The sound I hear is full and good. I'm usually running with them on. I've received many calls on them while running and have never gotten a complaint from the person on the other side. They can hear me fine, and I'm usually next to a road with mild traffic.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Supply Chain Rumors Reaffirm iPhone 7 Will Not Have Headphone Jack
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
The sound I hear is full and good. I'm usually running with them on. I've received many calls on them while running and have never gotten a complaint from the person on the other side. They can hear me fine, and I'm usually next to a road with mild traffic.
We will see. I don't view this as the same thing, personally, but it's possible. I see it closer to Apple's micro usb adapter which they sell for $19. Regardless, people are throwing around $50 and $75 estimates (whether this is just a jab at Apple or serious is hard to tell in just text). Not only do I not see this being $30 (maybe a splitter with a 3.5mm port and a means to still charge would be this way), I certianly see $50 and $75 to be an astronomical estimate, even for an Apple item.
Well, that's TWO options, hardly lots. The first one involves constantly switching an adapter between devices, the second means buying another pair of headphones and having two pairs on the go. That a pretty expensive 'option'
Ridicously stupid to compare the floppy disc to the 3.5mm Headphone jack. You know just cause apple say it would be a good thing, doesn't make it right?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
For starters, audio via the headphone jack is still far better than over Bluetooth. It also doesn't require a silly adapter to work. Or charging another device to listen to music.
Bluetooth has maybe one advantage over a wired connect. Every other advantage goes to the headphone jack.
Now you might say the Lightning port is a good replacement, yet I won't be able to charge the phone while listening to music. Manufactures will have to make their own crap external DAC, manufactures will have to pay apple licensing fees to apple thus passing it on to consumers.
Proprietary connections are the worst thing possible for consumers.
Why does it have to be bigger? Do you really think it's impossible to build a simple inline dongle that's really going to cause anyone undue hardship? So what if it's more expensive? It's cheaper than switching from the iPhone ecosystem most customers are invested into, much less the ease of use, and well crafter products, and cheaper still than replacing any of your legacy gear and equipment.
The bottom line is that even those who are against this for whatever practical or philosophical reasons they might invent have to agree that the time of the 3.5mm analogue jack must come to an end sooner rather than later. And whenever that time comes no matter how far into the future there will be tears. The time is right. I mean cast your mind back to the decision of Apple to replace PPC with Intel, quite a few people thought this was the end of the Apple that we know and love, Apple would be just another PC now. How did that pan out? Right, Apple desktop sales increasing while PC desktops are tanking.
Let me be the first to predict that if Samsung do add the SD card back (which I doubt) that it would not restore their sales level. Samsung got away from Apple with their larger screens and Apple's introduction of the 4.7 and 5.5 that have set Samsung's plateau in rock. Now that the job is done Apple will cunningly release a new 4" phone and instead of being seen as an anachronism it will be seen as a masterstroke.
With the current version of iTunes + the iOS Music app and the current line of iPods remaining and now this rumor, I think it's say to safe this is the worst time to be both a music lover and an Apple user.
If Apple does make the boneheaded decision to ditch a still very essential industry standard, I do hope it will come back to bite them in the ass.
Seriously Apple, you're really starting to alienate your customers and (some) of the fanbase.
If Apple does make the boneheaded decision to ditch a still very essential industry standard, I do hope it will come back to bite them in the ass.
Seriously Apple, you're really starting to alienate your customers and (some) of the fanbase.
Well let's hope you don't forget to bring your headphones, because then all the rest of your problems with this change will be moot.
Except Apple wants to bring you all sorts of other improvements in the same-sized package or smaller. So they can just stop improving the tech in their phones, or they can let their iPhone enlarge to a non-competitive brick, or they can remove an audio connector that will eventually be left behind as wireless audio technology improves and is embraced by an increasingly larger audience, while at the same time encouraging development of better audio products for the Lightning port, which developers have no interest in because the consumer will still have the choice of the lowest common denominator. Right. No reason whatsoever to remove it. /s
No they won't put the adapter in the box, because I don't own a 3.5mm audio device, so I won't need it. And they never were going to switch to USB-C because it's not yet a defect standard, and it's still a larger connector than Lightning. Lightning is an incredibly versatile technology which Apple can keep going indefinitely, while USB-C may be replaced by the next big thing in a couple of years. Also, Lightning is far more robust a connector, where as USB-C is comparatively somewhat fragile.
I really can't see this happening. I will not be buying Beats headphones in my lifetime.
