Supply Chain Rumors Reaffirm iPhone 7 Will Not Have Headphone Jack

[friedmud]

Except that it has absolutely nothing to do with new codecs or higher quality. Saving some space on a mobile device? Sure. But lightning will do absolutely nothing to improve quality over a 3.5 connection since ANY headphone has to convert to analog before output.

There are differences in all DACs. It's completely possible for a high-end company to put a high-end DAC in their Lightning enabled headphones that sounds better than the current built-in iPhone DAC.

Just think about home stereo applications... I would much rather pass a pure digital signal to my home stereo system and let it use it's large, high quality DACs to get the job done instead of giving it the noisy analog signal coming out of the 3.5mm jack...

 

[Blaze4G]

You know what poses an inconvenience for me? Using my MacBook Pro as a mobile computer that requires me to use an adapter anytime I need to connect to an Ethernet network -- something I am required to do any time I want to access my company's secure network anywhere where across its east corporate campus or remote field offices.

This is nothing by comparison. A simple inline adapter similar to the 1/8" to 1/4" adapter that came with many "pro" headphones when 1/8" adapters were proliferating due to the Walkman and other portable technologies that were coming into the mainstream in the 80s and 90s.

yeah unlike you, I always lose or forget to bring things I need. I can't count how many times I have left something I needed to complete some work and have to find a workaround. Or losing something at a critical time. Recently I went on a 2 day trip and left my nexus 6p charger....no one with me had usb-c cables nor did bestbuy stock any.

It is just an additional hassle to remember something, ensure something else is charged....just an inconvenience. You might not forget or lose things easily...good for you.

 

[milo]

There are differences in all DACs. It's completely possible for a high-end company to put a high-end DAC in their Lightning enabled headphones that sounds better than the current built-in iPhone DAC.

And any company that wants can do that right now. I was responding to a post that seemed to think that removing the old jack was a factor in improving quality.

 

[Rigby]

There will be a passthrough adapter. Or use Bluetooth headphones.

That's just another gadget you have to keep charged. I frequently travel internationally. Travel time with some transfers can be easily be 20+ hours. I usually listen to music or audiobooks, or watch video on my iPad for most of the time. The Bluetooth earbuds I have tried don't even last half that long.

And I still haven't heard a single compelling benefit of removing the 3.5mm connector ...

 

[BlueErgonomics]

BIG mistake, unless the lightening adapter will have another adapter. Here are the reasons;
1/ All quality headphones such as Sennheiser and other professional headphones are only available with connectors, and i do not with to use the garbage that Apple and other resellers will offer as connectors
2/ Blue tooth transmission of sound quality is not the same, and the audio card in headsets are not the same quality, signal will be lost.
3/ There is a delay using blue tooth, hence live music, or DJ, or special effects and mixing won't be possible in real time with BT. So its a disaster.

Thanks apple.
E

 

[Rigby]

There are differences in all DACs. It's completely possible for a high-end company to put a high-end DAC in their Lightning enabled headphones that sounds better than the current built-in iPhone DAC.

Just think about home stereo applications... I would much rather pass a pure digital signal to my home stereo system and let it use it's large, high quality DACs to get the job done instead of giving it the noisy analog signal coming out of the 3.5mm jack...

This is already possible with the lightning ports on existing phones. No reason to remove the 3.5mm connector.

 

[friedmud]

That's just another gadget you have to keep charged. I frequently travel internationally. Travel time with some transfers can be easily be 20+ hours. I usually listen to music or audiobooks, or watch video on my iPad for most of the time. The Bluetooth earbuds I have tried don't even last half that long.

http://www.amazon.com/mophie-powers...ie=UTF8&qid=1452029872&sr=1-3&keywords=mophie

(or one of hundreds of other options)

EDIT: Also... Apple has been charging things with Lightning lately. It's not out of the realm to think that you may be able to charge their wireless EarPods (that come with the next iPhone) by plugging them right into your phone...

And I still haven't heard a single compelling benefit of removing the 3.5mm connector ...

1. Space savings. Could fill that space with battery. Maybe larger antenna. Could make the product thinner or strengthen the case. Many options.

2. Waterproof. Less holes = more waterproof. Note how the Apple Watch doesn't have a headphone jack... and is also fairly waterproof. There have already been rumors about the next iPhone being waterproof... that would be consistent with this rumor.

