I would say that the average consumer would tell a difference in their movie/video experience. I use the DS as an example of a device that has spacial separation -not as a reason why gamers specifically should have it. I'd say that a better experience is a good thing no matter what it comes from. And saying that you can't understand such a simple concept is being willfully ignorant.
Games are a part of the average consumer's life now as well. I'm sure you probably have played solitaire, chess, candy crush or something like that. It isn't for basement-dwellers anymore.
First, solitaire doesn't require discreet stereo separation to effectively play it. Second, movies or games, why are people playing them over the poor quality speakers built into the phone? I don't agree that the preferred method of listening to game and movie audio is over an inferior built-in speaker, nor do I believe that adding stereo particularly enhances that already poor experience in any significant way, unless as I stated earlier, the game requires pinpoint sonic spatial accuracy to lay, in which case I can hardly imagine why anyone would not opt for headphones to play it on a phone. There's simply no use case scenario where stereo on a device as small as an iPhone is a reasonable addition when doing so potentially sacrifices battery capacity, among other things.
But the replacement must be something that a) provides equal or better audio quality, and b) the entire INDUSTRY agrees on.
Since when does the entire industry ever agree on anything? It's usually someone like Apple that drives adoption of one thing or another.
No, I was saying it isn't redundant as it's still widely used. I'm not a betting man but I would confidently place a wager that loads more people plug their headphones into the 3.5mm jack than those who listen through the Lightning port and over Bluetooth combined.
I said "redundant" not obsolete. Of course that's the case. However, the 3.5mm jack does only one thing. Lightning, Wifi & BlueTooth do multiple things. If Apple needs space, they eliminate the thing that's taking up the most space and offering the least service, so long as what that thing does is duplicated elsewhere on the device.
Don't you think ditching the 3.5mm jack and sticking with Lightning (and not adopting USB-C) is going to be a mess? What is the solution for people who use the 3.5mm jack on other devices (laptops, desktops, Android tablets, etc)? An adapter? That doesn't sound like a good solution.
Think this through. Even if USB-C becomes a standard, it will take a decade before even someone with a pair of USB-C headphones won't have to worry about carrying around an adapter. So yes, using a pair of Lightning headphones on a non-compatible device will require an adapter.
I know you are saying USB-C takes up more internal space but it's the obvious solution IMO with respect to adapting a universal headphone port for the future. The alternative is just going to be a headache for countless consumers.
Used on what, the fact that USB-C is proclaimed the undisputed universal standard for all time? Even if USB-C becomes the standard tomorrow, in 5 years it could change to something else, and those USB-C headphones will suddenly need an adapter to the next "standard". The confusion will be if someone plugs a desktop USB-C accessory into an iPhone and damages one or both.
Aren't there other devices (SquarePay adapter) that also use the headphone port?
Sure enough, and they will be able to use the adapter, likely provided for free by the card reader company or respective bank. And if they are simply a mag stripe reader, they will ned to be upgraded this year anyway, at which time they can upgrade to Lightning technology.
I'm not convinced that Apple is really going to remove the headphone jack just yet. If they were, I'd expect to see Apple selling headphones with Lightning connectors by now. On the Apple website they are selling one set, and it's a $720 set from Audeze.
And what exactly do you think would drive this market? The prospect of Apple potentially making this move? As long as the average customer can buy a $3 pair of 3.5mm headphones at any drug store, there's not going to be a demand for anything more expensive. And without demand, the price isn't going to drop.
It's one thing to remove legacy features when they are obsolete. The floppy drive had been replaced by CDs. CDs were replaced by digital downloads. Apple didn't introduce these new technologies. They just adapted to them and abandoned the technologies they replaced faster than anyone else, but they replaced them with already established standards. They didn't remove the floppy drive and then tell everybody to use their new proprietary portable storage system.
You either weren't around, or are revising history in your own mind. Apple remove the floppy drive and replaced it with nothing. It was 4 years before they offered another removable storage option on the iMac. A rewritable CD-RW was prohibitively expensive for most, not just the hardware, but the physical media as well. And it was buggy. I ruined hundreds of dollars worth of disks in those early days. Likewise for USB, there were no products available, and what there were were very expensive. There were exactly two USB products available when the iMac launched, a buggy printer, and an incredibly popular, yet hard to get $130 USB floppy drive as the manufacturer couldn't keep up with demand!
And Apple isn't removing the 3.5mm jack and telling everybody to use their proprietary system. BT is not proprietary. And the future of audio is wireless. This move is exactly what I would expect from Apple, based on every technology they've removed from their products in the past.
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I still think Apple has NOT finalized the design of the iPhone 7. Apple itself may be testing prototypes with and without the 3.5 mm headphone connector, given Apple currently builds thinner devices that still accommodate the 3.5 mm headphone connector with the current iPod nano and iPod touch models.
Of course Apple has finalized the design of the iPhone 7. Probably months ago. But, what I would expect Apple to have done is finalize a board with a 3.5mm jack and one without -- depending on what technology they are adding to the 7 that utilizes the reclaimed space. In which case Apple could probably switch the model they offer up until the month before they start production.
This is why I would expect the new 4" model to drop the jack, not only to maximize space for 6S components inside an already small case, but also to gauge reception in the market. Customers who have a pent up desire for a new 4" phone are likely to buy it regardless so it's the perfect model to test it on before launching the flagship model.
At a minimum, Apple might make the decision to leave the headphone jack on the Plus model since internal space is not as restricted, and wait for the competition to fold before removing it across all their product lines.
But I agree it's a decision they can wait a few more months to make.