I'm just glad I got the 6s. I will not upgrade to newer iOS and use it until it breaks down, and evaluate whether to move to a new ecosystem.
Recent events at Cupertino clearly indicate that Apple is already in a downward trajectory.
Edit: also, please stop using "your other devices have blue tooth" as an supporting argument for going full wireless. Once one gets used to better sound, he does not go back. Wireless sound is horrific compared to wired sound. Apple headphones sound horrific compared to other premium headsets, all of which have, guess what, a 3.5mm jack.
Recent events at Cupertino clearly indicate that Apple is already in a downward trajectory.
Edit: also, please stop using "your other devices have blue tooth" as an supporting argument for going full wireless. Once one gets used to better sound, he does not go back. Wireless sound is horrific compared to wired sound. Apple headphones sound horrific compared to other premium headsets, all of which have, guess what, a 3.5mm jack.
Last edited:
I've read so many "if Apple does X I'll never buy an iPhone" posts in my lifetime that I couldn't even begin to count them. Not only will all of you continue to buy iPhones, but when every other oem removes the headphone jack from their phones you'll be on these forums talking about how visionary Apple is.
People are hilariously predictable.
People are hilariously predictable.
The worst will be when some people buy new expensive lightning equipped headphones only to then realise they can't be used with any other devices 
I'm sure that is in the plan. Never underestimate the ability of an Apple customer to bitch about a mechanical change in a product revision. The only consumer crowd I have seen that wines more are weekend warrior Harley-Davidson riders.
You need to ask yourself, how often do you use your 3.5-mm connector? Be happy it was there at all. When the iPhone first came out, the 3.5-mm connector was a godsend compaired to the oddball 2.5-mm connector preset on Palm PDAs. Palm had all the real estate they wanted to go with a 3.5-mm connector for headsets to plug in and go. Palm not having the 3.5-mm connector really hurt the product platform IMO.
Also, with the 3.5-mm connector going away and rumors that Apple is working on a high resolution, digital sound format tells me there is more afoot than just a thinning iPhone.
This is up there with the celebrities that threatened to leave the country when Bush was elected president. Same is happening with Trump.
You are not going to see USB-C on an iOS device for a long time for several reasons. One is the power cost and second is that dropping the Lightning connector will broadside and possibly bankrupt thousands of Apple MFi developers.
While there are no contractual agreements with MFi developers to guarantee support of a connector technology, many companies (Compaq, Palm, Handspring, etc.) nearly lost all their third party developer base and ecosystem by wholesale dropping a developer program. This lead to a loss of accessories and third party apps developed leading to a contraction of their entire ecosystem.
One good example of this was the swan song days of Palm going from a 68K SDK with native ARM extensions to a JavaScript only SDK with no program (other than a clunky emulator) to move legacy apps on their current platform. The JavaScript developers they hoped would replace the developers they threw under the bus didn't hit a critical mass. The Palm Pre was a day late and a dollar short to compete with the iPhone and they ended up selling to HP for investor recapitalization.
Last edited:
As an owner of Lightning headphones... The Sony md1adac.... I can say that they are a pain in the ass. Thankfully they allow me to switch cables to use them with my other devices... But it requires carrying cables and switching them out... It is not convenient.
If you'll want good sound quality on an iPhone without a headphone jack, you may be about to lose convenience.
If you'll want good sound quality on an iPhone without a headphone jack, you may be about to lose convenience.
The 3.5mm connector has served us well for decades and there is nothing wrong with it. What makes the time "right" now? If it's just the age of the standard, shouldn't Apple also introduce, say, new plugs on their power supplies? After all, the NEMA standard is even older than the 3.5mm plug and you can simply use an adapter to plug it into the wall outlets that the rest of the world is using, right? Just imagine the possibilities: Waterproof power bricks with tiny plugs!!!11!!
Day one purchase... Beats wireless and bose sounddock for me..
Occasionally I use earbuds with my phone for the gym when I should be using my ipod shuffle. Guess I'll miss that, or I gotta buy wireless buds (I hate seeing people workout in studio headphones)
My one prayer. I hope making the phone thinner doesn't sacrifice battery lifeeee.. I need more!!! (Iphone 6+ is awesome, but I would still appreciate more)
Occasionally I use earbuds with my phone for the gym when I should be using my ipod shuffle. Guess I'll miss that, or I gotta buy wireless buds (I hate seeing people workout in studio headphones)
My one prayer. I hope making the phone thinner doesn't sacrifice battery lifeeee.. I need more!!! (Iphone 6+ is awesome, but I would still appreciate more)
This has to be a macrumors classic!
