Ugh, there's something really upsetting about this to me. There are so many kinds of awesome headphones. And the number of awesome headphones with lightning will always be a smaller number.
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iPhone 7 May Feature Thinner, Waterproof Body With No Headphone Jack and Wireless Charging
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I'd say the only people asking for this are Jony Ive and his cronies. In the real world absolutely no one is wishing for a phone thinner than the 6S
HobeSoundDarryl
macrumors G5
I don't think there's lucrative licensing revenue if Apple pushes the Bluetooth option. I don't think they own Bluetooth patents (or many of them) so that it would yield as much as pushing Lightning connection and Lightning adapters.
But I'll hope right with you (even if Bluetooth tends to trade audio quality for wireless)... mostly because if Apple is going to dump a ubiquitous standard, I'd rather it be for another standard that is not solely controlled by just a single company.
I would be extremely disappointed if the new phone did not have the headphone jack. I use it every day and have multiple pairs of headphones for different uses. Sure I have Bluetooth headphones, but the audio quality suffers. Plus any RCA, aux cord, and 3.5 mm to 1/4" cord would require an adapter to be used, and it couldn't charge at the same time.
I think it would be more along the lines of all adapters sold separately... It is Apple after all and all they do is chase the profits...
HobeSoundDarryl
macrumors G5
Yes. But since Apple probably won't let them install Lightning connectors at a part unit price/license equivalent to 3.5mm, hopefully they'll all embrace their own proprietary jacks too. Then we can rely on carrying multiple adapters so that we can easily listen to that song that our (non Apple) friends say we "must hear" or jack in with the (non-Apple) person in the next seat to watch a movie together on the long flight, etc.
Except that Beats are junk and people who actually like good headphones would never consider those.
I don't get the love of wireless charging. Unless you can do so while the phone is upright in a cradle, what's the point? I hope you can still use a lightning cable to charge.
With regard to the headphone jack, I think it's a bad move. Too many of us have wonderful NON-bluetooth headphones that are high-end. I guess there will be an adaptor, but really?
With regard to the headphone jack, I think it's a bad move. Too many of us have wonderful NON-bluetooth headphones that are high-end. I guess there will be an adaptor, but really?
Ive's should be way more obsessed with making himself thinner than the iPhone. Honestly, he could easily lose several pounds.
Yeah, this new phone sounds like a complete fail outside of the usual better A10 chip. It had better have the ability to charge via Lightning cable and I hope the headphone jack thing is wrong because there is no need for that.
This helps push the technology forward. It forces technology to become smaller and more efficient in the process. It may take a while but it will help innovation inside the phone.
Personally, I want a thinner iPhone plus series. I think it's too thick at the moment. I'd also like the top and bottom of the phone to disappear. Combining the ports is a great idea. Apple has always pushed innovation like this and hasn't been afraid to change the conventional thinking on such things.
Huh?
I want to walk in from work, lay my phone down on a charging mat and pick it up when I need.
I don't want to fiddle with wires and plugs, let me (and any iphone in my house) just lay it on the mat.
Who wouldn't want that?
I remember having the HP Touchpad for a short time, that inductive charging was a dream.
No thinking needed, just put it on and it starts charging.
You clearly do not understand Apple nor their history.
Apple has always moved the industry with respect to change and getting rid of old interfaces/features for much better options. Getting rid of the 100 year old analog headphone jack sounds good to me.
5 1/2" floppy disks, floppy disks in general, SCSI interfaces, corded mice/keyboards, CD drives, DVi, ADB, etc are just a few examples.
There are plenty of other smartphone choices if you want to stay with old and traditional technology. Unhappy? Be brave, make the switch to another phone.
This is very, very true. I seriously doubt Apple would make such a stupid mistake as removing the jack, but if they do, mark my words: it will go down as one of the biggest tech blunders in history...
Oh, and IF they do do it, they would CERTAINLY include/sell some sort of adapter. Those who think otherwise...
Placing it in a charing cradle (lighting) is just as easy, the phone can be read because it is upright, and there's zero chance that someone could knock it off with a light bump. I have a cradle in my office so that the phone charges all day, and I can read the display by only shifting my gaze. Having it face up on a mat does not make it viewable.
As for wires, the charging mat has one....it needs a power source.
wireless charging seems like a pipe dream right now.
It would be unlikely that Apple would release a product with wireless charging unless it has been perfected.
But I could definitely see loosing the headphone jack.
This isn't that. This isn't "getting rid of old interfaces/features for much better options". This is arbitrarily changing a decades-old standard with which there is nothing wrong - Floppies, SCSI, CD, ADB, etc. were tech that was outmoded by new, generally accepted options. The Lightning connector is proprietary. This is Sony's game, NOT Apple's...
No they won't. This is about moving people to wireless, not moving them to Lightning. Regardless, they are not going to encourage people to continue using their 3.5mm audio devices. If people have to buy an adapter, they will be more open to considering just replacing those old headphones with bluetooth, or if they are dead set against that, a Lightning equipped one.
Will this alienate people? Well if this rumor is true, I'm going to side with Apple having enough marketing data to show that a majority of their customers are already moving toward bluetooth, and/or they use Apple's free earbuds almost exclusively. So Apple will give customers a free set of Lightning earbuds. Adapters will be reasonably priced for the remains customers who have a sizable investment in legacy headphones. So the blowback will likely be minimal.
Remember when they removed the keyboard backlight on the Macbook Air for a year? People expressed their dislike for it since other comparable laptops including those in Apple's lineup had backlit keyboards. Thus, the following year the Air's backlight came back in the next iteration. I strongly believe if Apple get's rid of the 3.5 mm jack sales will plummet. Then it will return on the following model. People have invest just way too much into that particular universal technology. Bluetooth headsets, on average, still don't provide the convenience, security, and quality where they can be the only game in town.
Makes no difference if a water proof/resistant version is introduced. Easy.
Can't wait for the old analog headphone jack to be gone.
Wireless audio is definitely the future, but right now Bluetooth headphones are horrible, at least for me. I've tried three different Bluetooth headphones, and they all seem to cut out, even with the iPhone in my pocket. For some reason, Bluetooth speakers seem to work well, so maybe it's just the headphones I've tried, but they've all been good brands.
Yes you will be FORCED to sell your car to listen music.
Remember the olden days where no one was forced to sell their cars?
If it wasn't for the implied violence I would keep my old car so I could continue to plug my headphones into it.