Removal of iPhone 7 Headphone Jack Was Essential for Water Resistance, New Camera System

[Saturn1217]

My only issue with this is that Apple doesn't exist in a vacuum and they seem to be trying to create a world where you have headphones that work with Apple products (or perhaps just with iPhones) and other headphones (or an adapter) for working with anything else you might want to use headphones with. I use headphones with an Apple laptop, a Windows PC, an Android phone and an Apple iPad. Obviously moving to a new connector comes with an adjustment period. But in Apple's mind it seems like even if I were to buy a brand new Windows PC, Apple laptop, Android phone and Apple iPad they may never all work with the same pair of headphones without adapters...unless I use bluetooth which is more expensive and not as good as whatever proprietary wireless solution Apple has created for their own Airpods (by their own admission). Obviously, I realize I'll miss out on some benefits of living entirely within apple's ecosystem but I don't want to be explicitly penalized for it either.

Granted I also just don't like wireless headphones. I recently moved back to a wired keyboard after dealing with bluetooth keyboards for a while. So much happier! Wired keyboard just works, never fails to wake the macbook up and will never run out of batteries. Wireless/bluetooth should remain, what it is now, an option that anyone who prefers already had access to on any modern phone.

 

[jun180]

So, I'm in my car and I have the stock headphones. How do I put the phone into a charger (cuz I'll be using GPS and that's juicy) and take a hands-free call with the stock headphones like I do now?

Oh, I can't unless I BUY extra ****ing headphones that look like ear tampons.

So I'm at home and I put my phone in the charger at night and at the same time listen to something on my Grado headphones. I'm a sound engineer and I want to listen to that days mixes but my phone needs charging.

Oh, I can't do that at all. Great. I do these things now. If I can't do them, I wouldn't want the phone would I. And being able to plug something else in whilst a phone is charging shouldn't be too much to ask.

Lol'd at "ear tampons"

 

[Misaki]

I hope this new iPhone will flop. Then they would realise it was a mistake to remove it. I'll be fine with my SE for a couple of years but after that I guess I'll have to get a Samsung or whatever still has a headphone jack.

Indeed.

Clearly nobody at Apple uses their own products, or they would have realized how boneheaded this move is.

There was two obvious solutions:
a) TOSLINK + battery powered headphones if they were hellbent on digital audio and wanted to seal the connector.
b) USB-C headphones, or put the headphones on the lightning connector and put the charging on USB-C.

"Wireless" is not, nor has ever been the right solution because that requires a separate power source, compression, and sticking "wireless" stuff right beside your head all day is insanity.

Whoever approved removing the 3.5mm jack, clearly doesn't use the iPhone at all. If you work in an office environment where most contact is via email or instant messaging, you would want to be able to listen to music for 12 hours (that includes commute time.) 5 hours doesn't even give people enough time to commute, let alone use it at work. Are people expected to own 3 pairs of earpods? No thank you. As for the battery life, here's where Apple doubled-down on not using their own product. So they sell "Apple Music", yet the phone only has a 12 hour battery life when using the internet. Now combine that with the 5 hour battery life of the earpods.

No, this is an absolutely stupid thing. Nobody asked for it to be waterproof, and I live in a rainy city. You are not taking your phone swimming or diving. Are people using it in the shower? I don't think so. Maybe it's to prevent iPhones from falling into showers and toilets and becoming damaged that way.

Even then, that doesn't require removing the 3.5mm jack. Have you seen what the 3.5mm jack in the iPhone looks like? It's it's own sealed thing.

https://d3nevzfk7ii3be.cloudfront.net/igi/Qph6ODctaPbhqaL1.huge

even if you x-ray it, that's still a sealed thing

http://media.idownloadblog.com/wp-c...Phone-6s-teardown-image-003-Taptic-Engine.jpg

The iPhone 6S was already waterproof enough.
https://www.engadget.com/2015/10/02/iphone-6s-waterproof/

 

[pentrix2]

I'm with you. This is a deal breaker for me. I need the ability to charge and use a wired headset simultaneously. I will use my 6+ until it dies then switch to another brand.

