iPhone 7 May Feature Thinner, Waterproof Body With No Headphone Jack and Wireless Charging

[WildGravity]

"in an effort to make the device even thinner than the iPhone 6s"

The question is who is asking for this? Thinner phone means thinner battery and about the same battery life we've been getting lately.

...or more room for other stuff. Plus, they often gamble on things no one is asking for, and it often works out well in the long run. Personally, I would love to see advancements in Bluetooth headphones, airplay speakers, etc. I suspect many companies won't take those advancements as seriously as they could until the headphone jack is removed.

 

[ParanoidDroid]

I currently use Bose's QC 20 in-ear headphones when commuting. If Apple can provide "native" noise canceling via Lightning port, then I'm all the way for dumping the 3.5mm headphone jack and will leave my beloved and expensive Bose headphones at home.

However, I really want the lighting plug to be shorter, because I would totally hate it if the plug would stick out too much of my phone in my pockets. It has to be sort of flexible (elastic) and shall not damage the phone if pressure stress is applied from the side (shear stress) while wearing the phone in e.g. a skinny jeans pocket.

 

[rp2011]

Still a dealbreaker.
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Except that this is a case where a better solution doesn't exist. Hence the controversy.

Nothing can beat a 3.5 jack! Nothing ever!!
Hence the manufactured faux controversy.

 

[SSDGUY]

I honestly don't think the market is ready for devices without 3.5 mm jacks. If Apple goes this route, I fear people will jump ship.

It will be a big hassle for most of my uses. I use higher end in-ear monitor ear buds and I use my iPhone to run audio into various components for live sound. The 3.5mm mini jack is an industry standard. Always needing a Lightning-to-mini jack adapter is a big bummer.

 

[Boomish69]

Well for me if thats true it's stupid, I really don't care how thin the phone gets anymore, how is that supposed to wow people still!! And as for no headphone jack well we had to use one today in a rush situation to play a track to some musicians, crazy idea..thats not gaining anything.

 

[WildGravity]

I would take same thickness as current, but with a little more battery volume and waterproof all day long.

In another thread, the audiophiles were griping about losing the jack. If I want to go for pure audiophile sound, I am going to do it in my quiet house with true audiophile gear.

Obviously, all "true audiophiles" are hooking their iPhone up to their $30k McIntosh amp.

 

[JM]

Nothing to do with that. The original iphone was innovative. First of its kind. What new features can they add already? 3d touch? come on. The only thing they can come up with is making the phone thinner and thinner. It is sad and pathetic.

Don't forget improving software.... Oh wait.

 

[rp2011]

Obviously, all "true audiophiles" are hooking their iPhone up to their $30k McIntosh amp.

But of course! What better way to listen to high end audio than through a cell phone!

 

[AppleScruff1]

And in a few years when Apple ditches the Lightning connector people can buy all new peripherals. Again. But hey, it will make Apple a boatload of profit, and that's all us consumers care about.

 

[JM]

You just know people are going to buy this thing and discover it doesn't have a headphone jack and throw a fit. Apple should really address this rumor now. I'm waiting to buy an iPhone 7, but if I knew definitively that I needed an adapter to use my headphones and my aux in to my cars, I'd just go buy an iPhone 6S right now. Might bump up 6S sales!

Until it's on Engagdet, the public will not hear of this rumor.

 

[Luis Mazza]

I admire Apple for not playing it safe and having the balls to try something like this.
They must be the only company left that challenges the status quo in technology and takes risks.
Dropping the audio jack is bold and daring. That's the Apple I like to see.
Playing it safe takes you no where new.

You get it wrong. Actually Apple is the company that most plays it safe all the time. They only "risk" if they know people will buy it because they're locked... Google and Samsung are the ones that risk most. Apple does push the industry forward, but in this case, to their own benefit, because lightning is for Apple devices only.

 

[MacRazySwe]

Love the idea of a thinner, waterproof iPhone. Not sure on removing the headphone-jack. I have a pair of Bose AE2w Bluetooth headphones. Great headphones, but it's also yet another thing to keep charged. Together with iPhones, iPads, MacBooks, Apple Watches (for those who own one) et.c. Not only that, but over Bluetooth there can be short delays at time. I actually tend to use mine plugged in quite a bit.

Bluetooth headphones are great, sometimes, but there are great advantages to having the option of just plugging them in to the 3.5mm jack when preferred.

Oh, and we all know what the licensing-fees for Lightning-headphones would imply for us end-consumers.

 

[Saturn1217]

This makes me so sad. I don't really care what they do to the iPhone 7 but I am praying that they don't do this to any other apple products. I used both my iPad and my Mac for music at my wedding (super cheapo I know) and I can only imagine the disaster if on my special day I'd needed to remember a tiny adapter on top of everything else so I could play music through the venue's sound system. Being able to easily get audio out of my device without worrying about Bluetooth compatibility or adaptors etc is something I should be able to count on period. Please don't mess this up Apple!

 

[JM]

Razor-thin-phone with no battery life/3.5 mm jack? No worries, Tim's gotcha covered. Pop on an i-hump with a $49.99 iJack and you're good to go.

What a dirty old man that Tim is naming the products like that.

 

[mbh1976]

We don't need a thinner iPhone!!

 

[FrankieTDouglas]

I never use headphones for listening to music, but I do use the headphones for phone conversations all of the time. But my most typical scenario is charging my phone while driving and listening to music through my car at the same time. Phone is plugged in charging (GPS eats away at the battery that can barely manage a day as it is), and the aux cord is plugged in for music. My car is five years old, doesn't have Bluetooth.

So.... would I still be able to charge my phone and listen to music in the car at the same time? If I'm at a party and want to plug into the speaker system to provide music, will I have to carry around a 3.5 to Lighting converter everywhere I go?

