iPhone 7 May Ship With Lightning-Connected EarPods, New Wireless Earphones Also Under Development

[Roadstar]

I really don't understand why anyone would need a water proof phone. Are people trying to swim with it? All you need is water resistance, and pretty much all phones are water resistant. So Apple is adding a useless feature by removing a useful audio jack? Makes sense.

At least I'd like my phone to be waterproof just to get a peace of mind when using it in a bad weather. With a waterproof phone you wouldn't have to think how far the water resistance takes you and if it's raining too much already. But as other manufacturers have shown, it's perfectly possible to waterproof the audio jack too, so if Apple removes it and claims waterproofing as the reason it'll be easy to call their BS.

 

[Rigby]

92000/24 with AptX is more than enough for me. Still better than CD'S 44100/16. And better resolution than the current DAC in iPhone.

If you have the golden ears to hear a difference between 96 KHz/24-bit and CD audio (on a phone no less), you should be pushing for the headphone jack to stay, since it can transport the audio without losses (which AptX can't).

And AptX is able to push it with the bandwidth. The latency would just be higher.

Actually no, it cannot "push it" beyond the maximum bandwidth provided by the Bluetooth air interface (and you are unlikely to get even that in practice due to interference in the 2.4GHz band).

 

[Roller]

Or the iPhone 7 will continue with the trend of lower iPhone sales. Most audiophiles will shy away from a device with no 3.5mm connector. I would actually go for a totally wireless iPhone with no connectors. That would be progressive. I would adapt. Offering only lightning feels like Apple is trying to squeeze more money out of their users and third party manufacturers. The iPhone is a driving force in the market, but Cook should be careful. After all, Android is in more phones being sold around the world. Disaster can strike at any company, just like what happened with BlackBerry when the iPhone came out.

You may be right about audiophiles, but I wonder what percentage of iPhone's user/purchaser base falls into that category. I think that the majority are accustomed to listening to compressed, low dynamic range music played through limited transducers, and they're generally OK with it. And they tend to favor convenience over quality.

 

[lordofthereef]

Too bad you didn't buy a set of wireless headphones that come with an optional analogue port for that possibility. But let's hope you remembered to charge your iPhone or none of that will matter.

As for having to worry about making sure yet another device is charged, it's a good thing you can just plug in your lightning headphones, or your 3.5mm headphones into an adaptor and not have to worry about anything but cable management.

Charging an iPhone is something most people do every night. Not so with a pair of earbuds, particularly when many MANY people just toss a pair of buds into their gym back and call it a day (you would be hard pressed to find people using their gym headphones equipment on a daily basis for other activities, though I am sure those people exist). I haven't really even mentioned the fact that most of these things have really poor battery life by cirtue of being so darn small.

As far as adapters, if they're good, that's perfectly fine. Unfortunately my experience with Apple's lightning cables hasn't been a good one. If it gets beat in the car, it will get beat even worse in the gym. Meanwhile my gym buds have gone through the wash twice and the dryer once and they still work as good as new (my siri button sucks now though) and they are 4-5 years old. They're net even top of the line buds (yurbuds, if you are curious), yet Apple's first party lightning cables last me a year, at best. Frankly, their lightning cable doesn't have the best track record with me. I am sure you can find a video similar to what you posted about how terrible cords are that shows how terrible and easily breakable the lughning cable (and, to be fair, the 30 pin cable before it) are.

I still don't see where the argument for why we need to get rid of the 3.5mm jack comes into play, aside from "it's jsut old and I really don't like old things", which is the argument most people here (not necessarily you) seem to be making. How is its existance negatively effecting your life? I appreciate the snarky response, regardless. I am looking forward to the next one.

 

[Aston441]

Fair enough for you. Apple's stock is already plummeting. Not due to any actual bad news, but a concern that they cannot maintain the roll of the iPhone, which is their one egg in the basket. I'd suggest the masses would not be happy with no audio port if they use headphones, and are required to pay stupid prices for an adapter.

