Supply Chain Rumors Reaffirm iPhone 7 Will Not Have Headphone Jack

[nelmat]

Again you're wrong. It's not just a phone and it is also a high end audio playback device.

Opinions are never wrong. You use the device as you use it, I use it to suit my own purposes, subjective opinion - Not fact. The audiophiles will argue that as the phone will not play FLAC files, it's not high end audio.

However, we digress, that's not the focus of this debate.
[doublepost=1451995444,1451995368][/doublepost]

I had a Sony Xperia Z3 and took it regularly into the swimming pool to take pictures in and under the water of my daughter with Zero issues.

Yup, and others did the same and got soggy internals. Again, not the point I was making and that you choose to ignore - there are plenty of reasons other than space/weight to drop the 3.5mm port and transition to a digital connection.

 

[jscooper22]

iPhone 8 will have no screen. You'll sense what is happening via The Force. Seeing is so yesterday.

 

[OldSchoolMacGuy]

the unverified reports should be treated with caution until or unless additional sources verify these claims

And yet most everyone here takes it as 100% irrefutable fact. If every rumor were true, we'd have an iPhone with a 7" 3D screen, built-in projector, removable battery, waterproof, wireless charging, and a million more features years ago.

 

[Robstevo]

No, they are water resistant, but reading some reviews, it appears they don't quite live up to the hype. How about some other advantages like power and data pass through? There are plenty of advantages and reasons for doing this other than space/weight (the weight being negligible).

You can have the Lightning port in ADDITION to the headphone jack, you know like we currently do?

 

[maflynn]

I know I'm late to the party here, but I wanted to voice my displeasure at this move. I think it bites and all apple is doing is removing this component to make the phone even thinner.

I'm not going to say I won't buy the next iPhone because I'm basically locked into the ecosystem but I can say that I'm not happy about it.

 

[nelmat]

No, it doesn't. I am sorry.

First of all, the contact area would be smaller compared to a 3.5 mm jack, hence you would have rather worse signal and sound quality.

Secondly using a headphone constantly via lightning the likelihood is far higher that you will brake something, because the headphone jack allows the connector to be rotated, the Lightning connector doesn't .

Thirdly you can't even charge your phone and listen to your songs at the same time.

Your suggestions make absolutely ZERO sense.

Or you could learn to read.

Smaller contact area = lesser sound quality? Nonsense.
Why can't I charge my phone when listening on BT headphones, or when the phone is on a dock, or using some other pass through technology that Apple might introduce if they take this step.

Your closed mindedness makes you blind to forward thinking.
[doublepost=1451995652,1451995613][/doublepost]

You can have the Lightning port in ADDITION to the headphone jack, you know like we currently do?

Yes you can. What's your point?

 

[Jsameds]

Attaching it to my headphones is still carrying it, and I don't always have the same headphones on me. Is it the worst thing in the world? No. But I'm still seeing zero benefits for me and more inconveniences. Seriously, what is the upside here? Don't just tell me why it's not as bad as it sounds. If there's no obvious advantage, why change?

Upside is technology moves on and our devices get smaller, which also has an upshot for both present and future devices that are too small to house a 3.5" jack.

Once the jack is gone people will migrate at a much faster rate to BT headphones, which means more money is spent in the area, which in turn means a faster progression and more widespread support of wireless audio technology.

Basically these sacrifices get us to the future faster, as uncomfortable as it is sometimes you just have to bite the bullet.

 

[MarkusL]

Phil (on-stage): We've completely redesigned the stereo output for our iPhone. Now you will have premium sound output regardless of the type of headset. Gone are the days of decades old 3.5mm phono jack inputs and now we've switched over to our advanced 8-pin apple lightning port design you can bet you'll get great sound no matter what the type of headphones you own. You know how we love to advance our technologies at apple so for all those who are transitioning we offer you our 3.5mm to lightning adapters for $39 each. We don't include these adapters because out of the box our new headphones included already adapts to the advanced lightning port. (audience golf claps...)

what's deemed universal standard apple gets rid of it. There is absolutely nothing wrong with the 3.5mm phono jack adapted for hundreds of millions of headphones. this is just to secure a license lock on iPhone accessories. Pure business answer to a problem no one was asking.

