R.I.P. iPhone

[boltjames]

What exactly are you talking about? What "extra" processing is there?

The 3.5mm jack is NOT coming back. Lightning headphones ARE "real" headphones. There are some darn good ones out there too. The sooner you get over it, the sooner you'll be able to move on. For better or worse, the rest of the industry tends to follow Apple. Soon all phones will have dual cameras and no headphone jacks.

The rest of the industry will not follow Apple's MFi Lightning standard which requires a royalty of $4 per unit as this would make them noncompetitive. The existing headphone jack has no royalty whatsoever and is a universal standard that no one is complaining about. Apple will stand alone on this one. Android is going to have a field day poking fun at Apple and they'd be 100% right.

Apple did not solve some headphone problem yesterday, this isn't like floppy discs making way for a superior CDR technology either. Wireless headphones have been around for 15 years and they are a small fraction of the market for a reason; they don't sound good and they are annoying to keep charged. All Apple did was batten down the hatches to try to drain every dollar of profit possible from a category of consumer electronics that they no longer can innovate in. They raised prices to increase profits, they waterproofed to avoid returns, they created a proprietary port to sell overpriced Beats headphones and collect third-party royalties. This is a classic play in the consumer electronics industry when the well of innovation runs dry.

If you want to believe Phil Schiller's pixie dust you go right ahead, some of us are smarter than that.

BJ

 

[ericgtr12]

No headphone jack. No sale.

This sums it up for me as well. Not sure why so many are demonizing those who are choosing not to upgrade, what's so wrong about keeping our existing iPhones for another year as we wait for a more substantial update?

 

[Knowimagination]

This sums it up for me as well. Not sure why so many are demonizing those who are choosing not to upgrade, what's so wrong about keeping our existing iPhones for another year as we wait for a more substantial update?

The issue isn't that some people are choosing not to upgrade, the issue is that some people are making it seem like anyone who buys the iPhone is an idiot because it doesn't have a headphone jack.

If it doesn't work for you, then by all means don't buy it but to make it seem like the phone is stupid and worthless in general because it doesn't have it is where the issues come.

 

[8692574]

This sums it up for me as well. Not sure why so many are demonizing those who are choosing not to upgrade, what's so wrong about keeping our existing iPhones for another year as we wait for a more substantial update?

There's nothing wrong, as there is nothing wrong in updating, and as there's nothing wrong in technology going forward...

The jack had to go sooner or later...

I am keeping my 6, not because of a jack, but because is plenty enought for me now, and still does what I need it to .

EDIT:
As a matter of fact I might purchase the lightning dongle and use my jack Shure with it and test if the quality is better

 

[The Game 161]

Rip for a phone that will sell more than any other device? Right ok

 

[I7guy]

The rest of the industry will not follow Apple's MFi Lightning standard which requires a royalty of $4 per unit as this would make them noncompetitive. The existing headphone jack has no royalty whatsoever and is a universal standard that no one is complaining about. Apple will stand alone on this one. Android is going to have a field day poking fun at Apple and they'd be 100% right.

Apple did not solve some headphone problem yesterday, this isn't like floppy discs making way for a superior CDR technology either. Wireless headphones have been around for 15 years and they are a small fraction of the market for a reason; they don't sound good and they are annoying to keep charged. All Apple did was batten down the hatches to try to drain every dollar of profit possible from a category of consumer electronics that they no longer can innovate in. They raised prices to increase profits, they waterproofed to avoid returns, they created a proprietary port to sell overpriced Beats headphones and collect third-party royalties. This is a classic play in the consumer electronics industry when the well of innovation runs dry.

If you want to believe Phil Schiller's pixie dust you go right ahead, some of us are smarter than that.

BJ

I honestly can't wait until I get my 7 plus. As far as the rest of your post, if Apple had an underlying motivation for the water resistance than all phone manufacturers do. Pot kettle thing.

 

[bitslap47]

I'm going to miss having to ram my headphone plug in and out of the jack 100 times rapidly in order to get the earpiece working again.

It was a great way to relieve stress and now that is gone... although I guess the Breathe App on my watch will take its place to help me relieve stress.

 

[audirs5]

The rest of the industry will not follow Apple's MFi Lightning standard which requires a royalty of $4 per unit as this would make them noncompetitive. The existing headphone jack has no royalty whatsoever and is a universal standard that no one is complaining about. Apple will stand alone on this one. Android is going to have a field day poking fun at Apple and they'd be 100% right.

