Some say that the iPhone 7 will lack a headphone jack. I think this would be stupid as bluetooth headphones cost an arm and a leg (if you want something decent) and would require the end user to purchase the headphones, and besides they run on batteries where as the apple earbuds do not. Thoughts?
Welcome to the reason they have to remove the 3.5mm jack to spur demand in wireless audio, which drives innovation, improves quality, and lowers prices. Most new bluetooth headphones will allow for wireless, or direct wired connections, thus eliminating battery life as a consideration.
The iPhone 7 will not have the industry standard 3.5 mm headphone jack. More than likely the room will be used for a secondary speaker for better audio, and Apple will include headphones with a lighting plug on the end instead of the 3.5 mm jack.
A secondary speaker would be a catastrophic waste for the removal of this jack.
The only drawback to this idea is that I won't be able to use the lighting adaptor on my Macbook Pro.
You will with an inexpensive adapter for legacy equipment, and if Apple really does this, new Macs will come with a Lightning port.
I'm not 100% on board with this decision. I'd prefer the jack be kept over it being removed, but if Apple included an adapter in the box it would remedy my complaints a little bit.
That won't happen because it will encourage customers to continue to use their old 3.5mm equipment. Apple is pushing the consumer toward wireless. So you will need to make a choice, buy an inexpensive adapter or upgrade to Bluetooth or Digital.
I am against this for several reasons.
The first and foremost is we do not have a universal standard that works with all of a persons devices to replace 3.5mn. Right now I can go and buy any portable electronic and be 100% sure my headphones will work with it.
How many portable electronics do you use? Is this really an issue for you, or just a matter of principle? I have three things I might plug my wired headphones in on any given day -- iPhone, iPad, and MacBook. In my Apple world, a Lightning headphone will work with all future Apple equipment natively. I have a set of BT headphones which currently work with all of my Apple equipment. I also have a $20 BT dongle that I use with my home stereo to connect to all of that equipment, which I can control from my couch without having to run a wire across the living room. If I have to connect to anything else, I don't mind using an adapter.
Lightning is proprietary hardware. That means we will not see on other devices any time soon. Also Apple has the worst luck in the industry on getting their hardware standards to become standards. I don't think they have one thing what is used on other devices except for Apple.
Oh you mean like we didn't see any other devices accommodating the 30-pin dock connector for the original iPod? Obviously not as that was one of the most popular connectors in the iPod peripherals market. I'd say Apple was pretty successful in getting that standard adopted across an industry despite not being compatible with anything else.
If apple switched to USB type C for the iphones I can see this working as Type-C is more open and more devices support it and it will be the standard in a few years but locking people into the apple headphones is not a solution. Also it seems like another apple cash grab in forcing adapters and certification for headphones.
Are you willing to bet USB-C will be the standard in a few years? I'm not. I m looking at 6 "standard" USB devices on my desk right now, all of which require their own proprietary USB cable. And even if USB-C becomes the standard, it will likely take the better part of a decade before legacy 3.5mm equipment is replaced with USB-C native hardware to be compatible with native USB-C headphones. I personally believe by the time that happens, wireless audio will be the new standard for consumer audio, and not a wired connection of any kind.
By the way Philips is already offering Lightning Headphones, which only use an external DAC. You can also buy external DAC/Lightning 3,5mm adapters (Beyerdynamic A 200), but it is so far only a niche market for audiophiles. Most people probably don't seem to care about high end audio quality. Therefore i would rather see Apple making improvements to wireless solutions, which are in dire need of innovation (currently lower sound quality, unreliable connection, lack of lip sync, another thing to charge...).
Apple is not the only one who has to make improvements to wireless audio. The entire industry needs to step up, and they aren't going to do that as long as there's no demand because there's a cheap 3.5mm solution to be had in the form of low quality earbuds for less than $10 at any 7-11.
It would render the iPhone useless for me.
I use my phone with high end headphones.
I use my phone to listen to music in my car with an aux input.
I use my phone for my home stereo with an aux input.
I use my phone at friends houses and in their cars with an aux input.
I use my phone as an synth/instrument for my recording studio via aux.
I watch videos and movies with it plugged into high end headphones, my car, my home studio.
I'm a touring musician and I often DJ at venues between bands. The mixing boards across the country take an aux input.
Basically all audio equipment in existence can take a regular aux cable. Nothing accepts lightning.
I would never in a million years buy a phone that necessitated an adapter to interface with the rest of the audio world. I'll never bring that adapter anywhere. It would be lost within days. And my phone would lose it's iPod functionality entirely.
There is absolutely no benefit to losing the headphone jack. It strips the iPhone of it's most valuable feature. The ability to use it as a media player that can connect to the outside world.
Dude, to quote Seinfeld, you're living in the past man.
And I have no idea how you survived the 1/4 to 1/8 transition from the 1970s to the 1990s. And I have no idea how you cope with common RCA, 1/4" or standard XLR connectors on all the pro audio equipment you claim to use.
Good thing you represent less than a fraction of a percent of Apple's market.
By the way, good luck after you switch to Android, and they remove the headphone jack a year after Apple does as well.