Do I have to upgrade my car in order to continue using my phone?

Must the new phone be even thinner and, if the current model is any indication, even more slippery? I haven't used a case on any iPhone since my first one in 2009. The 6+ is the first one I've ever dropped because it is hard to keep a firm grip on due to the slick sides. Will I have to use a case on the new phone just to be able to casually use it?

Why must I even have to ask these questions?

 

[techwhiz]

Non technical analysts.
If you don't have a headphone jack and you are using the lightning connector then you don't need audio DACs connected to the lighting connector. What you need is something like the Z:ero headphones that are USB and have the DAC in the cable.

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

This makes me so sad. I don't really care what they do to the iPhone 7 but I am praying that they don't do this to any other apple products. I used both my iPad and my Mac for music at my wedding (super cheapo I know) and I can only imagine the disaster if on my special day I'd needed to remember a tiny adapter on top of everything else so I could play music through the venue's sound system. Being able to easily get audio out of my device without worrying about Bluetooth compatibility or adaptors etc is something I should be able to count on period. Please don't mess this up Apple!

Sure, but think how much better your wedding could have been if that iPad and iPhone could have been just a mm or two thinner and maybe a few grams lighter. That's what important. Again, Apple needs to just go all the way and kick the battery out of iDevices- it's much of the weight & thickness that remains. Get that thing out of there and go really thin and really light... because we all feel our iPhones are way too thick and heavy now.

I mean, doesn't every thread fill with whiners griping about how their iPhones are too thick and too heavy? I'm glad Apple is striving to solve the dominant problems we all have... even if kicking out thoroughly ubiquitous utility in the 3.5mm jack is THE way to shave that mm and those grams. We should all be happy to pay up for an adapter(s) and carry them around everywhere so we can trim a mm or so and a few more grams of burdensome weight.

 

[nt5672]

I honestly don't think the market is ready for devices without 3.5 mm jacks. If Apple goes this route, I fear people will jump ship.

Its not about people it is about controlling what connects to the phone. The new connector has to be licensed, meaning that only certain companies will get to make iPhone headphones.

Apple survived the Microsoft years by being able to connect and work with others, now with some success they want to force their users to only use their ecosystem. This was what was so hated about MS back in the day, but Apple seems to be following in the same footsteps, only decades later. Too bad.

 

[martygras9]

Has anyone mentioned that perhaps Apple will be boxing all phones with a new pair of Bluetooth earbuds? They did recently file for the name Airpods:

https://www.macrumors.com/2015/10/01/airpods-trademark/

The current headphones with the cord snipped off would be pretty slick.

 

[mejsric]

I honestly don't think the market is ready for devices without 3.5 mm jacks. If Apple goes this route, I fear people will jump ship.

You know that every Andriod manufacturers will just copy Apple.

 

[HarryWarden]

This can only mean...one...thing.....LIQUIDMETAL!!!!!

It'll be like the T-1000 from Terminator 2,only in phone form!

 

[Mac 128]

And in a few years when Apple ditches the Lightning connector people can buy all new peripherals. Again. But hey, it will make Apple a boatload of profit, and that's all us consumers care about.

As much as everyone wants to make this about moving to Lightning as the new standard, it isn't.

The new standard is wireless audio. When Apple changes the Lightning connector, or removes it entirely some day, with any luck, by that time, everyone will be moved onto Bluetooth or its successor. This is the future of audio, not being tethered to equipment for the rest of eternity.

In order for Bluetooth audio to make advances, the cheap, ubiquitous 3.5mm adapter needs to go away. Otherwise, people are going to cling to the cheapest, easiest, best sounding alternative available. And once it goes away if they still want to cling to it, there will be adapters. But it will create opportunities for the developer to fill the new demand fro wireless which is almost going to be a guarantee over investing in a proprietary standard, and to a lesser extent using adapters. As a result, the technology will improve, and prices will come down, until eventually there's no question what kind of headphones a consumer wants. All things being equal, people are going to want the ability to move unencumbered with their headphones, not remain tethered to them by a wire.

 

[JM]

I never use headphones for listening to music, but I do use the headphones for phone conversations all of the time. But my most typical scenario is charging my phone while driving and listening to music through my car at the same time. Phone is plugged in charging (GPS eats away at the battery that can barely manage a day as it is), and the aux cord is plugged in for music. My car is five years old, doesn't have Bluetooth.

So.... would I still be able to charge my phone and listen to music in the car at the same time? If I'm at a party and want to plug into the speaker system to provide music, will I have to carry around a 3.5 to Lighting converter everywhere I go?

Do I have to upgrade my car in order to continue using my phone?

Must the new phone be even thinner and, if the current model is any indication, even more slippery? I haven't used a case on any iPhone since my first one in 2009. The 6+ is the first one I've ever dropped because it is hard to keep a firm grip on due to the slick sides. Will I have to use a case on the new phone just to be able to casually use it?

Why must I even have to ask these questions?

I bet you anything your driving woes will be solved with the iCar

 

[Benjamin Frost]

Apple killed the CD, point and shoot cameras, Flash, Netbooks, etc. Next up, the 3.5mm headphone jack.

Not for me.

I prefer CDs to the iTunes Store. Better quality, cheaper and can be ripped into iTunes, streamed via iTunes Match and sold on second hand. You also get the liner notes.

My ten year old point and shoot Canon is still miles better quality than my iPhone, and has optical zoom.

I hate bluetooth; it drains the battery, is flaky and doesn't support the European volume limit that prevents damage to hearing.

As to wireless charging: this might be good if you can use your iPhone whilst charging, but I doubt it will be as powerful as with a cable. If it's just when placed on a mat, then it's pointless and worse than a cable.