Apple did not solve some headphone problem yesterday, this isn't like floppy discs making way for a superior CDR technology either. Wireless headphones have been around for 15 years and they are a small fraction of the market for a reason; they don't sound good and they are annoying to keep charged. All Apple did was batten down the hatches to try to drain every dollar of profit possible from a category of consumer electronics that they no longer can innovate in. They raised prices to increase profits, they waterproofed to avoid returns, they created a proprietary port to sell overpriced Beats headphones and collect third-party royalties. This is a classic play in the consumer electronics industry when the well of innovation runs dry.

If you want to believe Phil Schiller's pixie dust you go right ahead, some of us are smarter than that.

BJ

Honestly, this.

Apple created their own standard, not using an industry standard.

They could at least have made the phone a little thicker and added a bigger battery. Once again, phones that dont ****ing last longer than half a day.

 

[boltjames]

I honestly can't wait until I get my 7 plus. As far as the rest of your post, if Apple had an underlying motivation for the water resistance than all phone manufacturers do. Pot kettle thing.

Apple is grasping at straws. They are out of truly innovative ideas so they are down to the D listers. They would have been smarter to not release an iPhone 7 at all then release what they just did.

Great artists don't compromise. At their peak, bands like U2 would make their fans wait years until they felt inspired enough to release something really profound, they didn't release The Joshua Tree II. They waited 4 long years until they discovered a new sound and created Achtung Baby. Apple used to be like that. Now they're Mariah Carey.

BJ

 

[I7guy]

Apple is grasping at straws. They are out of truly innovative ideas so they are down to the D listers. They would have been smarter to not release an iPhone 7 at all then release what they just did.

Great artists don't compromise. At their peak, bands like U2 would make their fans wait years until they felt inspired enough to release something really profound, they didn't release The Joshua Tree II. They waited 4 long years until they discovered a new sound and created Achtung Baby. Apple used to be like that. Now they're Mariah Carey.

BJ

I dont see a compromise. I see a super-solid phone that will leave the competition scrambling as the phone 1 year back and then one year back from that etc.

 

[boltjames]

The issue isn't that some people are choosing not to upgrade, the issue is that some people are making it seem like anyone who buys the iPhone is an idiot because it doesn't have a headphone jack.

No, what we're saying is that the iPhone 7 has no audio win over an iPhone 6. We get everything you're boasting about already, we've had it for years. You're trading a handy jack for water resistance you don't need. You're being played. What, you think some cute girl in a coffee shop is going to see the bottom of your iPhone, see there is no headphone jack, and think you are some cutting edge man of the future? LOL.

The retention of the headphone jack does not prevent Lightning audio, EarPods, or Bluetooth so the removal of the jack isn't some big event. We iPhone 6'ers already have all the protocols, we can use all the new accessories, we can feel 'courageous', we can be edgy and 'wireless', and as an added bonus we can keep our throwback port too. It's simply the better option.

BJ

 

[Kiwikat88]

Apple did not solve some headphone problem yesterday, this isn't like floppy discs making way for a superior CDR technology either. Wireless headphones have been around for 15 years and they are a small fraction of the market for a reason; they don't sound good and they are annoying to keep charged. All Apple did was batten down the hatches to try to drain every dollar of profit possible from a category of consumer electronics that they no longer can innovate in. They raised prices to increase profits, they waterproofed to avoid returns, they created a proprietary port to sell overpriced Beats headphones and collect third-party royalties. This is a classic play in the consumer electronics industry when the well of innovation runs dry.

If you want to believe Phil Schiller's pixie dust you go right ahead, some of us are smarter than that.

I never argued that they solved a headphone problem. They only created one. I don't disagree with the above, though I don't think it exclusively was the motive.

For most users this is going to be a neutral move. Lots and lots of people already have bluetooth headphones. Most of the ones who don't, have a pair of 3.5mm-terminated ones they like that can be used with the dongle they're including for "free". No big deal. This does affect those of us who have a collection of headphones we enjoy, and don't want to have an adapter for all of them. This doesn't really affect audiophiles as most of them probably aren't using a phone for music to begin with. (I've got a FiiO X3 player/dac and E12 amp sitting next to me at work)

Some third parties have already started making lightning-compatible headphones. Some of them are even quite nice. I've got a pair of Audeze Sines that are phenomenal, and sound even better paired with their lightning cable than the 3.5mm one. This has basically nothing to do with the lightning connection, but rather the custom-tailored DAC and amp they include on the cable that perfectly matches the headphone's sound profile.

 

[Rob198612]

IMO, samsung will follow suit by ditching the headphone jack. now when the new iPhone is released and samsung buys it to examine it they will realize how good it is without the headphone jack that they will ditch it. then LG, Sony etc. will follow suit.

