iPhone 7 to Include Five Colors, IPX7 Water Resistance, Dual 12MP Cameras on Plus Model

[Mac 128]

It is fallacious to state that removal of the 3.5 mm jack is similar to removal of the floppy drive.
When I invested money into a pair of earbuds from a pro audio company, I wanted to be able to use them on all my audio devices, not just my iPhone.
Furthermore, using the Lighning port for headphones will cause another inconvenience: not being able to use headphones with an iPhone and charge the battery at the same time.

Talk about a fallacious statement.

 

[dumastudetto]

Apple doesn't supply a connector, people accuse them of profiteering off the sales of adaptors.

Apple supplies a connector, they get accused of back peddling on their vision.

Apple really can't win here.

Oh I agree, but it's not about pleasing everyone.

I'd have expected Apple would absolutely profiteer from the adapter as well, and I would have supported a "rip off" price. Why? You want to make the adapter expensive enough that it disuades people from buying it, by creating a paint point on price, and get as many of them to move to what you see as the future.

 

[alleggerita]

3.5mm has been around for so Long because no one wants to change for fear of losing consumers like I was saying. 3.5mm is ANALOG. How can it be better than either lightning or USB-C which is digital?

So I'm sorry, it's not because 3.5mm is a good tech. It's because no one wants to change. And I'm glad Apple is once again, forcing the world to move forwards. At the end of the day, it's not a matter of whether USB-C or Lightning replaced 3.5mm. It's the fact that once again, it's Apple which braved all criticisms and risks of losing consumer to move the world forwards with newer tech.

Oh my God. Apple hasn't innovated anything or gotten an industry to 'change' since they created the first iteration of iPhone. Stop giving them so much credit.

You can't force an industry to change when what you're replacing something with isn't also an industry standard. No other manufacturer is going to use lightning ports. Are you suggesting Samsung will phase out the headphone jack and replace it with a USB-C dongle? Because that's never going to happen.

The iPhone 8 will see the return of the headphone jack. Mark my words, remember this post.

If the upcoming iPhone 7 indeed loses the 3.5mm, you can be assured it will NEVER make a comeback. Because that's like Apple telling the world "hey we ****ed up".

And when I say Apple abandoning the 3.5mm and in turn causing the industry to reconsider 3.5mm and making a sea change, I'm not saying the industry will adopt Lightning. I know that's proprietary and it will never be the industry standard. But there's the USB-C. And it's digital, which in turn means it has TONS more functionality and audio quality than 3.5mm which is analog.

Will Apple ever adopt USB-C for the iDevices? We will never know even though that would be preferable. But as far as I'm concerned, Apple ditching 3.5mm is only going to make the whole industry in search of a suitable middle ground, maybe adopting USB-C or even a new connector that's finally digital. It's about time audio output goes digital. Just embrace this change for the next generation. Just count yourself unlucky that you have to be the generation to experience the transition phase.

 

[Analog Kid]

Eliminating the port broadly means you want people to stop using it and move with the times. Bundling an adapter builds resistance to your view of the future. John Gruber said he would be very surprised if Apple put an adapter in the box, and for very similar reasons.

Bundling the adapter means you expect people to be so taken with the new approach that they'll soon abandon the old approach of their own free will. The resistance is already there-- it's the installed base of users with aftermarket wired headphones. Cutting those people off outright (and most haven't been seeing the rumors we've been reading, so the loss of the port will be a surprise) will only piss them off and slow adoption of the new phone.

I'm sure Apple has done the research and figured out that a majority of users use the the bundled ear buds. Some fraction of the others use bluetooth already, and another fraction are early adopters of whatever new tech comes along. What's left are people with high quality 3rd party headphones that are willing to use the adapter for now, some who are just going to complain about anything Apple does and thus are best ignored and, finally, there is some presumably small fraction who become alienated for this one narrow reason.

Loosing that one small fraction is what's on the table, and Apple has decided to go forward thinking they have more to gain than lose.

 

[Abazigal]

Oh I agree, but it's not about pleasing everyone.

I'd have expected Apple would absolutely profiteer from the adapter as well, and I would have supported a "rip off" price. Why? You want to make the adapter expensive enough that it disuades people from buying it, by creating a paint point on price, and get as many of them to move to what you see as the future.

