New iPhone SE Could Launch in May With Touch ID and A10 Fusion, Without 3.5mm Headphone Jack

[Tech198]

I Disagree. I don’t think iPads or MacBooks will lose the 3.5 mm Jack. Those are more stationary devices for the most part, the iPhone is a pocketable device where consumers are constantly on the go and having freedom wires is more of a convenience than anything, even though the sound quality is not what wired headphones would deliver, The trade-off is more a benefit with the product like the AirPods being wireless, especially with physical fitness.

That may not happen, but you never know with Apple..

They DO sell adapters, and whichever way you look at the problem, I reckon Apple can keep saying "Well, there is an option"

After all ... USB-C on Mac, but if u want USB3 get an adapter.... ... and as long as u give people the choice, whats to stop them ?

The realm of someone inside Apple seems focused on adapters as the problem solver to all of this.

 

[themikedshaffer]

I'm somewhat surprised that people still care this much about the 3.5mm headphone jack. Apple includes EarPods with a Lightning connector and the 3.5mm dongle in the iPhone box. Even my wife who is a naysayer when it comes to technological change (if she had her way, we'd still be using Windows XP at home) has gotten along just fine with the iPhone 7.

There are only two use cases I've come across where the 3.5mm jack came to mind. First, since you need to set your device to airplane mode on flights, you can't use Bluetooth. If you're fine with EarPods, this is a non-issue, but if you use noise cancelling headphones (e.g., Bose QC35s) you'll need the dongle to connect them to the device. Is this a marginal inconvenience? Sure, but I'm only forced to wire in when on a flight and the dongle fits easily inside the QC35 case.

-- you can always use Bluetooth while in airplane mode. Just open up control center and turn bluetooth back on. The phone radios remain off, but you can independently activate bluetooth and wifi this way.

The second instance is that I have legacy technology, in particularly a PayPal card reader, that connects via the 3.5mm headphone jack. The newer readers for chip cards and NFC all connect via Bluetooth, so this really won't be an issue once I upgrade to a newer (and more secure) credit card processing unit.

-- anytime legacy hardware is left behind is a pain...this is no different. But like you said, upgrading actually provides more value/service for your customers.

 

[dampfnudel]

Same design from 2012? Ugh. That's just lazy. They could have easily updated the body to a more current design.

I’m guessing if Apple had their way, the SE line would disappear completely, but there’s enough “noise” to allow it to exist with as minimal upgrades as they get away with. I guess by 2020 the SE line will be gone.

 

[KeanosMagicHat]

Wouldn't it be great if Apple released an ever lighter iPhone SE2? Apple used to be proud of creating the thinnest, smallest, lightest... now their top range phones are heavier, thicker and bigger than the competition.

I'd be happy with the same model with new internals though. My SE is running fine and I don't need a new phone, but it'd be good to know there's a recent model there to replace it later on.

Until battery tech vastly improves, thicker iPhones are fine by me >>>> more battery.

 

[themikedshaffer]

Based on the rumor, they had to do something to screw people out: best designed iPhone, updated specs... but no fracking headphone jack.

There are times when I feel like super smart aliens can't come any sooner to disintegrate all the greedy basterds on this planet. Maybe the super AI will come sooner than aliens, time will tell.

It has a headphone jack...and it includes headphones, just like all the other iPhones out there... Not sure where this nasty rumor got started. Just because it's not the "same" headphone jack as older models have doesn't mean it doesn't have one. By this standard, my current audio receiver doesn't have a headphone jack, because my old 1980's era Yamaha had a 1/4" headphone jack and this one only has a 3.5mm one...
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Well, they've finally done it ! (almost).

Taking out the headphone jack from former iPhones... Won't be long now ... Enjoy it while it lasts.

Apple has never shipped an iPhone without a headphone jack. It's going to be a while until they completely eliminate headphone wires. Audio components have made jack transitions for years, 1/4" to 3.5mm audio out. RCA jacks to optical...on and on. This is no different...

 

[0997853]

It has a headphone jack...and it includes headphones, just like all the other iPhones out there... Not sure where this nasty rumor got started.

Based on the article?

Following in the footsteps of the iPhone 7 and beyond, the case makers do not expect the new iPhone SE to have a 3.5mm headphone jack. If accurate, and with the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus likely to be discontinued in September, Apple would no longer sell any iPhone model with a headphone jack.

Just because it's not the "same" headphone jack as older models have doesn't mean it doesn't have one. By this standard, my current audio receiver doesn't have a headphone jack, because my old 1980's era Yamaha had a 1/4" headphone jack and this one only has a 3.5mm one...

