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Woz Laments No Headphone Jack on iPhone 7, Sees USB-C as Future of Audio
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CEX in Cardiff, a secondhand electrical goods shop, is stuffed with iPhones, there are more there than there are in the Apple Store a few yards away. There are reasons, and the reasons are the following:
1. The camera is in a corner, easily covered by accident.
2. The camera is low-res, back in 2010 Nokia had a 12MP camera with a better lens and a much bigger sensor.
3. There is no RDS FM radio, and now they are dropping the phones outlet.
SO:
4. An £80 secondhand 1020 Nokia has a 38MP largish sensor very hi-res image stabilized camera, RDS FM radio, with a good headphone socket, 1080p video etcetera, and it went out three years ago. You cannot say it is obsolete as it is with its Nokia siblings easily in advance of ANY recent phone.
THEREFORE the iPhone's apps and design ARE the reasons people have them. Unfortunately there is a limit to app addiction and the camera is a massive disappointment, to me, at least, such that when my iPhone 4S went all red on one side at times and I needed a new phone, I did not buy another iPhone. Not only is Wozniak right, but as things stand there is no way he can be wrong. Unfortunately the obsolete radioless iPhone 6 series is going to become even more obsolete (obsolete meaning here that it has been superseded by more advanced equivalents) when they castrate the sound system, but I'm hoping Apple will comeback fighting by mounting two large sensored stereo cameras with 3D 4K now that the phones are so large they can actually duplicate the average space we have between our eyes......
1. The camera is in a corner, easily covered by accident.
2. The camera is low-res, back in 2010 Nokia had a 12MP camera with a better lens and a much bigger sensor.
3. There is no RDS FM radio, and now they are dropping the phones outlet.
SO:
4. An £80 secondhand 1020 Nokia has a 38MP largish sensor very hi-res image stabilized camera, RDS FM radio, with a good headphone socket, 1080p video etcetera, and it went out three years ago. You cannot say it is obsolete as it is with its Nokia siblings easily in advance of ANY recent phone.
THEREFORE the iPhone's apps and design ARE the reasons people have them. Unfortunately there is a limit to app addiction and the camera is a massive disappointment, to me, at least, such that when my iPhone 4S went all red on one side at times and I needed a new phone, I did not buy another iPhone. Not only is Wozniak right, but as things stand there is no way he can be wrong. Unfortunately the obsolete radioless iPhone 6 series is going to become even more obsolete (obsolete meaning here that it has been superseded by more advanced equivalents) when they castrate the sound system, but I'm hoping Apple will comeback fighting by mounting two large sensored stereo cameras with 3D 4K now that the phones are so large they can actually duplicate the average space we have between our eyes......
Or maybe they are actually majority, but they dont care a lot of the entire thing?
Agreed. Thinking ever since man first plugged in a wire he was thinking of how to eliminate it!
I agree with Woz because it's going to be inconvenient to me if they drop the standard 3.5mm jack but I'll just use the crappy bundled headphones for occasional use and switch to one of my iPods when I want to listen for longer periods with better headphones.
Wrong. Wires are the future! Earphones don't need to be charged!
Could be.
My guess is that the never-pluggers, included EarPods users, and Bluetooth users would vastly outnumber the strict 3.5mm users.
Never-pluggers don't use the headphone jack at all... EarPod users will use the new included Lightning headphones... and Bluetooth users will continue to use Bluetooth solutions.
I would imagine Apple has a good idea of the percentages of each type of user.
If you ever took the time to listen to good audio through a good system with either good wired headphones or speakers, you would understand how terrible wireless listening really is. Unfortunately, most people don't really listen to music, they just use the music for background noise. In this case neither the music itself nor the technology really matters. So Apple is going to go wireless not because it is better, but because it costs less and most people, like you, don't care or can't tell the difference.
Listen to Woz, Apple!!! If you are gonna ditch the 3.5 jack, ditch Lightning too and go with USB-C!!!
However given such strong resistance across a lot of forum members, perhaps we don't get any dominant numbers no matter how we categorise and put together those people. No one would be able to get full picture of something after all.
And Bluetooth user as well as never-plugger user base is a bit niche? Maybe I am just wrong. However I really don't see so many people walking on street using Bluetooth headphone. Most of them are still wired headphone, oh, and this includes guys who only use what Apple provides to them.
Probably I can tell the difference, as I'm a sound engineer and a producer.
However, you (and others) seem to completely forget a little something called "technology advancement". Bluetooth 5 is just around the corner and every signal points to wireless headphones with good DACs sounding way better than wired ones driven by middling Cirrus Logic DACs.
Get over it.
Woz and I agree, or maybe I could say Woz agrees with me since this is exactly what I said here on MacRumors several months ago. If Apple wants to do away with the 3.5mm audio port they should do that only AFTER they make the transition to USB-C.
I also sent an email to Tim Cook back in June arguing the same point. However, even then I knew it was probably too late, since it really looks like Apple is going to ditch the audio port in favor of their proprietary Lightning connection. No doubt, this is going to cost them market share, but I'm beginning to think that no one at Apple cares any longer.