I agree. I personally would have Apple just ship a pair of wireless earbuds that are good enough. This will signal their message that people do not need a pair of wired headphones, lightning or normal.

Well, we will know soon enough.

 

[OMGWTFBBQ]

There have been numerous articles posted over the past few months talking about the rumor of Apple removing the 3.5mm jack. If you look back at those articles, the numbers of responses are astounding and the vast majority of responses are from people furious about the potential (probably imminent) 3.5mm jack removal.

The 3.5mm jack is a universal standard across laptops, automobiles, desktops, music players, stereos, mobile phones, tablets, even in-seat audio jacks on most passenger airlines. Removing this standard is a complete slap in the face to millions of consumers who have spent a lot of money on high quality headphones, earbuds, speakers, etc. that all use the 3.5mm standard.

I know people love to compare removing the 3.5mm jack to eliminating the old floppy or CD, but those were upgrades to new standards embraced by the entire computer industry as a move forward in technology and convenience.

If removed, Apple will have taken away a reliable open standard, replacing it with their proprietary standard, and I'm confident virtually no other equipment manufacture will ever embrace Lightning (I'm not talking about headset/earbud manufactures, I'm talking about other desktop, laptop, tablet, stereo, phone, automobile, music player, and aircraft manufactures). You are never going to see widespread acceptance of Lightning on other devices.

With this potential bonehead decision Apple does not move us forward, they lock us into a standard they control/own and move us away from the mainstream into a segregated solution that is not even available on Apple’s own computer line ... which coincidently uses the 3.5mm audio jack.

So what might Apple give us in return, maybe they shave a faction of a millimeter (bid deal) from the phone's thickness, and/or maybe we get a second (or better) speaker because they want us to believe we need some kind of so-called “stereo sound”. It’s pathetic!

Give us back the 3.5mm jack and keep your second/improved speaker. We don’t need a so-called stereo in our pockets.

I could not agree more. It will make me so mad if this turns out to be true. It is user hostile, and for the first time I'm considering not upgrading to the latest iphone until they put it back.

Charging while listening to music/podcasts in the car via the AUX input is really important to me. UGH.

 

[Mildredop]

There have been numerous articles posted over the past few months talking about the rumor of Apple removing the 3.5mm jack. If you look back at those articles, the numbers of responses are astounding and the vast majority of responses are from people furious about the potential (probably imminent) 3.5mm jack removal.

The 3.5mm jack is a universal standard across laptops, automobiles, desktops, music players, stereos, mobile phones, tablets, even in-seat audio jacks on most passenger airlines. Removing this standard is a complete slap in the face to millions of consumers who have spent a lot of money on high quality headphones, earbuds, speakers, etc. that all use the 3.5mm standard.

I know people love to compare removing the 3.5mm jack to eliminating the old floppy or CD, but those were upgrades to new standards embraced by the entire computer industry as a move forward in technology and convenience.

If removed, Apple will have taken away a reliable open standard, replacing it with their proprietary standard, and I'm confident virtually no other equipment manufacture will ever embrace Lightning (I'm not talking about headset/earbud manufactures, I'm talking about other desktop, laptop, tablet, stereo, phone, automobile, music player, and aircraft manufactures). You are never going to see widespread acceptance of Lightning on other devices.

With this potential bonehead decision Apple does not move us forward, they lock us into a standard they control/own and move us away from the mainstream into a segregated solution that is not even available on Apple’s own computer line ... which coincidently uses the 3.5mm audio jack.

So what might Apple give us in return, maybe they shave a faction of a millimeter (bid deal) from the phone's thickness, and/or maybe we get a second (or better) speaker because they want us to believe we need some kind of so-called “stereo sound”. It’s pathetic!

Give us back the 3.5mm jack and keep your second/improved speaker. We don’t need a so-called stereo in our pockets.

Agreed.

The argument I've seen a lot on here is that it's old tech - "Would you still like to use the floppy disk?"

But I remember having a few computers that had the floppy and a CD drive. There was a period of 'natural' changeover where consumer were allowed to adjust to and choose to use the newer, better tech.