In the future there will be _zero_ holes in our iPhones. Charging will be wireless... as will headphones.

 

[Rigby]

http://www.amazon.com/mophie-powers...ie=UTF8&qid=1452029872&sr=1-3&keywords=mophie

(or one of hundreds of other options)

Yay, another brick to carry around.

1. Space savings. Could fill that space with battery. Maybe larger antenna. Could make the product thinner or strengthen the case. Many options.

Hopefully you are kidding.

2. Waterproof. Less holes = more waterproof. Note how the Apple Watch doesn't have a headphone jack... and is also fairly waterproof. There have already been rumors about the next iPhone being waterproof... that would be consistent with this rumor.

Here are 18 waterproof phones:

http://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/best-waterproof-phones/

Surprise: All of them have a 3.5 mm connector.

In the future there will be _zero_ holes in our iPhones.

So I assume Apple will do away with the speakers and microphone next? Who needs a phone that can ring and that you can talk into, right?

 

[Tycho24]

yeah unlike you, I always lose or forget to bring things I need. I can't count how many times I have left something I needed to complete some work and have to find a workaround. Or losing something at a critical time. Recently I went on a 2 day trip and left my nexus 6p charger....no one with me had usb-c cables nor did bestbuy stock any.

It is just an additional hassle to remember something, ensure something else is charged....just an inconvenience. You might not forget or lose things easily...good for you.

How many pairs of headphones do you own, Richey Rich???
Most of us could solve that issue by taking our ONE adapter, placing it on our ONE headphone, & then never thinking of it again... like ever.

 

[hiddenmarkov]

If this means waterproof, it might be worth it. At least if a convenient adapter is supplied free of charge...

Things is its predicted it will be waterproof/resistant. Apple couldn't even say this to the applewatch. Not even the sports edition where in that crowd you get say triathletes or more pure swimmers (plus say recreational stuff like snorkeling). All water based activities people have to go off of reports on forums and youtubers saying look I did it, it can go in the water. Nothing official from apple on this though.

 

[justinhu8]

If they're actually killing Lightning + Headphone Jack and instead giving the iPhone 7 a Type-C port to match the new MacBook, then OK, fine, I don't mind that change. Then Android and iPhone chargers will use the same cord, as will MacBooks and everything else. That's the whole point of USB Type-C: a new, better universal standard.

But if it's a Lightning cable, no amount of "X, Y and Z" will make up for "but it only works on my iPhone and now I can't use my expensive, excellent headphones anymore that works everywhere else."

Apple when ditching older technology has always gone to newer open standards
Flash? > HTML5
Floppy and ADB? > USB
Firewire? > Thunderbolt and USB 3

 

[tann]

If so I wish they would put the adapter in the box instead of earpods.

I know they won't and I'll have to pay £29.99 for an adapter!

Also if they go to lightning audio then that kills ALL hopes that they may switch to USB C.

 

[Blaze4G]

How many pairs of headphones do you own, Richey Rich???
Most of us could solve that issue by taking our ONE adapter, placing it on our ONE headphone, & then never thinking of it again... like ever.

I have 5 headphones.
1. bluetooth over the ear
2. a cheap bluetooth ear buds for working out
3. an open back over the ear for editing
4. an over the ear for regular use
5. some cheap ear buds

I switch between all 3 wired sets depending on what I am doing and how I am feeling. When I am using one of the wired, then need to use it on my laptop, I will have to remove the adapter right? Or whichever one I am carrying I will have to ensure I remove the adapter from the other one. Or I could just get 3 adapters, but that would just be a waste.

EDIT: as you mentioned most persons probably just have 1 that they use. So they should be fine.

 

[BenTrovato]

It bothers me to use the phone near my head for a call or to use wireless headphones but the 3.5mm is a joy! I do 90% of my phone calls this way. I hope the rumors are wrong.

 

[sn]

Considering that it has not even been confirmed it's worth realising that there only needs to be a 10% shift and the majority will prefer the lightning over the 3.5mm jack.

I remember the kerfuffle when lightning was introduced, yet if you ever use an old 30 pin connector on an iPhone 4s after being used to the lightning connector, the old one almost seems as laughable as the original brick phones.