I'm guessing my $500 B&W P5 S2's will simply run off thin air then? Need to give that a try!
Apple is not in the business of saying anything. They unveil finished products preferably on the same day you can order them. That's all.
• audio via the headphone jack is still far better than over bluetooth.
I don't care.
• it also doesn't require a silly adapter to work.
I don't care.
• or charging another device to listen to music.
I don't care.
• Lightning won't be able to charge the phone while listening to music.
I don't care.
• manufactures will have to make their own crap external DAC
I don't care.
• manufactures will have to pay apple licensing fees thus passing it on to consumers.
I don't care.
• proprietary connections are the worst thing possible for consumers.
I don't care.
You've totally lost yourself in unimportant technicalities. If audio comes out of the phone without the need for a dedicated port, that's an improvement. Onscreen keyboards have always been worse than physical keyboards, ask Blackberry if anyone cared.
Last edited:
Well thanks for telling us why.
Actually it's exactly the same as removing the floppy disk drive from the iMac in 1998. It's not as if people weren't using it. The USB external Floppy Drive was one of the biggest selling accessories of the iMac, and it was impossible to get at the launch -- you would have thought it was the Apple Pencil. Basically Apple gave customers a computer with no built-in way to write files to a portable external storage medium for the first time in computer history. Hard drives were still unwieldy beasts. And not only that, but they removed all standard connectors, only offering USB and Ethernet connections, which meant even if a customer had one of these huge external drives, it probably wasn't compatible with the iMac and they would have to buy a new one as well!!
And yes the floppy disk was a dying medium, but Apple took-eth away without replacing it with anything. It took them 4 years before a recordable CD-RW drive was included standard. And yet, despite all of this, the iMac saved Apple somehow.
And the reason for that is likely because by taking away the legacy ports completely, Apple took away the option to use legacy equipment, and put developers in the position of focusing on what would become the new standards. So Incredibly expensive CD-RW drives dropped in price with sales volume increasing. Likewise for USB and Ethernet networking products.
And the same holds true for removing the 3.5mm jack. There is a dearth of Lightning audio products, and Bluetooth is slow catching on, likely because it's expensive technology because the demand is so low, and the demand is so low because consumers have the option of the lowest common denominator. Remove that 3.5mm jack and just like the iMac, customers will benefit from lower priced Lightning and Bluetooth products which can do far more than their analogue audio counterparts.
I agree that unlike USB & CD-RW, Lightning is unlikely to become a new standard, but that's not really as important in this new age where locking customers into a corporate ecosystem is far more important than their ability to interact with competing companies products. If Android, Samsung and Windows devices don't follow suit, they may find themselves losing out
Problem solved:
Last edited:
This really is the most annoying thread ever. I make no apology for being so arrogant but I really have not seen such a large collection of ignorant (ETA), and brain-washed fools on this forum before!!!!
Wake up people!
Wake up people!
- There is no technical advantage using a lightning adapter and ditching the 3.5mm plug.
- The 3.5mm plug is not inferior to a lightning cable. The opposite applies.
- This is all about Apple making a lot of money from gullible people like yourself.
- Forcing a technology change may well change the future but it's all about getting people to spend more money.
- As lightning is proprietary to Apple, all manufacturers must pay a license fee to Apple generating them more revenue.
- A switch will force many people to have to throw away expensive headphones and buy new ones if they want to keep up with the latest iPhone.
- Adapters will vary in price but a good quality adapter akin to what is currently within the iPhone will cost upwards of $50. Current adapters sell from about $100.
I disagree that it must be sooner rather than later, however I agree that all things come to an end, eventually, mostly. The problem is, until Apple announces something other than "we made it thinner!", a lot of people, myself included, are viewing this as losing more than they have gained.
I am not going to be the guy that says I refuse to upgrade. But I am happier with my 6s Plus than I have ever been with an iPhone (and I have generally been very happen minus the 6 Plus which I mostly hated). I will have to wait and see what Apple does to get people transitioned. Whther they choose "cold turkey" or give us an adapter with our new purchase for a limited time remains to be seen.
I use Bluetooth almost daily for phone conversations via headphones or Bluetooth in the car. I have no complaints or issues in call quality.
Just because it is less functional for you doesn't mean that it isn't a good business decision that could bring or allow other future innovations.
Regardless...after two posts you don't seem to be getting my point at all. So I'm just going to leave it be.