If you know it has a headphone jack, please share a link. I never said a headphone jack has to be a certain size. And big sized jacks are used a lot on semi-pro, pro and hi-fi devices.

 

[44267547]

When you reflect back 10 years ago where the iPhone once was and where it is today, complaining about thickness with an iPhone is rather frivolous. It’s incredible amount of technology that’s packed into a smart phone that’s capable of executing so many different capabilities and is more powerful than some computers were 10 years ago, and is less than an inch thick.

 

[Pugly]

I'm really interested in this SE2... hopefully it keeps the same price trajectory of the current SE. I don't need anything fancy. I don't live my life off my phone... but I'd like a decent phone that will receive updates as long as possible.

Removing the headphone jack is annoying to me, but it's a manageable problem.... and at least they provide the adapter in the box. Listening to music is still one of my main uses of the phone... and in the rare time I need to charge and listen to headphones at the same time I'll curse an Apple Executive. Hopefully I have the courage to not forget the adapter...

Actually a phone is the one device where the trade off of battery life might just make the loss worth it.

 

[dampfnudel]

If they do have to remove the headphone jack, I hope there’s some benefit to the removal, like a larger battery. My mom has a 4-year-old 5s which she loves, but will probably need to be replaced by the end of the year. While I’m not happy with the aged design and barely upgraded specs, the SE 2 might be good enough for her. Either that or a larger iPhone which she doesn’t seem to like too much.

 

[oldmacs]

Oh come on Apple just put an A11 in it. They’ll be selling it for years to come. Also don’t ditch the headphone port if the same case is being used.

 

[HarryWild]

I’m guessing if Apple had their way, the SE line would disappear completely, but there’s enough “noise” to allow it to exist with as minimal upgrades as they get away with. I guess by 2020 the SE line will be gone.

The SE sells in the third world countries like India, Nigeria, etc... as the primary target market and in North America as a "budget" phone for people who cannot afford a regular iPhone and as a giveaway phone for carriers to sign up new customers to service contracts.

 

[Mr. Donahue]

I expect 3D Touch and I’m hoping for wireless charging but not holding my breath.

 

[Tozovac]

Apple has never shipped an iPhone without a headphone jack. It's going to be a while until they completely eliminate headphone wires. Audio components have made jack transitions for years, 1/4" to 3.5mm audio out. RCA jacks to optical...on and on. This is no different...

Not really. You can leave a 1/8 to 1/4 adapter at your 30 lb receiver. I don't want to carry dongles around just to be able to listen & charge simultaneously when using one of my many expensive and high-quality corded cables... Sad direction as usual by Apple...offering less under the guise of being more...

Those are more stationary devices for the most part, the iPhone is a pocketable device where consumers are constantly on the go being tethered to our smart phones and having freedom wires is more of a convenience than anything, even though the sound quality is not what wired headphones would deliver,

Freedom from wires??? You (and Apple unfortunately) are forgetting the big picture.

How about the freedom from being forced to buy yet more expensive wireless headphone hardware?

And freedom from dongles when you're stationary for hours at home or work and need to simultaneously charge and use one of your dozen corded headphones that aren't going away anytime soon?

Sad.

 

[oldmacs]

-- anytime legacy hardware is left behind is a pain...this is no different. But like you said, upgrading actually provides more value/service for your customers.

The problem is that it is a step backwards as Apple did such a crap job at implementing the change. They should have changed the iPhone and iPad to USB C and thus made a new headphone standard that worked on all devices. The current situation is a laughable joke.

 

[DeepIn2U]

I think my wife would like one, but I won't get it for her unless it has at least an A11 chip.

LOL ... you already know how well that will work out ... I thought the same thing, once. See you online gaming at 1AM when you're delegated to the couche lol. Noticed how I said I thought the same thing, ONCE?!

j/k.

If Apple believes in a wireless future, they have to include a pair of wireless headphones at some point.

Um not likely. Those are complete consumables. If you get a work mobile phone and loose the initial headphones that come with it, does your employer order you one when you request it vs paying and expecting it? Unless your an Executive, or V.P. directly there under not likely, so why would you expect Apple to, especially if no other vendor does??

Big fan of the iPhone SE. My wife loves hers. I do hope it can eventually get 3D touch, but other than that it's a solid phone.

It must have 3D Touch. Having used this feature so often on previous iPhone 6S/7 and now 8 (work phone) I'm finding it VERY difficult not trying to invoke this on my SE (personal phone).

 

[paradox00]

I am one of those people who feel strongly about Apple keeping at least one phone with a headphone jack.
The low cost model is fine with me. Because it is the lowest cost model why take out the jack?
If Apple is trying to make it more affordable to more people why increase the cost by getting rid of the jack? Having to buy more expensive headphones like Apple's wireless ones. Other wireless headphones from what I read don't sound as good as wired.

