Apple kills the 3.5mm headphone jack (along with the iPhone)

[jinjuku]

I don't know what they are thinking. They should always ask: What would Steve do?

Right now I would start divesting some Apple stock since I think C level management has lost their way.

 

[tyhjaarpa]

Apple quality has been on down fall since Steve went away..

 

[herbu]

I can see wired headphones/earbuds eventually going away in every brand. Given comparable listening quality, who wouldn't prefer wireless?

In the meantime, Apple will have adapters so all old wired phones/buds will still work. I don't see the big deal.

 

[tyhjaarpa]

I can see wired headphones/earbuds eventually going away in every brand. Given comparable listening quality, who wouldn't prefer wireless?

In the meantime, Apple will have adapters so all old wired phones/buds will still work. I don't see the big deal.

I myself don't really like wiress as you have to charge them quite often and you have limited play time due to that. Not a huge fan of different adapters either and I would guess that you have to pay for adapter like this as it is Apple product.

 

[jinjuku]

The reason a lot of people use Apple products is the ease of use. This goes away from that for no appreciable exchange of value.

 

[KenM10759]

For a lot of the Apple flavored KoolAid drinkers this is a non-issue. They will buy whatever Apple is foisting upon them just to boost the value of their two shares of Apple stock.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

Apple quality has been on down fall since Steve went away..

Not quality, but innovation - sure.

This captures this well:

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

and speaking about 3.5mm jack - I blogged about very similar issue back in ancient '08
http://www.boredsysadmin.com/2008/05/why-htc-diamond-touch-will-fail.html

 

[tyhjaarpa]

Not quality, but innovation - sure.

This captures this well:

Actually the quality of parts has gone down as well, at least people who repair apple products say so.

 

[Alexandre]

The part I really don't understand in this debate is that most people who care or claim to care about sound quality don't use an iPhone to play their music, or they use some sort of DAC because it's "better". For those people, the lack of headphone jack doesn't make a difference. For the vast majority of iPhone music listeners will use the headphones that come with their iPhone.

At the end of the day, I feel like this is very comparable to when apple dropped the floppy drive from the iMac, dropped the CD/DVD player from its laptops, switched from 30 pin iPod connector to lightning. People are all upset and up in arms about it, announce the end of Apple again but in the end, it's a move in the right direction. In this case, either wireless audio (it was recently announced that wireless headset sales have surpassed wired headset sales for the first time), or lightning adapted/fancy usb dac!

FYI, this is the $9 adapter that will come with every iPhone 7: http://www.apple.com/shop/product/MMX62AM/A/lightning-to-35-mm-headphone-jack-adapter

And this is a list of neat headphones that work with the lightning connector: http://www.theverge.com/circuitbreaker/2016/9/7/12839722/apple-iphone-7-headphone-jack-lightning-cable

My 2c,
Alex.

EDIT: oh, and the old "what would Steve Jobs do?" really? Many stupid products have been shipped while he was at the head of Apple, that's not a Steve thing. I'm pretty confident he'd have been onboard with wireless everywhere, he hated cables!

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

This is what I think of the adapter:

Lack of optical drive is (mostly) no longer an issue, but it took a very long time to usb drives decrease in price and internet speeds are still lacking in many areas.

Lighting headphones will ONLY work with apple devices and nothing else. Point of buying them is zero. Things would SLIGHTLY better if Apple adopted USB-C port and USB-C Headphones.
Not that I am going to, but even Apple's upcoming and uber overpriced wireless phones will have more usage as they are support regular BT protocol.

Not long ago Apple made Macbook with only one USB-C port, clearly to improve sales of their own wireless accessories. Same thing applies here. They paid 3bil for Beats. They have to make that money back somehow.

And don't get me started on "Courage"

 

[Alexandre]

Yeah… "courage" isn't the word I would have used.

The adapter comparison is a bit like me saying this is what I think about headphones:

http://gizmodo.com/the-10-ugliest-headphones-ever-made-1783610795

And for wireless headphones, there are a plethora of really good options these days, at all price points – nobody's going to make you buy Apple's version, my point isn't that everyone should go out and buy lightning headphones but just that the lack of headphone jack isn't the giant disaster that people make it up to be IMO.

Alex.

 

[j_garcia]

Maybe no jack will eliminate most of those IDIOTS driving with their headphones on. Illegal in all states yet I see it every day.

I have almost never used the headphone jack. New devices will come out to support lightning/USB-C for connection so those who were using it to connect their phone to something will still be able to connect. IMO, that's probably a better thing than using the jack anyway. I won't miss it, but I don't own any Apple products either

I agree on BT headphones - they are adequate, but having to charge them and limited use time tend to be limiting factors.

After a few months, people won't remember they got rid of the jack.

 

[KenM10759]

The part I really don't understand in this debate is that most people who care or claim to care about sound quality don't use an iPhone to play their music, or they use some sort of DAC because it's "better". For those people, the lack of headphone jack doesn't make a difference. For the vast majority of iPhone music listeners will use the headphones that come with their iPhone.

At the end of the day, I feel like this is very comparable to when apple dropped the floppy drive from the iMac, dropped the CD/DVD player from its laptops, switched from 30 pin iPod connector to lightning. People are all upset and up in arms about it, announce the end of Apple again but in the end, it's a move in the right direction. In this case, either wireless audio (it was recently announced that wireless headset sales have surpassed wired headset sales for the first time), or lightning adapted/fancy usb dac!

