direction, it seems that it's already on the way out like DIN connectors, ISA cards, floppy disks, Plasma TVs, analog broadcast TV... coal oil lamps and buggy whips.
 
Don't care about your futuristic plans Apple - leave the analog port alone.

Gorilla glass 5, bigger battery, sturdier phone, less bezel all around are bigger priorities! I do not plan to snorkel or scuba dive with the iPhone!
 
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