Maybe the masses would be happy with Bluetooth earphones included in the iPhone box.

 

[nordique]

I'm not that drastic, but its a pity they remove features continually. Endgate will become a reality instead of an artificial news frenzy. I did my first "not upgrading this year" and kept my under performing 6 Plus. I may well keep that when 7 comes out.

I don't disagree with you, as my own uses require the 3.5mm head jack right now (plus including an adaptor in the box would essentially go against the design philosophy accomplished by getting rid of the jack in the first place so it is very unlikely) but we should wait an see what Apple does first.

My own thoughts are this is a bold new move for Apple and they seem to really be pushing wireless. The problem is, wireless is not the standard right now. It may be in several years, who knows, but right now it is an issue for the general population.

I also have problems with adaptors since I try to stay way from them and do not wish to carry them around all day.

For yourself though, it may be best to consider an iPhone 6S Plus down the road, as the performance jumps from "S" generation models to the next redesigns are not big, and by the time the 7 plus comes out the 6S plus will be even cheaper. Then you could have the best performance while still having the 3.5mm jack, and wait out to see how the market responds to the new wireless push. In a few years it may end up becoming a new standard and will be easier to make the move to.

I am taking the perspective of "this is a first gen device" with respect to the wireless push. It may pay off to wait a while. I think a lot of the frustration comes from people who were hoping to upgrade this year but now are faced with this sudden unexpected removal of the port, which in turn is upsetting the habits we have.

This is the case for myself, as I neither want an adaptor nor can justify efficiency with a phone without a 3.5mm jack right now. But I do realize that in the future, I may feel differently and I have taken the stance of this new iPhone as a "first gen" device with respect to removing this jack and pushing for wireless.

Just my 2 cents, it may help you this year as well. No need to purchase a brand new phone either especially if your current one is working fine. I know people with the 6+ had performance issues, but the 6S+ is like a whole new phone performance wise as long as you can stomach the design being the same.

It may help tide yourself (and perhaps others) over until this new wireless push is either rejected by the market or accepted by the market.
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Like adopting and making the usb-c, Apple forced manufactures to come with really nice things..and almost just 1 year have passed. So with iphone 7 removing and keeping the iphone 6s and maybe iphone 6c on the market for those who still need the jack is the way to go and force bose or beats or heavy headphones manufactures to make a really solid products adopting bluetooth 4.1, and in 2 years nobody will miss the 3.5 jack

The only problem is 3.5mm is such a major standard. Like this is a significant standard that many people aren't appreciating how different it is than moving on from an optical drive (which is still used to this day by many people, even though the premium apple products no longer use them).

That is the issue at its heart. This is a very bold move by Apple, and I do welcome it...it is not something I agree with yet but I welcome the fact they are challenging and pushing for wireless more and more because I can appreciate the lack of wires being useful one day.
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At least I'd like my phone to be waterproof just to get a piece of mind when using it in a bad weather. With a waterproof phone you wouldn't have to think how far the water resistance takes you and if it's raining too much already. But as other manufacturers have shown, it's perfectly possible to waterproof the audio jack too, so if Apple removes it and claims waterproofing as the reason it'll be easy to call their BS.

Good point.

That said, the 6s is already water resistant enough to survive being fully submerged for extended periods of time. In Canada, I have done everything from drop my phone in deep snow and used them in the thick of rain (and this was pre-6s, I am talking iPhone 4, iPhone 5) and they survived and worked fine (without any hint of water damage on the indicators), and also the benefit of Apple Care Plus is for the very worst of the worst of these kinds of accidents (though I appreciate that not everyone wishes to have it)

But the 6s is significantly more water proof than any iPhone before it. Apple doesn't advertise it because its not intended to be taken underwater and use it for taking photos or anything that intensive but its an incredible engineering achievement that they do not advertise or hint at in the slightest but it exists.

Being officially waterproof has even more benefits. But I agree with what you're saying, re: calling them out.

 

[lordofthereef]

Maybe the masses would be happy with Bluetooth earphones included in the iPhone box.