But before Phil takes the stage, Tim will announce it in the style of Steve's original iPhone announcement:

"Today, we introduce two new devices. A new phone with a touchscreen interface. A revolutionary internet communications device. But no iPod!"

He repeats:

"A new phone with a touchscreen interface. A revolutionary internet communications device. But no iPod! Are you getting it?"

 

[addicted44]

Siri is officially the worst, most useless gimmick I have ever encountered

It's amazing to me that 4 years since its introduction by Apple, Siri has barely reached feature parity with the app Apple purchased to offer voice assistant functionality.

I am frankly shocked at how little Siri has progressed since Apple first introduced it (which was already a massive regression from the original 3rd party Siri app).

 

[OldSchoolMacGuy]

they better supply us with free headphones.....

Have you bought an iPhone since they've been selling them in 2007? Have you noticed the headphones included with every single one of them?

 

[Luis Mazza]

I know I'm late to the party here, but I wanted to voice my displeasure at this move. I think it bites and all apple is doing is removing this component to make the phone even thinner.

I'm not going to say I won't buy the next iPhone because I'm basically locked into the ecosystem but I can say that I'm not happy about it.

Unless Apple has a very good/ cheap solution for this move, the best we can do is not buying it.

 

[Jsameds]

I know I'm late to the party here, but I wanted to voice my displeasure at this move. I think it bites and all apple is doing is removing this component to make the phone even thinner.

I'm not going to say I won't buy the next iPhone because I'm basically locked into the ecosystem but I can say that I'm not happy about it.

I don't think it's about thinness since the iPod Touch 5 & 6 are thinner yet still house the jack. I believe it's to do with increasing the density of technology in the iPhone and reducing the overall size of the phone, not just in the Z axis.

 

[nelmat]

I'd love to see digital headphones with maybe a small inline flexible screen in the cable - current track, incoming text message. Control the phone with a simple touch screen attached to the headphone cable. There is so much potential here. But the doubters/Luddites, feel free to stick with your thirty year old connector, and your external SuperDrives and bags of adapters connecting other archaic peripherals.

 

[Robstevo]

Or you could learn to read.

Smaller contact area = lesser sound quality? Nonsense.
Why can't I charge my phone when listening on BT headphones, or when the phone is on a dock, or using some other pass through technology that Apple might introduce if they take this step.

Your closed mindedness makes you blind to forward thinking.
[doublepost=1451995652,1451995613][/doublepost]
Yes you can. What's your point?

Because people's points about height quality audio etc through the Lightning port etc this can already be done.

So what Bennefit Does removing the headphone jack do apart from alienate millions of people that use it day to day?

For waterproofing? No Sony can do waterproofing with the headphone jack.

Thinness and weight? It's an already crazy light and thin phone.

 

[alexgowers]

This rumour is pissing me off. If apple removes the headphone jack I will not be upgrading until it returns. If they're all about music they need to provide adapters but then i don't want to use an adapter even if they provide multiple free.

There is zero advantages with lighting audio vs the 3.5 mm jack and in fact worse audio through bluetooth. It literally riles me up to think apple might really be this stupid.

 

[addicted44]

I have yet to see any{one} tell me why this is good for the consumer.


1. Headphones will cost more because it will take head phone companies new R&D to manufacture new head phones. Built new plants to make lightning ports and standards and licensing fees they pay apple.

2. You won't be able to charge your phone while listing to music.

3. Bluetooth is crap because it drains your phones battery life, audio quality often sucks compared to standard head phones, the head phones battery lift sucks and often people don't even use head phones, they use cheap ear phones and plus and play.

Good list. In addition, I currently use the same headphones whether listening to music on my mac, or iPhone. That will not be an option (except for brand new macs if Apple starts introducing the lightning connector in the mac line). And I will not be able to use my headphones with my work PC at all. So I will need different headphones to listen to music on the subway, and then to listen to music on my PC when I reach work.

 

[BradWould]

Apple will do what Apple wants to do and it will be the best selling iPhone of all time. Say what you will about the executive team, stupid they are not.

 

[joeblow7777]

Upside is technology moves on and our devices get smaller, which also has an upshot for both present and future devices that are too small to house a 3.5" jack.

