Quick Takes: 'Why Hasn't Samsung Ditched the Headphone Jack Yet?'

[MacRumors]

In addition to our standalone articles covering the latest Apple news and rumors at MacRumors, this Quick Takes column provides a bite-sized recap of other headlines about Apple and its competitors on weekdays.

Wednesday, March 14

- Why hasn't Samsung ditched the headphone jack yet? Daring Fireball's John Gruber remains convinced that headphone jacks are going the way of the floppy drive, but he explains why Samsung might not be ready to ditch the 3.5mm port yet, as Apple did with the iPhone 7 a few years ago.

Samsung is more of a "do what the customer is asking for" company; Apple is a "figure out what they're going to want" company. Samsung's customers aren't asking for the headphone jack to be dropped, so the path of least resistance is to just keep the jack. But looking at what's available on the market, a big problem facing Samsung (and the rest of the Android world) is that the USB-C headphone market is a mess -- and expensive to boot. "No-name brand headphones at high prices" is a hard sell.

Commentary: Apple arguably has an advantage in this space thanks to its custom W1 chip, which provides a quick and seamless connection between Apple devices and its wireless headphones like AirPods and BeatsX.

- Dutch bank hints that Apple Pay could launch in the Netherlands next week: Dutch mobile bank bunq was recently added to the list of Apple Pay participating banks in Italy. When contacted by the Dutch blog iCulture.nl about the possibility of Apple Pay launching in the Netherlands, the bank said it could not share any details before a press conference it is holding March 20.

Commentary: During its earnings calls, Apple usually mentions a list of countries where Apple Pay is coming soon, and the Netherlands hasn't been one of them. If this rumor proves true, however, hopefully it signals a wider expansion of Apple Pay to other European countries like Germany and Poland.

- Amazon considered buying Texture before Apple deal: "Next Issue Media LLC, owner of Texture, hired investment bank Moelis & Co. in the past year to advise on a sale process, said the person."

Commentary: Amazon already operates a Texture-like service called Kindle Unlimited, which provides subscribers with access to over one million e-book titles, thousands of audiobooks, and select magazines on Kindle Fire, iOS, or Android smartphones and tablets for $9.99 per month.

- Apple details Intelligent Tracking Prevention 1.1: All partitioned cookies are treated as session cookies and are not persisted to disk. Domains with a pending purge will not be able to set new cookies and their existing cookies are not sent in requests. These updates are available in Safari 11.1 on iOS 11.3 beta and macOS High Sierra 10.13.4 beta, as well as in Safari Technology Preview.

Commentary: Intelligent Tracking Prevention is a Safari privacy feature which detects domains that have the ability to track the user cross-site and either partitions or purges the associated website data. The feature is designed to stop companies from invasively tracking customer web browsing habits across websites.

For more Apple news and rumors coverage, visit our Front Page, Mac Blog, and iOS Blog. Also visit our forums to join in the discussion.

Article Link: Quick Takes: 'Why Hasn't Samsung Ditched the Headphone Jack Yet?'

 

[ericgtr12]

They haven't abandoned the headphone jack because it's still useful to most people who don't want to go all in on Apple's proprietary jacks or use an adapter.

 

[oneMadRssn]

Asking a negative is always silly. "Why hasn't Samsung stopped selling TV's yet?" Who knows? Why should it?

Instead, ask the affirmative: "Why should Samsung ditch the headphone jack?" If the best anyone can reasonably come up with is because Apple did it, then there is your answer to the first question.

 

[mistasopz]

Samsung was able to keep the headphone jack still provide water resistance. Allowing the customer to use both wired and non-wired solutions is a big plus for me. If you could get a new iPhone with the headphone jack I think it would be better, even if it was a fraction of a millimeter thicker.

 

[krause734]

Apple dropped the headphone jack to sell you their overpriced bluetooth headphones. Pretty obvious.

 

[The Don Onez]

I haven't had a headphone jack on my last two phone (Moto z/iPhone 8) and I haven't missed it. I have some BT headphones and the Apple headphone.

You will, without a doubt, lose the adapter though. I laughed at someone losing it, and lost mine about a month in. I was able to replace it cheaply though.
[doublepost=1521063561][/doublepost]

Apple dropped the headphone jack to sell you their overpriced bluetooth headphones. Pretty obvious.

Never knew iPhones only paired with Beats BT headphones. Wow!

 

[djlythium]

MR, I'm loving these Quick Takes!

Really digging that Apple is investing in intelligent tracking prevention.

(side-note suggestion, MR: Maybe enumerating the Takes so us commenters can simply type the number of the Take (e.g., Take 2), then comment, instead of having to begin with something like 'So, regarding [whatever Take], blah blah blah'. Just my $0.02. Otherwise, keep up the good work!)

 

[F123D]

Apple dropped the headphone jack because that's what people are going to want.. except for in macbooks, people are going to want headphone jacks.

 

[Saipher]

Commentary: Intelligent Tracking Prevention is a Safari privacy feature which detects domains that have the ability to track the user cross-site and either partitions or purges the associated website data. The feature is designed to stop companies from invasively tracking customer web browsing habits across websites.

One of the main reasons I love Apple, privacy.

 

[busyscott]

Ugh, Apple is infuriatingly arrogant in this area. Them ditching the headphone jack and every connector on the MacBook Pro and replacing it with a still rarely used USB-C isn’t like their moves in the past.

When they ditched the optical drive I thought, “I haven’t used a disc in 3 months, this makes sense.”

Still to this day I find myself wishing for a headphone jack 3-5 times a week. I also have a MacBook Pro with usb c and have to use an adapter 2-4 times a DAY.

They don’t even ship usb C with iPhones for goodness sakes.