I'm still with the 4s. 4s and 7, to me pretty much the same piece of crap. Haha

 

[deany]

Your reading comprehension level is low, but troll level extremely high.

maybe he is dyslectic like me - make allowances
peace

 

[octopi]

Actually, once sound comes out of a DAC, it is analogue. All sound we hear is analogue:

https://paulsmithblog.wordpress.com/2014/11/27/24-bit-recording/

 

[Wondercow]

Except those aren't really holes and water can't get in from there.

Proof? I am yet to see any..

Yet you also have no proof that they are holes, but you still rant and rave as if it were true....

 

[morcutt11]

Nothing "courageous".

It does take courage and they've done it before by not caving in to removable batteries and removable media. It isn't necessary. Other manufacturers will follow suite soon enough.

 

[Tompkinson]

The worst part is that Apple itself makes a thinner device than the iPhone, which does include the headphone jack. The iPod Touch.

They didn't claim they removed it in order to create a thinner device.
You may agree with their explanation or not, but thinness was not mentioned afaik

 

[pentrix2]

Indeed.

Clearly nobody at Apple uses their own products, or they would have realized how boneheaded this move is.

There was two obvious solutions:
a) TOSLINK + battery powered headphones if they were hellbent on digital audio and wanted to seal the connector.
b) USB-C headphones, or put the headphones on the lightning connector and put the charging on USB-C.

"Wireless" is not, nor has ever been the right solution because that requires a separate power source, compression, and sticking "wireless" stuff right beside your head all day is insanity.

Whoever approved removing the 3.5mm jack, clearly doesn't use the iPhone at all. If you work in an office environment where most contact is via email or instant messaging, you would want to be able to listen to music for 12 hours (that includes commute time.) 5 hours doesn't even give people enough time to commute, let alone use it at work. Are people expected to own 3 pairs of earpods? No thank you. As for the battery life, here's where Apple doubled-down on not using their own product. So they sell "Apple Music", yet the phone only has a 12 hour battery life when using the internet. Now combine that with the 5 hour battery life of the earpods.

No, this is an absolutely stupid thing. Nobody asked for it to be waterproof, and I live in a rainy city. You are not taking your phone swimming or diving. Are people using it in the shower? I don't think so. Maybe it's to prevent iPhones from falling into showers and toilets and becoming damaged that way.

Even then, that doesn't require removing the 3.5mm jack. Have you seen what the 3.5mm jack in the iPhone looks like? It's it's own sealed thing.

https://d3nevzfk7ii3be.cloudfront.net/igi/Qph6ODctaPbhqaL1.huge

even if you x-ray it, that's still a sealed thing

http://media.idownloadblog.com/wp-c...Phone-6s-teardown-image-003-Taptic-Engine.jpg

The iPhone 6S was already waterproof enough.
https://www.engadget.com/2015/10/02/iphone-6s-waterproof/

Of course, just another way of Apple, aka God...makes more moolah off of sheeps, I mean people.

 

[jaymzuk]

Removing jack wasn't essential for water resistance...it's essential for money making.

It's taken away something that customers used (Headphone jack), giving them a feature they've lived quite happily without for a decade (Water resistance), to justify the purchase of a new device.

It is what it is. People will pay for it then try to justify it to themselves. We're all guilty of it from time to time.

It doesn't affect me anyway. My S7 is fine with it's water resistance that I've never tested, because my years on this planet have taught me instinctively to not put electronic devices near water.

 

[pheenix11]

I can't believe people care this much. I'm like, meh, who cares. So I plug the headphones into the Lightning port instead. Big deal.

 

[Tompkinson]

I'm in favor of dumping the headphone jack that lasted an astonishing 100 years. However the Lightning connector they replaced it with won't even last a tenth of that time. Darn shame about not going with usb-c.

Nothing implemented in today's throwaway devices - like an iPhone - will last a tenth of that time

 

[jhende7]

Hahaha being sarcastic doesn't provide proof to backup a claim, and they could of put the microphone behind the holes, you know like Sony has been doing for years....

I'll take it on the chin if Apple, a multi billion dollar company, with thousands of R&D dollars, top notch quality assurance and water resistance certification left a bunch of open holes on the phone providing direct exposure to the sensitive components within.

For some strange feeling I feel like I won't have to take anything on the chin.

 

[pat500000]

It's taken away something that customers used (Headphone jack), giving them a feature they've lived quite happily without for a decade (Water resistance), to justify the purchase of a new device.

It is what it is. People will pay for it then try to justify it to themselves. We're all guilty of it from time to time.