Once the jack is gone people will migrate at a much faster rate to BT headphones, which means more money is spent in the area, which in turn means a faster progression and more widespread support of wireless audio technology.

Basically these sacrifices get us to the future faster, as uncomfortable as it is sometimes you just have to bite the bullet.

Technology moves on how? That implies improvement. I honestly don't get what's better about this. The answer always seems to be, devices can get even thinner. That's nice and all, but I don't know that that's the most important thing if it's starting to come at the expense of functionality and convenience.

 

[Rogifan]

Because a lot of people are idiots and they'll blindly buy whatever they're told to buy in the media.

Still makes no sense. How does this make Apple more money? The only way for them to make more money would be to not include an adapter in the box and sell it for $29.99 or whatever which believe me would piss A LOT of people off. This definitely is a risky move that could negatively impact iPhone sales. IF this rumor is true I doubt the decision was taken lightly.

 

[Roller]

Some of the comments in this thread are making me sick. Look, far from me to tell you to how to use this forum. But the idea of having to carry an adapter to use my existing headphones is genuinely distressing me.

Right now my Mac and my iPhone, two devices I play audio from all the time, have the same headphone port. That makes it easily to plug and unplug from one to the other. But in future it seems I won't be able to do that without removing the adapter. And such a small thing like that will inevitably get lost when you plug and unplug it several times a day.

I suppose if I didn't need the Lightning port for anything else (wireless charging perhaps?) then the adapter could live permanently docked in the iPhone. But that's going to leave it with an unsightly hump, which is bound to break off in my pocket and leave a piece of itself inside the phone. No, no, no, no.

I like my headphones. I won't buy wireless because the last thing I need is yet another battery-powered device with a daily charging cycle. No.

And I can't follow the tech news for the next 8 months to find out whether this awful thing will transpire or not because it would be bad for my mental health. That's why I'm leaving MacRumors. I don't know when I'll be back, hopefully never. This will be my last post. Please don't write replies to tell me why my opinion is so very wrong, because I won't read them.

If rumors about the type of audio connection on the next iPhone make you sick, you probably should avoid all news sites, newspapers, magazines, radio, TV, and any other media I left out.

 

[prowlmedia]

Why use wired at all. Latest Bluetooth is perfectly fine for the Compressed streaming / music on phones anyway. Anyone that thinks other wise is wrong.

 

[addicted44]

Because people's points about height quality audio etc through the Lightning port etc this can already be done.

Besides, I'm finding it hard to buy the Audio quality argument. I remember when the Pono device came out, whose selling point was audio quality, the internet was filled with articles about how the device does not make sense because the human ear cannot recognize higher quality sound than that which is delivered by cell phones already.

 

[Jsameds]

Technology moves on how? That implies improvement. I honestly don't get what's better about this. The answer always seems to be, devices can get even thinner. That's nice and all, but I don't know that that's the most important thing if it's starting to come at the expense of functionality and convenience.

Read my post, I already explained.

 

[maflynn]

I don't think it's about thinness since the iPod Touch 5 & 6 are thinner yet still house the jack. I believe it's to do with increasing the density of technology in the iPhone and reducing the overall size of the phone, not just in the Z axis.

Technology has been on a march towards miniaturization, so I don't think they need to room to pack more circuitry in but rather make the phone smaller (or thinner in this case).

Unless Apple has a very good/ cheap solution for this move, the best we can do is not buying it.

I'm going to wait and see, but I am not happy about this rumor. I own an apple watch, and my wife has no desire to leave the platform. It makes too much sense to stick with iOS for me, but I still don't like it

 

[Burger Thing]

Yup, and others did the same and got soggy internals. Again, not the point I was making and that you choose to ignore - there are plenty of reasons other than space/weight to drop the 3.5mm port and transition to a digital connection.

Did you not just suggested to use the Lightning Port with the built in DAC to provide converted audio signals?

I see a good opportunity for Apple to innovate/evolve lightning with a built in DAC in the phone, auto sensing when headphones/speakers are connected and providing the converted audio signal down two pins.

I am sorry again, but that wouldn't be a digital connection. Just a different form factor than before

I feel almost embarrassed to ask you but reading through your posts here i have to go ahead anyway: do you actually know, what a DAC is? And what the signal output of a DAC is?