Apple includes lightning headphones in the box. That's the lowest cost option for someone.

Apple's headphones don't stay in my ears and they hurt my ears.
The dongle is an unnecessary inconvenience. They get lost and I would need multiples and having to carry it all the time is just dumb.

I agree, that is dumb. You should keep the adapter plugged into your headphones, then you won't lose it. That said, replacement adapters are relatively affordable at $10.

My 15 year old truck uses the headphone jack to play my music off my phone to its cassette deck.

You should get something like this and leave it hooked up in your truck, even if you have a headphone jack: https://www.scosche.com/iphone-7-car-charger or https://www.scosche.com/iphone-7-headphone-adapter

Plugging one cable into your phone for both charging and audio is better than plugging in two.

I work in a school and connect my phone to multiple speaker systems throughout the school for various reasons. In the library, in the cafeteria, in the meeting rooms, etc. are a few places audio is played. The jack is a must to have when working in such environments. Old equipment has the 3.5mm jack. Too many people are too narrowly focused to see the big picture when it comes to use cases and convenience when it comes to keeping the ubiquitous little jack.

Honestly, that's not the most common use case. Having a port would be beneficial to you, but you're making mountains out of molehills. If you can carry around headphones, you can carry around headphones with the adapter as per my second point. Then you'd always have the adapter needed to plug in.

Are Apple's engineers less capable then Samsungs? That must be the case for the excuse of waterproofing to be used. Samsung didn't need to get rid of the jack to waterproof.
Looks like Apple needs to find some better engineers or stop using that lame excuse.

Apple's never used that "excuse." People have said that on forums though. You obviously can waterproof a headphone port, but generally the fewer points of potential ingress, the better, especially over the lifespan of the device (seals degrade). More importantly, going from the 6s to the 7, Apple added a better taptic engine and increased battery capacity: things that compete for space with the jack (yes I'm aware that one modder hacked the port back in).

The Apple defenders will say it is old tech and it's time for a change.
There are lots of things that stand the test of time for good reason.
The headphone jack is one of those things.

I agree that the headphone jack has value, but personally, I was already on the bluetooth train before Apple dumped the jack, and I like the push towards better bluetooth headphones that I'm seeing now (and AirPods are fantastic). Bluetooth had been stagnant for years, but with the iPhone and others dropping the headphone jack, companies (not just Apple) are actually trying to innovate in that area for once, which makes things better for me. Apple is at its best when it's looking forward, not backwards.

Sidenote: Before the iPhone, the cellular audio situation was a complete mess. Apple actually helped the 3.5mm port become a standard feature on phones. Many were the crappy 2.5mm variant or proprietary. It's quite Apple-like to help kill a movement they helped birth imo.

 

[Tech198]

Not really. You can leave a 1/8 to 1/4 adapter at your 30 lb receiver. I don't want to carry dongles around just to be able to listen & charge simultaneously when using one of my many expensive and high-quality corded cables... Sad direction as usual by Apple...offering less under the guise of being more...



Freedom from wires??? You (and Apple unfortunately) are forgetting the big picture.

How about the freedom from being forced to buy yet more expensive wireless headphone hardware?

And freedom from dongles when you're stationary for hours at home or work and need to simultaneously charge and use one of your dozen corded headphones that aren't going away anytime soon?

Sad.

That's the freckin problem though... Any single company that does it, most others have not caught up yet, singled out. A least with PC, they have both USB-C and USB3 ports still on-board.

Its a process of time.. Laptops getting thinner.. 3.5'inch jack gets removed, then the rest will follow because all others are going think which phones (at least), the possibly with laptops, (Apple would have more of an advantage here because of adapters), weather right or wrong.

Besides, Apple be even thinking in this direction if the iPhone 7 and up didn't loose it. You start elimiting the top ones first, them progress down.. (I guess by during that it would appear less of an issue, but if you ask me, its still gonna be sad) whichever direction you look at it from.

 

[B4U]

The reason why I put "downgraded" was because the first few weeks after switching to an SE, so many people, friends and coworkers would ask why I downgraded my phone.

I guess many of them just assumed that a larger phone meant a better phone.

Then they need to learn that bigger is not always better. Size does NOT matter.

 

[Tozovac]

-- anytime legacy hardware is left behind is a pain...this is no different. But like you said, upgrading actually provides more value/service for your customers.

Apple's removing of things has turned into a caricature of what "more value/service for your customer" means. It was one thing with removing floppy/optical drives, VGA ports, and large spinning harddrives; consternation and mild pain initially, but that went away because there was both some good (smaller computer for when mobile/away) without giving up too much function & flexibility (most of the time you needed the removed items was when at home, where your monitor+adapter and external optical drive and hard drive sat waiting to be used.