BTW moto has started ditching the headphone jack so apple is not the only one nor the first one to do this.

 

[bitslap47]

The rest of the industry will not follow Apple's MFi Lightning standard which requires a royalty of $4 per unit as this would make them noncompetitive. The existing headphone jack has no royalty whatsoever and is a universal standard that no one is complaining about. Apple will stand alone on this one. Android is going to have a field day poking fun at Apple and they'd be 100% right.

Apple did not solve some headphone problem yesterday, this isn't like floppy discs making way for a superior CDR technology either. Wireless headphones have been around for 15 years and they are a small fraction of the market for a reason; they don't sound good and they are annoying to keep charged. All Apple did was batten down the hatches to try to drain every dollar of profit possible from a category of consumer electronics that they no longer can innovate in. They raised prices to increase profits, they waterproofed to avoid returns, they created a proprietary port to sell overpriced Beats headphones and collect third-party royalties. This is a classic play in the consumer electronics industry when the well of innovation runs dry.

If you want to believe Phil Schiller's pixie dust you go right ahead, some of us are smarter than that.

BJ

There are 900 million lightning enabled devices.

There are 1.2 billion cars in the world.

I have to imagine the automotive aftermarket pays royalties for some items they manufacture... seems profitable for them.

 

[boltjames]

I never argued that they solved a headphone problem. They only created one. I don't disagree with the above, though I don't think it exclusively was the motive.

For most users this is going to be a neutral move. Lots and lots of people already have bluetooth headphones. Most of the ones who don't, have a pair of 3.5mm-terminated ones they like that can be used with the dongle they're including for "free". No big deal. This does affect those of us who have a collection of headphones we enjoy, and don't want to have an adapter for all of them. This doesn't really affect audiophiles as most of them probably aren't using a phone for music to begin with. (I've got a FiiO X3 player/dac and E12 amp sitting next to me at work)

Some third parties have already started making lightning-compatible headphones. Some of them are even quite nice. I've got a pair of Audeze Sines that are quite phenomenal, and sound even better paired with their lightning cable than the 3.5mm one. This has basically nothing to do with the lightning connection, but rather the custom-tailored DAC and amp they include on the cable that perfectly matches the headphone's sound profile.

Over 85% of the headphones sold are wired and it's because they sound better and are more convenient. Bluetooth headphones have been around over 10 years, they are a niche business, they cater to joggers and gym rats.

The third parties that are making Lightning headphones are no-names that view Apple compatibility as a ticket to a business model. Another niche.

A headphone wire simply isn't inconvenient for those of us who don't run or go to the gym every day. They sit unused in a backpack for a month, when you need them they are there and don't need charging, and when in-use they weigh nothing and don't bother you as you sit on a train or in a plane. And those who care about audio quality would never seek a wireless option, they sound lousy, they are hissy, they have frequent dropouts.

Apple has been off the rails since the Beats acquisition, it's going to do down as the Edsel of the digital age. Apple Music, bust. Apple Connect, bust. Apple Music Radio, bust. Beats Headphones, downtrending. Next will be Apple Music HD where the files will be gigantic, they'll cost 2x more, and there will be some supposed "digital reality" sound experience, no different than quadraphonic LP's or 3D HDTV, just another rejected attempt to repurpose the same old content again and again, like I need to purchase Sargent Pepper a 15th time in my life.

BJ

 

[0007776]

Hilarious. They include the new headphones and a tiny adapter in the box, and the macrumors whining continues.

But do they include an adapter so I can use the new headphones with anything else? That's equally important to the one that they did include.

 

[boltjames]

There are 900 million lightning enabled devices.

There are 1.2 billion cars in the world.

I have to imagine the automotive aftermarket pays royalties for some items they manufacture... seems profitable for them.

Cars get their data and connectivity from USB ports which have a small royalty and are universal.

In fact, in my BMW's, each time Apple creates a new standard (32 Pin, Lightning) or a new protocol (iTunes, CarPlay, AirPlay) BMW is 2 to 3 years behind as they try to play catch-up. Meanwhile all the Android stuff works immediately and without any tweaking to the car OS.

BJ

 

[Southern Dad]

iPhone isn't for everyone. Maybe the OP will be happier sticking with his/her current iPhone or would be happy with Android. I am going to be ordering my iPhone with its included adapter and headset.

 

[Kiwikat88]

But do they include an adapter so I can use the new headphones with anything else? That's equally important to the one that they did include.

Do yourself a favor and don't use apple headphones for anything else, or for anything at all for that matter. Get something that doesn't suck. You're already spending many hundreds of dollars on a phone. Some halfway decent headphones won't cost a whole lot more.