Worth bearing in mind that that sample would likely have consisted almost entirely of people that follow macrumors. Not really representative of general iPhone users.

 

[midwestfisherma]

Stupid move!

 

[sn]

Apple will remove it and you'll adapt. Simple. Not saying I agree with their decision, but I'll be just fine if they remove the 3.5mm jack.

99% of people fake outraged right now will purchase the jack-less iPhone. Fact.

Adapt how?

 

[Gudi]

Ridiculously stupid move that has zero benefit for the consumer.

Is it this time of the year again?

Okay now! Bring back the 8-inch floppy, because...

Sometimes I remember this classic old Apple commercial.
THINK SIMILARLY
​

 

[sn]

I use a Bluetooth speaker and the sound quality is fantastic.

*compared to lesser-quality speakers

 

[steve333]

Apple loves to needlessly piss people off.
It's times like this when I wish I preferred Windows so I could get out of the Apple universe.
Not going to happen though, in any case this doesn't affect me since I don't own or plan to own a Smartphone.

 

[teknikal90]

I don't understand how this can possibly be a good thing.

1. Taking it out means they're trying to go even thinner ... which leads to other problems, like low capacity batteries and bending. It's a design compromise.

2. People referring to Apple taking out the CD drive are missing the fact that when Apple did that, there were viable, and better and commonly available alternatives.
- USB sticks were common, almost ubiquitous and have far higher speeds and capacities.
- Streaming finally became possible with fast download speeds, in a world where almost everybody have fast internet speeds..

3. Today - bluetooth is meant to be the defacto replacement for this headphone jack.
- Name me 5 people you know with bluetooth headphones. Better yet, name me 5 really good bluetooth headphones that aren't $200 or more.
- Also I think most people don't have bluetooth in their cars yet - they're relying solely on the good old aux cable, which by this move, have been made obsolete when they bring home their flashy new iphone that's supposed to be better in every way.
- Goodbye the good old days of being the DJ in the road trip with the aux cable. What's that? Your car can only store 5 bluetooth devices before a reset? Too bad.
- What's that? you are about to go on a plane but your bluetooth headphones isn't charged? What's that you can't just go run and grab a $10 pair of headphones from the newsagent?

I've always been someone who's at the cutting edge of technology. But this change makes me feel uneasy. There doesn't seem to be any benefit, both sound-wise and technology/design wise.

 

[friedmud]

Things is its predicted it will be waterproof/resistant. Apple couldn't even say this to the applewatch. Not even the sports edition where in that crowd you get say triathletes or more pure swimmers (plus say recreational stuff like snorkeling). All water based activities people have to go off of reports on forums and youtubers saying look I did it, it can go in the water. Nothing official from apple on this though.

The Apple Watch is _officially_ IPX7 rated ( look at the bottom of this: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT205000 ).

Wikipedia tells us that means it is officially rated to survive 1m of water for 30 minutes ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IP_Code ).

As you mention, anecdotal evidence has told us that the Watch is actually more robust than that.

 

[sn]

APPLE ALREADY SAID WIRELESS IS THE FUTURE !
Even in the event they shown wireless beats, wireless connectivity through your iphone hotspot for your mac etc
[doublepost=1451978775,1451978729][/doublepost]
Amen to that, even my solo 2 beats wireless sound very good

(in your opinion)

 

[lordofthereef]

I've had the same problems you have with Apple's lightning cables, but never with their adapters. So I'm not ready to pre-judge the quality of the hypothetical adapter that Apple possibly will release if it turns out that this rumor about the 3.5mm headphone jack turns out to be a reality sometime in the indefinite future.

That's fair. I was just saying that, based on my experience with their cables, an adapter probably isn't going to withstand gym environments for nearly as long as a cable made specifically for that reason might.

My gym buds have gone through the wash twice, the dryer once, and I have had them nearly four years. It was more a comment on how I have truly gotten my bang for my buck with that particular product.
[doublepost=1452032834][/doublepost]

I think they are referring to the iPod shuffle 3rd generation that required the controls be on the headset. You could use regular headphones, but then there was no way to control the volume. Boom: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201895

AH I see. That's possible.

 

[sn]

As long as there's a free adapter to convert my 3.5mm headphones into lightning I'm cool with this.

And have to switch your adapter between devices everytime you plug your headphones into something? I'm not cool with that at all