Apple To Ditch 3.5-mm Headphone Jack on Future iPhone?

[gene]

Apple iPhone S6 and S6 Plus users are complaining about their phones 3.5-mm headphone jacks failing. Meanwhile speculation is circulating that Apple may do away with the standard connector altogether in future iterations of the iPhone, starting with iPhone 7.

Where does that leave all those people who spent a little extra to upgrade their headphones? How thin do our phones really need to be when we wrap them in thick protective cases anyways?

Read: Apple Wages War on 3.5-mm Jack, Promotes Economy Through Planned Obsolescence

Be sure to vote in our poll and share your thoughts.

 

[3db]

I understand the convenience of blue tooth but I believe Apple is being to convenient in dropping the standard headphone jack to get around a poorly designed and shawdy manufactured circuit boards on their current phones. Way to go Apple!! Hide your inadequacies by adopting a wireless technology.

 

[Seth=L]

I could easily see Apple offering a lightning adapter that costs $50-80 that allows you to connect your headphones. Now if the device also had optical audio output (integrated into the same jack of course like the old Portable DVD players used to have), that would be nifty.

 

[Wayde Robson]

I'm a huge headphone user with a few sets of premium-priced headphones I won't be replacing anytime soon. But I haven't plugged them directly into a mobile device in years. I use an external DAC/amp connected to my phone via USB. I think budget DAC/amps will soon become the norm.

 

[Irvrobinson]

I don't agree with the article. I think the primary reason Apple is trying to eliminate all of the connectors they can is not to promote a thinner device, but to save interior space to allow room for a larger battery. I think some secondary reasons are cost savings and reliability improvements (connectors fail with use).

By the way, most people I observe, with the exception of nerdy guys, don't use cases for their phones. Especially women. That said, I use cases on both of my phones, including a clunky OtterBox case on my delicate Galaxy S4.

 

[its phillip]

Removing the headphone jack would be a terrible idea.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

I wrote about it in 2008 and 2009, though a bit crude, but the fact still stands - Apple is shooting themselves in the foot with this "great idea"
http://www.boredsysadmin.com/2008/05/why-htc-diamond-touch-will-fail.html
http://www.boredsysadmin.com/2009/07/huge-win-for-common-sense-i-rule.html

 

[Alexandre]

I for one think it doesn't matter all that much. Most people who have invested in fancy headphones either don't use their phones as a source or use a DAC in between. Companies that make USB DACs today will start making Lightning DACs and it'll be great. I agree with Irvrobinson, I don't think thickness is the key, as someone else pointed out (not here, can't remember where I read that), the iPod is thinner than the iPhone and it does include a headphone jack so that's clearly not the only thing keeping the iPhone thicker.

Also, as your survey implies, I think a LOT of people (possibly not in the 'audiophile' community) are going towards wireless headphones, they're just so much more convenient.

To me, this is a bit like when apple dropped the 30 pin connector on the iPods/iPhones (or floppy disks on the iMac), it's going to be annoying for a year (while people transition, have to buy new cables, have to get adapters, etc…) and then everyone will get over it because it'll be better.

Alex.

 

[Seth=L]

That's a good point @Alexandre

Apple users were all sorts of upset when they switched connectors because it meant all the 30 pin accessories they had previously purchased would no longer be guaranteed to work with the new devices featuring lightning connectors. They seem to have gotten over it pretty fast.

 

[Hobbit]

That's a good point @Alexandre

Apple users were all sorts of upset when they switched connectors because it meant all the 30 pin accessories they had previously purchased would no longer be guaranteed to work with the new devices featuring lightning connectors. They seem to have gotten over it pretty fast.

That's only because most apple users only keep their stuff until the next model comes out....

What bothers me even more is when apple updates software which then obsoletes a piece of hardware that you bought directly from them.

 

[fmw]

I don't use anything made by Apple so I don't give a rat's ass.

 

[Seth=L]

That's only because most apple users only keep their stuff until the next model comes out....