A headphone wire simply isn't inconvenient for those of us who don't run or go to the gym every day. They sit unused in a backpack for a month, when you need them they are there and don't need charging, and when in-use they weigh nothing and don't bother you as you sit on a train or in a plane. And those who care about audio quality would never seek a wireless option, they sound lousy, they are hissy, they have frequent dropouts.

Can't really argue there. I hate the idea of having to recharge headphones. I'd much rather pump lots of power into them with headphone amps.

 

[bitslap47]

Cars get their data and connectivity from USB ports which have a small royalty and are universal.

In fact, in my BMW's, each time Apple creates a new standard (32 Pin, Lightning) or a new protocol (iTunes, CarPlay, AirPlay) BMW is 2 to 3 years behind as they try to play catch-up. Meanwhile all the Android stuff works immediately and without any tweaking to the car OS.

BJ

Hmm... quick Goole search: http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-876893.html


"Android seems to be a step-child as far as BMW is concerned. Maybe that will change in the future? But I recommend you start here ... to learn exactly what features your car and phone/carrier are capable of.

http://www.bmwusa.com/Standard/Content/Owner/BluetoothTechnology/bluetoothframedin.aspx

Also, confirm that your car has the most current Connected Drive s/w. Check out this site - you'll need a USB stick to transfer any updates that might apply to your car.

http://www.bmw.com/com/en/owners/co...mobile_devices/bluetooth_software_update.html

I am an Android fan and thought BMW Apps would talk to me but that seems it's only for the world Apple; however I get email and txts in my idrive and though replying to them is a PIA, I can always wait or pull over to handle that on my phone (HTC (M8) directly if it's an urgent matter."

 

[0007776]

Do yourself a favor and don't use apple headphones for anything else, or for anything at all for that matter. Get something that doesn't suck. You're already spending many hundreds of dollars on a phone. Some halfway decent headphones won't cost a whole lot more.

Why? I know a lot of people have a problem with how the Apple one's fit, but they feel comfortable to me and I can't hear a difference between them and expensive headphones.

 

[Kiwikat88]

I can't hear a difference between them and expensive headphones.

Either your hearing is really, really bad, or you're not telling the truth. I've got a pair of 6S-era earpods next to me and Sennheiser IE-80s, and the difference is night and day.

 

[KillaMac]

SOMEONE had to do it. Apple usually leads the industry. Back when the iMac was released, people were flabbergasted that it had no floppy drive or ADB ports...

And I currently don't even like the company, yet I am defending the decision because it's just like other past decisions: they are fine after the rest of the industry adjusts. Again, it seems incredible that someone would have whined about not having a floppy drive in their iMac, as floppies were pretty much useless by the time the early 2000s came around.

\
Yep. They were the first to get rid of the DVD/CD drives on computers. Then others followed.

 

[tomjleeds]

Over 85% of the headphones sold are wired and it's because they sound better and are more convenient. Bluetooth headphones have been around over 10 years, they are a niche business, they cater to joggers and gym rats.

The third parties that are making Lightning headphones are no-names that view Apple compatibility as a ticket to a business model. Another niche.

A headphone wire simply isn't inconvenient for those of us who don't run or go to the gym every day. They sit unused in a backpack for a month, when you need them they are there and don't need charging, and when in-use they weigh nothing and don't bother you as you sit on a train or in a plane. And those who care about audio quality would never seek a wireless option, they sound lousy, they are hissy, they have frequent dropouts.

Apple has been off the rails since the Beats acquisition, it's going to do down as the Edsel of the digital age. Apple Music, bust. Apple Connect, bust. Apple Music Radio, bust. Beats Headphones, downtrending. Next will be Apple Music HD where the files will be gigantic, they'll cost 2x more, and there will be some supposed "digital reality" sound experience, no different than quadraphonic LP's or 3D HDTV, just another rejected attempt to repurpose the same old content again and again, like I need to purchase Sargent Pepper a 15th time in my life.

BJ

I am absolutely anti-jack removal but this is simply not correct. How they sound is secondary to most people. Price is the primary factor for most people buying headphones. If sound was such a big deal, they wouldn't rock ****** £10 ones or the awful ones which come with the phone.

 

[0007776]

Either your hearing is really, really bad, or you're not telling the truth. I've got a pair of 6S-era earpods next to me and Sennheiser IE-80s, and the difference is night and day.

I know plenty of other people who can't hear a difference, and my hearing is just fine as well as theirs. Pretty much the only people I know who claim to be able to hear a difference are the people who are trying to justify spending a couple hundred dollars on Headphones.