
More rumors that Apple might drop the 3.5mm headphone jack on the iPhone 7 - brunorsini
http://www.digitalmusicnews.com/2016/01/05/you-can-kiss-your-3-5mm-headphone-jack-goodbye/
======
dijit
Shit, we only just got all phone manufacturers working with the same standard.

Remember those tiny little jacks 2.5mm (used most recently in my memory for
xbox 360). I hated that, you're locked in to one set of headphones and when
they break (which they do, because they're made of garbage and greed) then you
have lost a function of your device.

Obviously Apple will have a plethora of other headphones to choose from, or to
order more. But, for me now it's just..

I mean.. we were there! not with chargers (although that's much better for
non-iPhones).. but we were there!

if they don't follow standards then I'm certainly not upgrading to the 7, and
I say that as a user since the 4s who has always liked the offering from
Apple.

~~~
saurik
Knowing Apple, there will be an adapter. FWIW, while I complain a lot about
requiring adapters to do almost anything, my headphone is the one place where
I really wouldn't mind just having to have a 1" flexible adapter that I would
likely effectively treat as a semi-permanent extension cable on my headphones.

------
grandalf
I think that 3.5mm jack is a source of many repair issues for Apple.

\- pocket lint routinely finds its way into the jack.

\- most male connectors are manufactured with low precision, which causes
added stress to the socket.

\- some male connectors are long, creating a lot of leverage if force is
applied in the wrong direction.

\- water gets in easily through the socket.

\- the socket is very fat and forces the phone to be thicker than it would
otherwise need to be.

Other connector designs are superior for all these reasons. The main issue is
that Apple doesn't let other companies clone its connectors, so everyone has
to pay exorbitant prices.

~~~
legulere
Don't forget that loose contact is a problem that's extremely common with the
3.5 mm jack.

Unknown to most there's another standardized connector that supports analog
audio: USB-C. If they switched to USB-C on their iOS devices I wouldn't really
mind.

------
teej
I say let them do it and let the market sort out if it cares. Maybe people do
want thin more than headphones.

~~~
criddell
I think they will. I just hope that:

1: This isn't being done to close the "analog hole" (ie hdcp-like drm for
audio)

and

2: Apple doesn't try to make the connector proprietary

------
JohnTHaller
Because the number 1 things users say when asked what they'd change about
their phone: "I wish it was thinner"

~~~
pilsetnieks
I have a suspicion that they couldn't change it for now even if they wanted
to. There are articles claiming that the 5th and 6th (current) generation were
already under development under Jobs. If it is so, then the 7th and 8th
generations have also been in the pipeline for years now.

Assuming Jobs presided over the trend for thinness, and the ID team continued
that direction after his death, if they even listen to people become more
vocal about thinness vs. battery life since 2014, they could have it influence
the design of maybe the 8th or 9th generation.

Remember that at those scales you don't have to just redesign a phone, you
have to redesign supply chains, processes, fabrication methods and machines.

------
raldi
Does this mean MacBooks will add Lightning ports? If so, will they be only for
headphones, or is there some other device planned to make use of it, too?

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robk
I can't see why anyone is surprised by this. Classic Apple move. It'll just
create a market for the cheap 3.5mm to Bluetooth dongles [1] you can plug into
your headset, which I've actually come to like since I can tuck the headphones
into my shirt pocket then use the phone like normal. Of course just one more
thing to keep charged though...

[1] [http://www.amazon.com/MOCREO-Bluetooth-Wireless-Streaming-
Re...](http://www.amazon.com/MOCREO-Bluetooth-Wireless-Streaming-
Receiver/dp/B00SMBXOP2/ref=sr_1_23?ie=UTF8&qid=1452099571&sr=8-23&keywords=3.5mm+to+bluetooth)

~~~
gambiting
And these are absolutely horrible(I tested 4 different ones) because there's
always a little bit of lag. You can't use them for watching videos or playing
games because of it.

~~~
Someone1234
But amazing for music because latency doesn't matter.

~~~
gambiting
Well, AD2P standard is really low quality so there's that. I'm not someone who
would ever notice a difference between an MP3 file and a FLAC one,but sound
over bluetooth is very clearly degraded.

------
pen2l
But it'll stick with Lightning port, instead of adopting usb type C, the
article suggests. That's disappointing. I wonder if ever the iphone will
switch to usb type c -- every other phone will later this year.

~~~
tomschlick
Apple would probably piss more people off than they would make happy. The
amount of lightning port gear out there has to be huge. People flipped when
they went from the 30-pin to lightning just a few years ago.

~~~
donatj
USB 3 can carry alternative signals though. Just sell an adapter and get rid
of it. Also, has apple ever really cared about pissing people off?

~~~
zepto
What do you mean by 'alternative signals'? Lightning can carry USB3 anyway and
since you need a cable anyway what's the benefit in not using lightning?

~~~
donatj
A standard cable used on more than one brands devices. A standard that
hundreds of thousands of devices are likely to adopt.

~~~
zepto
Presuming you are talking about USB-C connectors, lightning devices far
outnumber them at this point, and there are already hundreds of _millions_ of
lightning devices.

As to 'used on more than one brand's devices' \- what benefit do you think his
provides?

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darkr
There are already portable combined DAC/headphone amplifier units that support
lightning input (either directly or via a USB converter). I did have one for a
few weeks but sent it back it as the minor difference in sound quality wasn't
worth the effort of carting it around.

The combined heft of both the phone and the DAC unit (most of them are similar
size but twice the thickness of an iPhone) makes for an uncomfortable pocket
bulge. Aside from being another thing to carry around. it's also another thing
to keep charged (like I haven't got enough of those things in my life
already).