I honestly think the masses would be happy with just about anything. Apple has enough intertia that they could probably stop including earbuds at all and not enough people would mind to all of the sudden knock iPhone from the top of sales charts.

The argument is probably similar to the 16GB entry level size. Is it really enough fopr the majority of people who choose that size or is it a matter of "I will deal with it because it's $100 cheaper than the next size up.

 

[nordique]

Charging an iPhone is something most people do every night. Not so with a pair of earbuds, particularly when many MANY people just toss a pair of buds into their gym back and call it a day (you would be hard pressed to find people using their gym headphones equipment on a daily basis for other activities, though I am sure those people exist). I haven't really even mentioned the fact that most of these things have really poor battery life by cirtue of being so darn small.

As far as adapters, if they're good, that's perfectly fine. Unfortunately my experience with Apple's lightning cables hasn't been a good one. If it gets beat in the car, it will get beat even worse in the gym. Meanwhile my gym buds have gone through the wash twice and the dryer once and they still work as good as new (my siri button sucks now though) and they are 4-5 years old. They're net even top of the line buds (yurbuds, if you are curious), yet Apple's first party lightning cables last me a year, at best. Frankly, their lightning cable doesn't have the best track record with me. I am sure you can find a video similar to what you posted about how terrible cords are that shows how terrible and easily breakable the lughning cable (and, to be fair, the 30 pin cable before it) are.

I still don't see where the argument for why we need to get rid of the 3.5mm jack comes into play, aside from "it's jsut old and I really don't like old things", which is the argument most people here (not necessarily you) seem to be making. How is its existance negatively effecting your life? I appreciate the snarky response, regardless. I am looking forward to the next one.

Very solid points here. A well thought out and great post.

I think the main reasoning behind getting rid of the jack is to push wireless - both charging and with headsets. It will be a bold move on their part but very divisive. It is not something I agree with for my own uses (as the 3.5 jack is important to me right now) but it may help push a wireless standard which one day could be beneficial

I agree with you on adapters, they are not only cumbersome but an extra, needless cost. However this is an attractive move for those who don't require adaptors - people who are already wireless.

Myself, I choose to frame this as a "first gen Apple product" in the sense that this is the first time they are doing this. And it has been my experience to steer clear of first gen Apple products, as they usually improve on the flaws drastically or in key ways in the subsequent generation or two.

I do think they need to make a bold move like this to push the market forward, but I also think it is a bit ahead of its time by a few years, as wireless simply isn't there yet. They clearly want to make this the new standard but the opposition is that the 3.5mm jack is a massive, cheap standard. It is more ubiquitous than the optical drive ever was.

 

[MacAddict1978]

So... are they going to add a Lighting port to the Mac line? Do they expect people to invest in Lightning headphones that they can't even use with their other products?

There couldn't have been a greater time to make a universal switch to USB-C

Why would apple even keep the lightning port? Ditch it for USB-C. Oh wait, they can't make money on non-proprietary connectors....

Beings the mac lines are starting to adopt usb c, and ever device in the world, would make more sense. But alas.... all those dongles will be amazing.

 

[fisha]

Audio clarity is a joke... All the music on the iPhone and iTunes is compressed.

It has been argued that the 256kbps aac codec used by Apple is very very good quality... But....

I can't help think that by getting rid of the jack, Apple are also getting rid of the responsibility of high quality sound reproduction as the DAC conversion would be done by the head phones rather than in the phone. As a result, any complaints of audio quality would be passed over by Apple saying "we are sending the full data to the head phones, is the head phones fault "

To me its a deal breaker. I don't consider a dongle as a suitable solution everytime I want to listen. I would lose it and be frustrated at having to find out each time.

 

[Deuce on the Clock]

Thats unfortunate

 

[Roadstar]

That said, the 6s is already water resistant enough to survive being fully submerged for extended periods of time. In Canada, I have done everything from drop my phone in deep snow and used them in the thick of rain (and this was pre-6s, I am talking iPhone 4, iPhone 5) and they survived and worked fine (without any hint of water damage on the indicators), and also the benefit of Apple Care Plus is for the very worst of the worst of these kinds of accidents (though I appreciate that not everyone wishes to have it)

And many more (like me, if I still had an iPhone) would get the Apple Care Plus if it just were available where we live. When the phone costs as much as a MacBook Air, some additional insurance would be nice.