I don't understand why Apple don't push their Air Pods, put Bluetooth audio very prominently in iTunes, include lightning earbuds in the box etc., but keep the 3.5mm jack to allow for a softer changeover.

 

[pcmacgamer]

Sounds not enough to upgrade from iPhone 6s plus

I'd say the same thing from my 6+ nothing game changing and removal of the headphone jack

 

[Analog Kid]

I don't understand why Apple don't push their Air Pods, put Bluetooth audio very prominently in iTunes, include lightning earbuds in the box etc., but keep the 3.5mm jack to allow for a softer changeover.

I think the article states pretty clearly why: improved water resistance and room for more stuff.

 

[iThingsGurl]

Go on YouTube and search for exploding iPhones. It does happen even to your "beloved zero defects in every phone ever made Jesus phone."

No to rationalize it would be to say only a few phones were effected so they shouldn't recall them all. Samsung isn't perfect, but they moved quickly on this matter. When it comes to acknowledging defects and fixing them is one area Asian companies are generally superior to American companies. I drive a Ford F-150 and I like it, but I'd put my faith in an Asian automaker ahead of an American one when it comes to standing behind the safety of their product.

This is the reason most people reading this probably chose an Asian car over an American one. The reason I point this out has to do with culture. Samsung will get this right and will ensure that the people or company that made the mistake are severely punished for it.

You get me wrong. Criticizing one of the actions/features/defects of Samsung does not mean I hate Samsung. I can love Apple, Google, Samsung, Microsoft, albeit their best traits, and criticize their worst. For instance, I often remark how ever so enterprising Apple is lagging behind in innovation, both qualitatively and quantitatively, in recent times.

 

[kentsydney]

Not weird at all. And you have it right, no one cares. Except those who are into spec race induced "my phone is better than yours, nah nah ni nah, nah." There are many other phone attributes that are far more important to me.

My phone's display is 401 PPI and is great. Samsung could come out with a phone that's 4,001 PPI and I stilll wouldn't give two trucks.

Yes screen resolution now is just marketing spec fodder. I remember as digital cameras were on the rise 3mp was considered the tipping point after which the eye couldn't distinguish any improvement. I'm not an expert but we're at the stage where resolutions are so good now it's all good. I thought retina screens were suppose to be the ultimate?? So for me the screen isn't a big deal anymore

 

[rasputin1969]

If the upcoming iPhone 7 indeed loses the 3.5mm, you can be assured it will NEVER make a comeback. Because that's like Apple telling the world "hey we ****ed up".

Apple is a business - if sales suffer badly they will listen. They listened to customers who complained about the recessed headphone jack built into the first iPhone, and as a result the iPhone 3G reverted to a normal jack.

 

[iThingsGurl]

They're not Samsung's cells. They're cells from whatever manufacturer builds their batteries—probably one of the same manufacturers that Apple uses, incidentally—there aren't very many battery makers that are able to achieve state-of-the-art energy densities.

The Samsung battery issue could literally have happened to any company. In fact, it has happened to Apple on multiple occasions in the past.

Usually the first sign of failure is that the battery puffs up, indicating that there's hydrogen and/or hydrogen fluoride gas building up inside the cell. Eventually, if something punctures that cell (usually caused by it expanding beyond the limits of the case), the hydrogen reacts with oxygen in the air and it catches fire.

Over the years, I've had the following Apple batteries reach that puffed up stage:

* MacBook (2, IIRC)
* MacBook Pro (1)
* iPhone 5 (1), and no, mine was not in the recall range

That's out of a total of only about 9 or 10 Apple-branded Lithium polymer packs that I've owned or used at work. So more than a third of them reached a state where they were considered dangerous and had to be disposed of at a battery recycling center to avoid the risk of fire. Would they have eventually caught fire? It's hard to say. The point is that LiPo batteries are to some extent risky by their very nature.

That quote is resultant of various other quotes exchanged previously within a conversation. Why not revisit it, only this time in context?

 

[alleggerita]

Apple is a business - if sales suffer badly they will listen. They listened to customers who complained about the recessed headphone jack built into the first iPhone, and as a result the iPhone 3G reverted to a normal jack.