Sure, the DAC on the iphone isn't the best in the world, but it's certainly
good enough. Only when concentrating wearing studio-quality headphones in a
silent room can I tell the difference between the two, and those times that I
am sat in a silent room, it's at home (which has a decent audio setup not
dependent on my phone).

I guess there will be smaller units produced that are perhaps powered through
the lightening port (if this is even possible?), but likely the sound quality
produced by them will be similar to the on-board DAC/amp circuit.

------
twiceaday
If we assume they will drop the 3.5mm jack in favor of using the lightning
port for headphones that would mean we couldn't listen to music via headphones
while charging the phone. That would be my biggest issue.

On the plus side it would be nice if they put an extra speaker where the
headphone jack currently is for stereo sound and so that the speakers are
harder to obstruct.

------
larrik
This would seriously make me consider switching to Android after being iPhone
only since the 3G.

The fact that both of my ports (3mm, lightning) on my 6 started flaking out
about the time the warranty expired helps, too.

~~~
zepto
Why would it make you consider switching?

~~~
larrik
I use the 3.5mm jack a lot on the Aux In port in various places (both my
vehicles, standalone players), plus when I need to use headphones.

~~~
zepto
So an adaptor would be a lot of hassle or you'd need several of them. That
makes sense.

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ntumlin
Is there any major downside to the 3.5mm jack? Especially that hold a candle
to the cheapness of them and how widespread they are?

~~~
jasonpbecker
Volume (spatial). It takes up a ton of room inside the phone that could be
battery.

I'm not particularly excited about it, but it's obvious why they'd want to do
this, even if the phone doesn't get thinner, based on this picture from an
iFixit teardown:
[https://d3nevzfk7ii3be.cloudfront.net/igi/fdaWRVGrZhxlZoJH.h...](https://d3nevzfk7ii3be.cloudfront.net/igi/fdaWRVGrZhxlZoJH.huge)

------
richardking
It seems crazy that they would do that, but I thought the same when they got
rid of the CD drive on a Mac, included only one port on the Macbook, etc. I
know people claim it's to make the phone thinner, but I'm hoping there's other
reasons that are driving the decision as well.

------
LaSombra
This kind of fetishism baffles me...

------
lvspiff
With bluetooth headphones/speakers becoming more prevalent this makes sense.
What do we get in return though? Less battery life because now bluetooth must
be on? Thinner and easier to bend? If they gave me a microsd slot it would be
worth it...

~~~
on_and_off
the industry seems obsessed with thinness, am I the only one thinking that we
have passed the point of diminishing returns a while ago ?

IMO recent high-end smartphones, even large ones (iPhone 6S plus, Nexus 6P)
are already thin enough.

~~~
k-mcgrady
Previously I didn't care if phones got thinner but now that they're making the
screens so big I can barely hold them in one hand I would appreciate a
reduction if width to make it easier for smaller handed people like myself to
hold.

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drglitch
What will all those people who invested 300-500 bucks into Beats et al
headphones do? Buy another $39.99 adapter? That was the cost of
30pin>lightning when it came out. even today its $30. A surface phone cant
come soon enough :)

------
doguozkan
I don't know if the current users of iPhone will take this as a number of them
are music producers (or enthusiasts) and their current very expensive hardware
won't be compatible with the new iPhones.

~~~
ddoolin
An adapter would surely be available in short order...right? :)

~~~
wlesieutre
Knowing Apple, I'm going to say $30 optional accessory.

The old to new magsafe adapter is only $10, so maybe I'm being too hard on
them. On the other hand, their Lightning to HDMI or VGA adapters currently go
for $50.

~~~
jkestner
Those $50 adapters have a microprocessor in them to map/convert the eight pins
to whatever signals are needed. Lightning does not have an analog audio
channel, so I'd bet this adapter would also need a (simpler) microprocessor
and the attendant cost. Your $30 guess sounds right, and Apple probably won't
even include an adapter as long as they include Lightning or Bluetooth
earbuds. People who are fussy enough about headphones to bring their own will
pay the additional $30.

~~~
wlesieutre
Yep, I'm assuming it comes with Lightning earbuds and if you want anything
else you're on your own.

Bluetooth earbuds would be a pretty hard sell if they come out and say "We're
changing to Lightning for better audio quality. Here, have some bluetooth
earbuds with worse audio than your old wired ones."

EDIT: How small can you make a decent DAC anyway? All the audio ones I've seen
are way too big to put on an adapter cable, but that might be driven by the
optical and RCA connectors more than the conversion hardware.

~~~
jkestner
Right, I think it's more likely they do Lightning earbuds. 1) reinforces the
concept, 2) doesn't have the fuss of another thing to charge, 3) Apple can do
them cheaper than anyone else if they don't have to pay a licensing fee.

------
scurvy
People are just going to turn on the speaker and listen to their music and
conversations aloud.

If Apple really cared, they would remove the external speaker in their phones
and just have a simple ringer.

</oldduderant>

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eccles
I won't be happy until the iPhone has negative dimensions

~~~
Xophmeister
The iPhone 9i is rumoured to only exist within the complex plane.

------
dan1234
Doesn't this rumour get trotted out every year?

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shallowpedantic
I don't get it. is there some law enacted that you have to upgrade to the
newest phone every time it comes out? apple can do whatever they damn well
please, just like samsung, lg, sony can. IF you don't like the fact that
they're removing it, dont upgrade your phone, or switch to a different phone
company. Owner of a Note 4. when the note 5 and edge plus came out but no
longer had sd card expandable slots, I simply did not upgrade. and will not.