 

[Michael Scrip]

I don't consider a dongle as a suitable solution everytime I want to listen. I would lose it and be frustrated at having to find out each time.

Couldn't you just leave the dongle connected to your headphone?

Or... how many pairs of headphones do you have? And how many different devices do you connect them to?

 

[mdlooker]

Resolve what?

There's no solution to having headphones for use of long flights. Bluetooth sets will go out in 2-3hrs most likely.

 

[glowdragon]

I'm tired of Apple getting rid of the things I know and love. First it was then command line interface...

What on earth are you talking about? There has been a terminal application in every version of OS X. And given the robustness of the UNIX core they would never shaft over UNIX-savvy users and admins by taking that away.

 

[ramzijw]

Totally and completely depends on the headphones in question.

There are some wired headphones that exist that sound better than some Bluetooth headphones, and there are some Bluetooth headphones that exist that sound better than some wired headphones.

In most cases it's the actual headphones that are the limiting factor in quality, not the method of delivery.

Well when you buy cheap headphones.....yes this will be the case. When you buy something other than Dre Beats you may hear some difference

 

[lordofthereef]

Couldn't you just leave the dongle connected to your headphone?

Or... how many pairs of headphones do you have? And how many different devices do you connect them to?

I will answer this from my perspective (I realize you weren't asking me directly).

I am more concerned with the quality of said dongle, and Apple's cables have set a bad precedent for me. They just don't stand up to my normal wear and tear (plenty of evidence on forums and elsewhere of this being an issue for people). Of course, we will likely eventually get a dongle from another manufacturer. Took a while to get MFI certified stuff for the lightning connector. In that time I would easily go through a cable or two, assuming they have similar production standards to their other cables.

 

[Michael Scrip]

I will answer this from my perspective (I realize you weren't asking me directly).

I am more concerned with the quality of said dongle, and Apple's cables have set a bad precedent for me. They just don't stand up to my normal wear and tear (plenty of evidence on forums and elsewhere of this being an issue for people). Of course, we will likely eventually get a dongle from another manufacturer. Took a while to get MFI certified stuff for the lightning connector. In that time I would easily go through a cable or two, assuming they have similar production standards to their other cables.

I was just thinking about a 3 foot cable with a 3" dongle kept on it. I don't think that would be much of a problem.

But if you had multiple set of headphones or you wanted to plug into multiple devices... then you'd have to take the dongle on and off.

 

[lordofthereef]

There's no solution to having headphones for use of long flights. Bluetooth sets will go out in 2-3hrs most likely.

Buds last around the 2-6 hour range, phones a little longer. Still a valid point though. We will possibly be carrying battery backups and plugging those into our headphones while using them or something silly.

For a long flight I would think plugging directly into the lightning port would be the only viable option.

 

[Mac 128]

There's no solution to having headphones for use of long flights. Bluetooth sets will go out in 2-3hrs most likely.

Of course there is. One is to buy a set of Bluetooth headphones with an optional wired connection. I would t be surprised if future BT headphones couldn't charge from the iPhone at the same time, and plug the iPhone into your seat power with a pass through adapter.

Two is to get a pair of travel BT headphones that are rated for a much longer battery life (some are rated for 20 hours).

Three is to use the BT earphones you have and plug an external battery charger into them as you use them, or directly into seat power. The battery backup is already an essential piece of equipment to carry on a long trip even with only an iPhone.

I used my BT headphones on a 6 hour flight, and still had power left at the end. For longer flight, there's the above until battery life improves.

 

[lordofthereef]

I was just thinking about a 3 foot cable with a 3" dongle kept on it. I don't think that would be much of a problem.