It doesn't affect me anyway. My S7 is fine with it's water resistance that I've never tested, because my years on this planet have taught me instinctively to not put electronic devices near water.

It doesn't affect either way...because i've been using bluetooth as well....but just saying.

 

[CE3]

Water resistance and camera upgrades are good things. But no headphone jack means it's not possible to keep the phone charging while driving in a car, using GPS and listening to music simultaneously. It also means iRig HD and Apogee Jam, 2 very nice guitar lightning interfaces, won't be compatible with iPhone 7. And the other question is: are iPads next to have no 3.5 mm jack? Then the macs too? I don't like where Apple is heading.

Yes, there are lots of people like you (and me) who use iOS devices for audio and music production and simultaneously utilize both ports in a number of ways.. especially on the iPad. I don't see the jack leaving the iPad right now. it would be a terrible move. iOS music apps and audio accessories are usually on the pricier side, so it's a lucrative market for Apple even if it's a smaller one.

 

[Tompkinson]

Human eyes haven't evolved much in millions of years...

But that doesn't mean I'm going to gouge mine out, just because nature hasn't innovated in a while!

I hope you agree that human eyes are infinitely more useful than a headphone jack on a disposable device?

 

[pentrix2]

So they removed a standard port and they suggest 3 options for replacement:

1) Proprietary port that is also used for charging. (So no longer charging and listening to music, or having your iphone in the car as navigation system connected via aux)
2) Proprietary wireless protocol only compatible with apple products
3) Standard wireless protocol that suffers from unresolved issues for decades.

What did we get in return? TAPTIC HOME BUTTON.
Thanks, but I will pass. Actually I am abandoning the whole platform. See you in the distant future apple.

What a piece of crap iPhone 7. They don't care what we get, they care what they get from us, more moolah.

 

[octopi]

I can't believe people care this much. I'm like, meh, who cares. So I plug the headphones into the Lightning port instead. Big deal.

And when you're listening to some great music and your phone is about to die so you decide to plug it in to charge whilst still listening to your music?

Oh, you can't. Is that too much to ask in 2016?

 

[Sonmi451]

Still don't understand why people are comparing this to things like the removal of the floppy disk and cassette players. Each of those things were replaced by better technologies. Ditching a wired technology with a wireless one isn't the same thing, but rather something that complements existing things. For example, Wi-Fi isn't a replacement for Ethernet, for without Ethernet, you generally wouldn't have Wi-Fi.

From the interview, it just sounds like Apple couldn't fix a supposed issue that they were having. Were they telling the truth, or was it lazy engineering? We'll never truly know.

There was literally nothing wrong with the 3.5mm jack.

Everything else is digital, why have we kept the headphone jack after all these years? It was going to go eventually, why not now? You don't have a good answer, you just want to be upset over something stupid.

 

[jhende7]

Ever heard of a wired connection to a car stereo? Idiot.

I've been hooking my phone up to my car via the USB port for the last 8 years. So pot meet kettle?

 

[Tom-Helge]

I hated the headphone jack. It was a giant hole at the bottom of the phone. Gross.

Yeah, you just got 6 new holes to live with instead now. Seems like a good move for you then.

 

[sehix]

I hope this new iPhone will flop. Then they would realise it was a mistake to remove it. I'll be fine with my SE for a couple of years but after that I guess I'll have to get a Samsung or whatever still has a headphone jack.

Absolutely. After all, it's just so difficult to use the adapter that ships in the box with the new iPhones so you can use the 'phones/earbuds that you already have.

FWP

 

[octopi]

Everything else is digital, why have we kept the headphone jack after all these years? It was going to go eventually, why not now? You don't have a good answer, you just want to be upset over something stupid.

Personally I have no objection to lightning connected headphones. I just need to charge the phone at the same time as having the headphones connected. I don't think that is a big request.

 

[Halopend]

Its true, its time to move on.. technology changes, people don't use cassette players anymore.

Apple should have made the phone itself wirelessly charge like the apple watch, that would have been a perfect combo

Not gonna disagree. That stupid lightning port is actually one of the worst inverntions Apple has ever made. The number of corroded cables and ports I've seen thanks to the exposed connections are proof of how terrible the design was.

They can't really get rid of the port since they've created a whole ecosystem around it but ugh.