But it's a complete other thing to strip out things like headphone jacks, magsafe port, USB ports, Function keys, (and pixels in iOS7-11), etc....on mobile/laptop devices. Now the user has to carry around dongles, adapters, y-jacks, and AirPods just to have the same convenience as before. I keep corded headphones at work, in my truck, in my basement, in my workshed, in my bedroom...I'm not going to buy Bluetooth headphones or AirPods for everywhere nor do I want to carry them around or be hassled with charging them when out and about. Oh you want to charge & listen to music at the same time w/o using the headphones you leave at work? Buy more AirPods/bluetooth headphones/y-jack adapters, etc....and lug them around with you. So now there's pain just to have the same convenience as before this war on ports and user convenience while Apple tries to keep bending light and make statements.

I'm sitting back watching and waiting for what will happen when Apple runs out of things to strip away...ready to laugh at what Jony Ive comes up with to remove next. "Users don't use the tilde key too often, let's remove it and accessible only via software..."

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That's the freckin problem though... Any single company that does it, most others have not caught up yet, singled out. A least with PC, they have both USB-C and USB3 ports still on-board.

Its a process of time.. Laptops getting thinner.. 3.5'inch jack gets removed, then the rest will follow because all others are going think which phones (at least), the possibly with laptops, (Apple would have more of an advantage here because of adapters), weather right or wrong.

Besides, Apple be even thinking in this direction if the iPhone 7 and up didn't loose it. You start elimiting the top ones first, them progress down.. (I guess by during that it would appear less of an issue, but if you ask me, its still gonna be sad) whichever direction you look at it from.

There's the bigger picture though, in my previous post just now. It was one thing to remove things and introduce mostly good effects *and* not a lot of pain that lingered. Is that a dongle collection in your pocket or are you glad to see me?

 

[-BigMac-]

Sorry but that’s a ridiculous comparison.

Not really. There is plenty of smaller smartphones out there than iPhone 8. You find it too big then i suggest using a smaller smartphone. Simple really

 

[PickUrPoison]

Based on the history of the SE there is a good chance that it will. By May the A11 will be 8 months old and a new A12 will most certainly debut in the fall. Using an A11 chip means they can sell the phone for another 2+ years without update.

If they put an A10 in it they can also sell it for another 2+ years, it’s a very fast processor. I wouldn’t expect the flagship A11 in a $349 iPhone. The 2018 iPad uses the A10. (The A8 would have been a relatively poor choice for Apple to have made in 2016 for the SE, knowing they wouldn’t be refreshing it until this year.)

The thing is, Apple’s A series CPUs have already hit the point where they’re “fast enough” for almost everything users do with their devices. That’s one of the reasons the lifecycle is getting longer. Devices at least since 6S/SE can easily go 3+ years.

Even A9/2GB should be fine for another couple of years, and it seems Apple will continue to sell the 6S/6S Plus for 2018/2019, at least in some countries. Similarly, it wouldn’t surprise me if the current SE stayed around as well, maybe dropping to $299-319 (assuming the SE2 stays at $349).

It will be interesting to see if Apple uses the A11 or A12 in the 6.1” LCD iPhone rumored for September. I’m thinking A12 if the price is around $749, but would it need an A12? Not really, and Apple could choose to use the CPU to further differentiate the LCD model from the new X/X Plus. But they could choose to build volume and use the A12 in all three of the (rumored) September 2018 iPhones.

 

[fairuz]

"old tech" is the argument AGAINST removing TRS ports?

Not just that it's old. That it's old and never got adopted. If it were superior, there'd be more than just a few people using it after like 16 years of it existing. Obviously the drawbacks of Bluetooth outweigh the advantages for the average user.

 

[ftaok]

I'm the one who fixes any issues she has with her phone, so she'll just end up getting the X2 or 9. I don't want to have to deal with "why is my phone so slow" issues. She likes the size of the SE so I'm hoping it'll have the A11 (or better).

But she'll probably like the dual lens of the X2, so maybe she'll want the X2 anyway.

 

[0837990]

No headphone jack and glass back = no sale

Those are the main things I want (headphone jack) and don't want (glass back) in a phone.

 

[Think creative]

Oh boy this is going to be a long thread. Doesn't Apple realize that not everyone can afford their wireless airpods? That dongle will get lost trust me.

considering good blu tooth head phones cost $20 or $30 dollars on sale, I disagree. And new dongles cost $9 bucks... and the phone comes with headphones that don't need a dongle. That's why I think it's really a non issue.