But if you had multiple set of headphones or you wanted to plug into multiple devices... then you'd have to take the dongle on and off.

This wouldn't be a dealbreaker for me, though obviously more inconvenient than not having to use one. Again, I am just worried about the damn thing falling apart. My lightning cables (particularly in tha car) last me about a year. Pulling this thing in and out of my pocket, bags, backpacks, etc., it would need to have some reinforced components (compared to what Apple already makes) for this to be a good long erm option.

 

[Neodym]

So... are they going to add a Lighting port to the Mac line? Do they expect people to invest in Lightning headphones that they can't even use with their other products?

There couldn't have been a greater time to make a universal switch to USB-C

Well, who says they're not planning this? After all, early rumors from "the supply chain" usually come from case prototypes and tools.

The openings for Lightning and USB-C are very similar in size. Now if a housing prototype is suddenly missing the opening for the headphone jack, people can clearly say that the headphone jack is gone. But most would probably at the same time assume that the iPhones stick to the Lightning connector instead of considering a possible move to USB-C. The difference is difficult to tell without the port inlay or electronics.

 

[nordique]

And many more (like me, if I still had an iPhone) would get the Apple Care Plus if it just were available where we live. When the phone costs as much as a MacBook Air, some additional insurance would be nice.

Ah yes, that I can understand. For myself, Apple Care is part of why I stick with iPhones and Apple products - my luck is such that I usually experience issues. In Canada, the iPhones are similarly priced to the Laptops as well so I can understand why that would be important.

The flip side is that its difficult to justify that cost without the protection, which I also can attest to haha. If Apple Care were not available to me, I don't think I would be using an iPhone right now either.

To extend that to this thread topic, I wonder what effect the premium price of the iPhone this fall will have on individuals with the removal of such a port? Those who are already wireless will have no problem adjusting but those who are still dependent on the 3.5mm jack for whatever reason (perhaps you just purchased some brand new expensive headphones that require it or you travel frequently and your noise cancelling headphones are dependent on it) may have a different outlook on when the time comes.

 

[mdlooker]

Buds last around the 2-6 hour range, phones a little longer. Still a valid point though. We will possibly be carrying battery backups and plugging those into our headphones while using them or something silly.

For a long flight I would think plugging directly into the lightning port would be the only viable option.

Of course there is. One is to buy a set of Bluetooth headphones with an optional wired connection. I would t be surprised if future BT headphones couldn't charge from the iPhone at the same time, and plug the iPhone into your seat power with a pass through adapter.

Two is to get a pair of travel BT headphones that are rated for a much longer battery life (some are rated for 20 hours).

Three is to use the BT earphones you have and plug an external battery charger into them as you use them, or directly into seat power. The battery backup is already an essential piece of equipment to carry on a long trip even with only an iPhone.

I used my BT headphones on a 6 hour flight, and still had power left at the end. For longer flight, there's the above until battery life improves.

I routinely fly from Seattle to Japan or Hawaii to Japan which each are typically 10+hrs. I use the Bose QC3's which give me 25hr battery life. I keep 2 batteries for that travel.

I was reading that the lightning adaptor will more-than-likely have an option to connect the wired headsets which is cool if thats the case. I'm now more apt to think Apple will do that rather than completely cut off any type of wired option.

 

[lars666]

You probably would keep the irony a bit lower if you for example had $1000 custom made in-ear monitors (because you care about great sound quality) for which will need a fricking dongle when you want to use them with your next iPhone...

If you cared so much about audio quality, would you really be listening to music on a phone?

I already was wondering that such a comment didn't come earlier ... Is it really that hard to understand that some people, in ADDITION to listening at home to their main audio equipment, also like to have the best sound possible when being on the road with the smartphone in their jeans pocket? (While at the same time accepting the limitations of not being able/willing to carry around another separate fat, clunky Fiio player with a horrible interface or a separate portable DAC.) I didn't buy my custom in-ears specifically for the iPhone, but I surely want to be able to use my in-ears (with THE one and only standard connector!) without a friggin' dongle on my phone ...