 

[CarpalMac]

They haven't ditched it as people like me still want it. I have stopped upgrading phones now and it seems I will be running my iPhone 6S and Pixel Mk1 until they die. Hopefully by then people will have realised the wonder of "plug and play" headphones, rather than forcing me to use yet another device that needs charging and carrying around adaptors.

Unfortunately, the S9 doesn't run raw Android, so until that day...

 

[nviz22]

Apple product users have to accept the fact they won't get headphone jacks on the latest iPhones. Samsung users do not need to do this at least. Just because Apple users accept it, that does not mean other consumers have to. Apple is too prideful to backtrack and they're 100% focused on profiting on their AirPods. They can make profits from their licensing program too if W1 grows bigger. It's a business decision for Apple first and foremost though. Other manufacturers can profit without scrunching consumers as much or finding other ways to hurt consumers. Apple at least provides things like strong post-product support. Samsung is lousy with that.

 

[ActionableMango]

Ugh, Apple is infuriatingly arrogant in this area.

I think Google wins the arrogant prize.

In Pixel ads, Google poked fun at Apple's lack of a headphone jack...at the same time they were designing the Pixel 2 with no headphone jack.

 

[dinocaira]

To change the Headphone Jack 2 things really need to happen
1) Majority of Headphone Manufacturers need to actually change their own jack
2) ALL devices using headphones need to change their sockets to suit

Same goes for all ports they want replaced by USB-C.
For example, HDMI isn't going to change until all the A/V devices change to suit. etc etc

Apple have still yet to realise that they are not the only people who use headphones!!
I don't think they realise either that they did not invent the Headphone Jack. It's not theirs to change!

It's similar to if Walmart started ONLY accepting Bitcoin. They won't last long.

 

[Soccertess]

Not sure Apple is "figuring out" what customers want.

Who in the world wants one type of port on laptops, who wants to carry around dongles (and be pissed off when you don't have one with you), who wants only one port on a laptop, who wants siri to be SO crappy, who wants homepod to be limited to one ecosystem, who wants a mac pro that isn't updated in three years, and who wants a golden watch that is useless in 8 months (maybe all of us if we have 10k to burn a year!

There is a pattern, and it's all product updates under Tim Cook. Personally, I would like a 3.5MM. Apple's dongles are flimsy and super week, and they made the transition for customers extra hard.

So I would love a 3.5mm back but I'm not too stuck on it. The true problem is cook, that guy needs to go!

 

[peteullo]

Anyone remember how the original iPhone needed an adapter to use non-Apple headphones? Memories

 

[weckart]

But looking at what's available on the market, a big problem facing Samsung (and the rest of the Android world) is that the USB-C headphone market is a mess — and expensive to boot. "No-name brand headphones at high prices" is a hard sell.

Commentary: Apple arguably has an advantage in this space thanks to its custom W1 chip, which provides a quick and seamless connection between Apple devices and its wireless headphones like AirPods and BeatsX.

Huh? Two different issues here. Samsung hasn't gone the route Apple has with lightning headphones because USB-C headphones are overpriced.

There are plenty of bluetooth headphones available apart from Apple's and those in the Airpod price bracket will probably have better sound than Apple's basic offering. There is nothing stopping Android users ditching wired headphones right now but most won't because they don't see the value in paying over the odds because some other company decided that headphone sockets were obsolete right now.

 

[jmarttu24]

I would think too that Bluetooth headphones still aren't that great. I own the Bluetooth Bose earplugs and get maybe 4 hours of solid music before the die and then I go back to wired. Not sure on the airpods, but I am not interested in those because they don't stay in my ears and I'm not sure if the sound quality justifies the high price of them. If bluetooth could improve / battery life I think more people would be willing to change.

 

[thisisnotmyname]

Glad to see they are continuing to advance intelligent tracking prevention. Have to stay ahead of the data merchants.

 

[aevan]

They haven't abandoned the headphone jack because it's still useful to most people who don't want to go all in on Apple's proprietary jacks or use an adapter.

At the cost of battery space and aesthetics. Not saying it was a wrong decision, but for one, I like Apple's approach.

 

[RF9]

Because USB-C headphones aren't standard. Buy USB-C headphones and you don't know if they'll work. So it's adapter, wireless, or a crapshoot.
(on Apple, all lightning headphones will work.)

 

[jmgregory1]

Samsung kept the headphone jack just to give it a differentiation point to the iPhone, first and foremost. Then secondly, because it’s easier to maintain the status quo than it is to figure out how to move the market forward.

Apple has always been willing to make changes to drive innovation, even when it’s at their own short term expense.

I’ve not used wired headphones or headsets for the last 3 or 4 years and wouldn’t even consider going back to wired.

I’ve lived through years of crummy bt headsets, recognizing that each iteration was only going to improve and the negatives have been, for the most part, minor compared to the benefits of not dealing with wired connections.

 

[typecase]

So happy that a major manufacturer is still supporting the headphone jack. I love not having to remember a dongle or to be able to charge and use headphones at the same time. Not to mention, I've got quite a great selection of headphones that all have this universal adapter on it.

 

[Victor Mortimer]

Because ditching the headphone jack would be a stupid thing for them to do.

It's something they have over Apple. For somebody who wants that jack, it's a huge advantage.

And I don't know anybody who doesn't want that jack. They're living without it, but they're not happy about it.

Honestly, at this point Apple should admit they made a stupid mistake and bring back the headphone jack for this fall's new iPhone.

 

[BootsWalking]

Samsung is more of a "do what the customer is asking for" company; Apple is a "figure out what they’re going to want" company.

In what alternate reality would consumers ever ask to have the headphone jack removed with nothing provided in its place?