What you're referring to is a change in exterior design of a product, which can be easily explained in a non-"hey we f-ed up" way. But there's no turning back when you remove the headphone jack and tell the world "hey it's for the greater good, more space inside for more features and better audio quality through lightning port". And with all that said, they simply can't put it back in the iPhone 8 next year for two reasons. One, that's like telling the world you screwed up. Your PR team will scream at you if you do that. They will have tons of sh*t up their arses. And two, the design of the next iPhone is more or less concrete. Adding back the 3.5mm for next years iPhone will be suicidal. Both budget and time wise.

 

[iMcLovin]

First time I don't see any reason to upgrade. I have upgraded every year, but currently I feel no urge, even if its an effortless thing to do. If I took more pictures I would maybe, but I dont.

 

[rasputin1969]

Nobody else seems to be joining the dots on this report so I will just come out and say it.

For months now people have wondered why Apple would kill the headphone jack. We have had all sorts of suggestions.

1. Cost - Apple can also remove the DAC. Please, it's a phone, it will always need a DAC.
2. Another speaker. For what? Stereo separation would be non-existent.
3. Battery. We've seen reports of a larger battery, but really - is 10-15% better battery life going to make up for losing the headphone jack?
4. You can tune the DAC to the headphones. This has some merit but we've already seen lightning headphones, and the reviews are not at a different level, at all.
5. Water resistance - Samsung has not had a problem building water resistant phones with the 3.5mm jack.
6. Profit. The 3.5 jack is a standard, while lightning must be licensed.

So what could Apple be playing at? It could all be about Force touch. The existing implementation on the 6s is poor. Sure, you get some haptic feedback but it feels nothing like a real click. We know Apple can do better because the haptic feedback mechanism used on the Macbook is incredibly effective at this. On the iPhone 6s there is just the one taptic engine at the top and that simply does not cut it. If Apple use the free space at the bottom for another taptic engine then they may well have a solution that will be as effective as the macbook - this report suggests that the home button will use such a mechanism, but it could well apply to the screen as well.

 

[DCIFRTHS]

Adapter in the box? Good one. This is the same Apple that doesnt include a proper charging brick with their $1000 12.9" iPad

I don't understand why they skimped on the power adapter. They should have included both in the box. It's sad and petty at the same time.

 

[Mactendo]

No.

What's the real reason behind that then?

 

[caelius]

Hm. The pressure-sensitive Home Button alone would be something worth upgrading, imo. Add the water resistance and it'd be really tempting to get it as a replacement for my 6. The removed headphone jack is a chore but not a no-go, since my headphones are wireless anyway.

Well... let's see what they've got in their sleeves next Wednesday. My feelings range from "instant buy" to "nope"...

 

[rasputin1969]

What you're referring to is a change in exterior design of a product, which can be easily explained in a non-"hey we f-ed up" way.

Oh believe me - everybody knew they badly messed up. Just watch Jobs refer to it at the announcement (it gets the loudest cheer at one minute ten seconds).

 

[DCIFRTHS]

It's with people like you that the world will never move forwards.

For the sake of this post: I am headphone jack removal agnostic.

Removing an established connector, and replacing it with a proprietary one isn't moving the world forward. Developing a new standard would be my definition of moving forward.

 

[Piggie]

I will admit, I have found, other than little bits here and there, the Camera is THE main aspect of my phone for me.

 

[BMcCoy]

For the sake of this post: I am headphone jack removal agnostic.

Removing an established connector, and replacing it with a proprietary one isn't moving the world forward. Developing a new standard would be my definition of moving forward.

Agreed.
Which is why Tim has to be talking about wireless audio this week..

Not lightning-connected.

 

[Mindbomb2000]

Not sure if anyone mentioned this, but if one camera is wide angle (as all phones are), and one isn't (on the 7plus)... this is HUGE. Digital zoom sucks... and it's not about pixels, its about the fact that sometimes I don't want a distorted photo.

 

[CFreymarc]

... I know, I know. Water can only enter the 3.5mm jack hole. Water chooses to ignore those other holes.

I'm avoiding some really twisted birth-control jokes here to keep the thread clean. The full graphics jokes are a exercise to the reader.