As to the latter, perhaps Apple doesn't care about market share or even trying to make the best products, but they do care (too much?) about margins. Then someone at Beats suggested that they could sell more wireless/Lightning headphones if Apple just removed the audio port from the iPhone. At that point, it was a done deal.
I also sent an email to Tim Cook back in June arguing the same point. However, even then I knew it was probably too late, since it really looks like Apple is going to ditch the audio port in favor of their proprietary Lightning connection. No doubt, this is going to cost them market share, but I'm beginning to think that no one at Apple cares any longer.
As to the latter, perhaps Apple doesn't care about market share or even trying to make the best products, but they do care (too much?) about margins. Then someone at Beats suggested that they could sell more wireless/Lightning headphones if Apple just removed the audio port from the iPhone. At that point, it was a done deal.
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Good or bad is completely subjective.
However, if BT5 is just so great then Apple should be the first one using it. I am bothered by cable tangling quite a while, but the obvious need of recharging one more thing everyday is just not good.
I am typically all for technological advancement, but in this case I see very little actual improvement. The only issue that wireless improves is the (minor, imo) hassle of having a cable go from your ears to your pocket. To get that, we need headphones to include a battery, amplifier, DAC, and charging port and cable. Sound quality suffers, the product gets more expensive for the same quality of headphone, and because of the battery, a device that used to last virtually forever (I have several sets of headphones still in weekly use that are between 20-30 years old) will now last a couple of years tops. And for the convenience of removing that cable to your pocket, you have to carry yet another cable with you and stop to charge the things somewhat regularly.
In this case the disadvantages quite clearly outweigh the advantages, IMO.
In this case the disadvantages quite clearly outweigh the advantages, IMO.
it is, unless it's completely objective
I strongly believe the AirPods will charge directly via the iPhone Lightning port.
As someone who never used earbuds due to cables getting in the way until the wireless Powerbeats 2, I value the wireless advantage so much more than having to charge the device sometimes.
We'll see, but if someone can drive innovation in the wireless audio field, that's Apple. I believe the same people complaining today will look back in a couple of years and wonder why they were still supporting that 1950's technology in 2016.
1. We don't know for sure that Apple is doing away with the headphone jack.
2. We don't know anything for sure about the new iPhones, other than they will be introduced to the public very shortly.
3. It really doesn't matter what Woz thinks. Whatever change(s) have come to the iPhone 7 are already done. And no complaining by Woz or anyone else here about the possible removable of the headphone jack is going to change anything.
4. If Apple does remove the headphone jack and you are a person that wants / needs the jack, (for whatever reason) you can keep the phone you have now or move to Android.
5. If you don't like the direction Apple is moving, then buy products from a company whom you do agree with and want to use. The situation isn't as complicated or dire as many here keep complaining about.
2. We don't know anything for sure about the new iPhones, other than they will be introduced to the public very shortly.
3. It really doesn't matter what Woz thinks. Whatever change(s) have come to the iPhone 7 are already done. And no complaining by Woz or anyone else here about the possible removable of the headphone jack is going to change anything.
4. If Apple does remove the headphone jack and you are a person that wants / needs the jack, (for whatever reason) you can keep the phone you have now or move to Android.
5. If you don't like the direction Apple is moving, then buy products from a company whom you do agree with and want to use. The situation isn't as complicated or dire as many here keep complaining about.
LOL. No. It isn't.
There are over a billion iOS devices with Lightning in the wild. I would say THAT is the standard, regardless if its not an open standard.
And besides...I've heard this story before with new connector fad. I was told many times that Mini and Micro USB were 'TEH STANDARDZ" and needed to be adopted globally. I lol'ed then and I lol now.
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Offhand it seems like a decent connector that is worth doubling down on.
But, is it worth the pain of another connector transition on iOS? Surely not.
What does the iPhone gain by removing the headphone jack though? What problem did it slove? It seems like they would remove it only to make the phone thinner. If thats the only reason then thats pretty ridiculous!
agree with woz, it should be usb-c.
lots of solid points here, got me wondering which fm radio camera phone did you buy to replace your iPhone 4S?
lots of solid points here, got me wondering which fm radio camera phone did you buy to replace your iPhone 4S?
If I hear someone make this argument again I will blow my brains out!!!!! Please......for the last time.......to everyone claiming they will have to go out and buy lightning connected headphones or be "forced to using inferior bluetooth, or their really expensive in ear monitors will now be useless, please read carefully. Its very clear :
" the company will include Lightning-equipped EarPods in the box, as well as a Lightning-to-jack adapter to allow users like Woz to connect their existing wired earphones to the device."
Ok???get it now??? You can continue to use the headphones you currently have. Let me say it again....you can continue using the headphones you currently have. My god I hope this the last time I hear the "but my UE 900's wont work without the old headphone jack, and Im such a huge audiophile (even though we're talking about listening to music on a phone) I wont be able to use them anymore" excuse.
I'll save you the time in speculation and tell you, definitively, that 1, 2 and 3, are 99% of all users.
#4 is a minority. A tiny minority. They will adjust to changing paradigm, or they won't. Those that don't...their numbers won't even register a blip on the radar.