What bothers me even more is when apple updates software which then obsoletes a piece of hardware that you bought directly from them.

I bought an iPhone 4 off a user on here almost 5 years ago and I'm still using it, every day.

 

[KenM10759]

I would expect Apple to make anything, any type of technology they can, to be a proprietary interface so they can own yet one more little slice of the Applelovers lives...and wallets.

Android please. Thank you.

 

[Alexandre]

I would expect Apple to make anything, any type of technology they can, to be a proprietary interface so they can own yet one more little slice of the Applelovers lives...and wallets.

Android please. Thank you.

That's not entirely fair… Apple was probably the one company that pushed the USB standard the hardest. And honestly, at the end of the day, I'll take a lightning connector over a micro USB connector any day, it's a much better connector: the male connector is sturdy, the female connector is solid, it can be plugged on either side… overall, I think it is a much better connector than any of the USB connectors.

 

[KenM10759]

OK, I give on that but I've long lamented the proprietary connection for charging the iPhones as my daughter invariably shows up with a dying phone and all I have is common mini USB for my phone and my wife's. I have not noticed any particular weakness in that connection.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

That's not entirely fair… Apple was probably the one company that pushed the USB standard the hardest.

This is 100% untrue. Apple pushed Firewire, 30 pin , Thunderbolt/Lighting. Not even once Apple had any soft of USB on ANY mobile device including early ipods. Even now - a single USB-C on Apple 12" Macbook - just shows that Apple just like Janice from Accounting, she doesn't give a f-

And honestly, at the end of the day, I'll take a lightning connector over a micro USB connector any day, it's a much better connector: the male connector is sturdy, the female connector is solid, it can be plugged on either side… overall, I think it is a much better connector than any of the USB connectors.

True, But micro USB-C is just good if not better since it's a standard, unlike apple proprietary "lighting" port.


Even thought I would never buy smartphone without 3.5mm port, I can see the unwashed masses using included Apple earbuds and will probably not even notice the difference

 

[Seth=L]

I've noticed that many phones that have the Micro USB connector don't hold up to as much abuse as the 30 pin connector. I haven't owned a later generation Apple portable device so I can't comment on the Lightning port other than it appears to be more robust.

 

[Alexandre]

This is 100% untrue. Apple pushed Firewire, 30 pin , Thunderbolt/Lighting. Not even once Apple had any soft of USB on ANY mobile device including early ipods. Even now - a single USB-C on Apple 12" Macbook - just shows that Apple just like Janice from Accounting, she doesn't give a f-

I was talking about the beginning of USB, when apple pushed it in the original iMac. At the time the iPod came out it was Firewire which was a standard, albeit built mostly by apple. And while Apple isn't including USB connectors in its iPod/iPhone/iPad lines, it was one of the first companies to include USB-C in a laptop.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

I was talking about the beginning of USB, when apple pushed it in the original iMac. At the time the iPod came out it was Firewire which was a standard, albeit built mostly by apple. And while Apple isn't including USB connectors in its iPod/iPhone/iPad lines, it was one of the first companies to include USB-C in a laptop.

What you mean to say it apple took a gamble by NOT including any old interfaces with original iMac and only relying on usb. New Macbook with single USB-C is another example, albeit a terrible one since only one port is horrible idea for computer to be productive.

 

[Alexandre]

What you mean to say it apple took a gamble by NOT including any old interfaces with original iMac and only relying on usb. New Macbook with single USB-C is another example, albeit a terrible one since only one port is horrible idea for computer to be productive.

Well, I think a large part of the point here is that the MacBook is not for everybody. I for one wouldn't buy it, it's not a computer I could use. I need an external monitor, I need attached storage, I need a more powerful CPU for development, compilation, RAW photo file processing, etc… BUT, for a lot of people who rely on their computer for a different set of things, a single USB-C port is perfectly fine if that brings them an extremely light portable computer. Similarly, a number of people could do just fine with just an iPad.