FYI, this is the $9 adapter that will come with every iPhone 7: http://www.apple.com/shop/product/MMX62AM/A/lightning-to-35-mm-headphone-jack-adapter

And this is a list of neat headphones that work with the lightning connector: http://www.theverge.com/circuitbreaker/2016/9/7/12839722/apple-iphone-7-headphone-jack-lightning-cable

My 2c,
Alex.

EDIT: oh, and the old "what would Steve Jobs do?" really? Many stupid products have been shipped while he was at the head of Apple, that's not a Steve thing. I'm pretty confident he'd have been onboard with wireless everywhere, he hated cables!

It's been my impression that no earbuds are included with the new phone and the ugly new wireless earbuds (AirPods?) for the IPhone 7 are an additional $159.

 

[Alexandre]

It's been my impression that no earbuds are included with the new phone and the ugly new wireless earbuds (AirPods?) for the IPhone 7 are an additional $159.

earbuds included:

http://www.apple.com/iphone-7/ (scroll down to the audio section and open the disclosure)

EarPods. With a Lightning connector.
iPhone 7 comes with EarPods that have a Lightning connector. But if you still want to listen through your old headphones, you can plug them in using a 3.5 mm headphone jack adapter, also included.​

Alex.

 

[Alexandre]

Maybe no jack will eliminate most of those IDIOTS driving with their headphones on. Illegal in all states yet I see it every day.

Now that's optimistic!

I have almost never used the headphone jack. New devices will come out to support lightning/USB-C for connection so those who were using it to connect their phone to something will still be able to connect. IMO, that's probably a better thing than using the jack anyway. I won't miss it, but I don't own any Apple products either

The USB-C connector is interesting, I wonder if Apple would have used that instead of the lightning connector if it had come out 5 years earlier. It's got most a lot of the physical traits that make the lightning connector a good one IMO.[/QUOTE]

I agree on BT headphones - they are adequate, but having to charge them and limited use time tend to be limiting factors.

Agreed, I own both wired (and even bought new ones yesterday) and bluetooth and they have different usage patterns/conditions. I love my wired IEMs, especially when traveling, on flights, bus, etc… The wireless ones are great for exercising and shorter usage (they also don't sound nearly as good but that's not necessarily a function of the wires, they're not in the same price category either).

After a few months, people won't remember they got rid of the jack.

Yep!

 

[j_garcia]

Not that I am going to, but even Apple's upcoming and uber overpriced wireless phones will have more usage as they are support regular BT protocol.

It may be proprietary. Uses bluetooth signal, but it is Apple specific using their own connection method, so those headphones may not work with non-apple devices.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

It may be proprietary. Uses bluetooth signal, but it is Apple specific using their own connection method, so those headphones may not work with non-apple devices.

At least according to Arstechnica - they will work with other devices:

A quick note on the W1: it’s used to make pairing and battery status checking and the Siri features work quickly and seamlessly, but the actual audio is still being streamed over good-old Bluetooth, and the AirPods can be paired the standard way with anything that will do Bluetooth audio. So even if you do buy W1-equipped headphones to give yourself a better Apple experience, they’ll still be broadly compatible with other devices.

From: http://arstechnica.com/apple/2016/09/hands-on-with-the-iphone-7-a-brief-peek-at-the-wireless-future/

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

I have almost never used the headphone jack. New devices will come out to support lightning/USB-C for connection so those who were using it to connect their phone to something will still be able to connect. IMO, that's probably a better thing than using the jack anyway. I won't miss it, but I don't own any Apple products either

I used wired headphones on phones since I had this one http://www.gsmarena.com/nokia_6681-1046.php back all the way in 2005/6 and it played mp3 very nicely, but had two major issues:
a) It used adapter for headphones similar to one I posted above
b) it didn't had sufficient storage and tf-flash type was hard to find in large sizes.
Other than I used and laughed at people who wasted money on ipods

Fast forward to iphone gen 1 (my first and last iphone) - Back in the day it was practically a revolution - touch interface, full web browser, huge (3.7" was big then) color screen. It integrated nicely with iTunes(* more on this later) and it was last nail in the coffin of ipods imho. Same iTunes requirement it's what drove me to abandon iPhool land once and for all. Give me freedom to copy few files over without complex, clunky, unreliable sync process. (Android - here I come and here to stay)
Bit more time passed and I got Samsung's galaxy SII. with 32gb SD card and native Flac support - I don't know what else you could ask for from mobile music player. I still have my shure SE425 iem's which I used for commute and they still work great and I have zero desire to buy them again, but with new plug.

I agree on BT headphones - they are adequate, but having to charge them and limited use time tend to be limiting factors.

+1
BT did get better with time, but still suffers from latency (apt-x is not in everything) and quality while improved, It's still, as you accurately described, adequate. Lack of wires is a minor convenience, compared to annoyance of charging them. Charging docks do help, but without them maybe induction charging is the answer.

After a few months, people won't remember they got rid of the jack.

I doubt it, but it sure won't be widely discussed in media.

 

[Alexandre]

I doubt it, but it sure won't be widely discussed in media.

To be clear, I remember when Apple dropped the floppy drive, or the CD/DVD drive… do I care though? Not really anymore.