Impacts of removing the headphone jack [MERGED]

[adammull]

I don't listen to music that often except in the car, so bluetooth.

One thing I do almost every day however is take a lot of work calls and conference calls. And I do that with wired headphones, Beats in particular. The apple ear buds hurt my ears, they are terrible. So I have these wired headphones in my bag and I never have to worry about charging anything or keeping up with anything. That's the point to me. It's not that I'm that against wireless, it's keeping up with charging everything. So yes I can use the adapter that's included, but its not ideal. No dongle ever in the history of dongles is ideal.

 

[utacity]

apple could have easily added another lightning port in place of the headphone jack so users could still charge phone and have earbuds plugged in at the same time.

 

[bhayes444]

Are you kidding? Of course they did. The rumors began soon after the 6S release. Other manufacturers can work much faster than Apple due to a lack of some stages, simpler manufacturing, among other things.

Nobody considered, let alone Lenovo/Motorola, dropping the headphone jack from their products.

Just like how Samsung released a smart watch soon after Apple Watch rumors began ramping up. Everyone wants to be first to the game, even if it is a negative thing.

That is in now way proof that other manufacturers work based off of an Apple rumor. Your entire proposition is filled with utter crap, akin to a conspiracy theory. Despite what you may think, manufacturers tend to have road maps for their products and need to do loads of testing, not to mention certification. Proposing that these major corporation work solely off of rumors of other companies gives disservice to the entire industry.

You do realize that the Samsung smart watch wasn't even the first smarts arch released, and had little to do with the Apple Watch rumors. The Pebble released before Samsung did, and before that Sony had a smart watch for their Xperia phones; that ran android. Not to mention the other watches over the years that have done more than just tell the time.

Come back with some concrete ideas instead of useless conjecture.

 

[malevolant]

Negative impacts for Apple:

• A recent YouTube video showed how the lack of headphone jack could reduce music listening either due to having to use an adapter for certain situations or having to charge the headphones which discourages listening. That could decrease Apple Music usage.
• The existence of better alternatives with a headphone jack could encourage people to switch, decreasing sales of the iPhone 7. Although this could be counteracted by people opting for the SE/6S instead, no headphone jack and a similar design makes it likely to see a dip in sales compared to other iPhone releases.

Positive impacts for consumers:

• Better wireless and more lightning options will hit the market.
• The advantages that come with lightning headphones.

Other impacts:

• Phone manufactures will think it's acceptable, as they did with camera bumps, and may remove the headphone jack on their phones, as we can already see by phones like the Moto Z.
• More USB-C headphones will be available.

Any possible impacts I haven't mentioned?

Personally - wont make a difference for me. I already owned Bluetooth headphones and my car runs my music through either bluetooth or lightning-USB (in addition to aux).

 

[Mac 128]

apple could have easily added another lightning port in place of the headphone jack so users could still charge phone and have earbuds plugged in at the same time.

That would have been a silly redundancy and defeated one of their stated goals of reclaiming space entirely.

All they needed was to add a passthrough port to the end of the current Lightning charging cable, the type of which they already have in the external battery case, like this:

 

[drewjonn]

I get it. You can no longer connect your BOSE headphone. Bluetooth headphones don't provide you with sound quality good enough. Because I know how annoying it is to use the ****ing ugly hell FREE adapter.

Other than that, I see no more reasons to hate it. Never charged my phone with earphone on anyways. If they hadn't removed the headphone jack, the 7 would have exactly the same shape as the previous version, they're saving the new design for next year IMO.

 

[br0adband]

"People hate things they cannot understand..."

Simple.

 

[zhenya]

Really, you can't imagine why people who probably own several pairs of 3.5mm headphones might be a bit irritated they have to use an adapter to connect them to their iPhone? Really?

 

[br0adband]

>see picture above
>note the battery case has the headphone plug cutout
>laugh
>laugh again knowing hardly anyone will get why I'm laughing and then miss the point of this post entirely

 

[mrex]

I have had many times empty bt headphones/headset on my hand because i forgot to charge them...

 

[Channan]

"I don't understand why people hate the removal of the headphone jack. The only bad things about it is that you can't connect your current expensive headphones without a dongle, Bluetooth sound quality isn't as good, and you can't charge your phone at the same time without another dongle."

It kind of seems like you understand.

 

[Gmcube]

I can get over using an included adapter, maybe...

But my main beef if there isn't a second port for charging and listening wired. Plus, think of all the accessories I won't be able to use now.

 

[archer75]

They are giving me a wired pair of headphones. I already own a pair of bluetooth, the quality is great. So i'm all set!

If I had to use the adapter it really wouldn't bother me.

 

[Dave245]

Humans don't like change! Wireless will be far better and people will soon forget about that headphone jack just like they did with the floppy drive, DVD drive and 30 pin connector.

 

[T'hain Esh Kelch]

I dont mind them removing the port, since the Lightning port is just as good, if not better for it. And heck, if you can spend 700$ on a phone, I think you can spend 150$ on a new set of headphones. What I do mind though, is that long term we will end up with lightning headphones and USB-C headphones, meaning 2 standards instead of the current one.

For Apple it makes sense to stay with Lightning due to profit, for the end-user, it is freaking annoying and will only be more and more apparent as USB-C comes with everything as the ultimate standard.

 

[gnasher729]

I get it. You can no longer connect your BOSE headphone. Bluetooth headphones don't provide you with sound quality good enough. That's it.

Other than that, I see no more reasons to hate it. Never charged my phone with earphone on anyways. If they hadn't removed the headphone jack, the 7 would have exactly the same shape as the previous version, they're saving the new design for next year IMO.

Well, other than not being able to use my headphones without an adapter, and the white adapter looking ridiculous with the black headphone cable, and not being able to charge the phone while using the headphones, it's perfectly fine. What is a bit annoying is that there are perfectly fine reasons not to like the removal of the 3.5 mm plug, and you call it "hate". I hate people throwing around accusations of "hate" without any thought.

And heck, if you can spend 700$ on a phone, I think you can spend 150$ on a new set of headphones.

Find me a pair of wireless headphones for $150 that come even _close_ to my Grados. (Others will sa the same but with a different headphone brand). That's when I'm at home. Now on the train or the underground, do you seriously say I should put $150 headphones at risk of getting stolen or damaged?

But my main beef if there isn't a second port for charging and listening wired. Plus, think of all the accessories I won't be able to use now.

Reminds me... Some people in sensitive places need to use a smartcard reader at work. If that's what you need, then there is no way around it. No headphones for them...

 

[br0adband]

Apple is about creating a proprietary (like it or not) platform and that means they do things their own way for their own reasons, you either get on board with it and enjoy the ride or stand outside watching it pass you by as you head on your own path.

Why so many people seem to still not grasp this is simply beyond my ability to comprehend. Apple doesn't make products for consumers, they make the products they want to use themselves and then the Cult takes it from there.

 

[jshtroutman]

Everyone is ditching the 3.5. Apple just happens to be one of the first to do it. A year from now this wont be a thing.

 

[CrackerJackToy]

There is already an adapter that will allow you to charge the phone & listen to music at the same time. Im willing to bet that 99% of the people complaining don't even charge their phone while listening to music anyway.

For me, I haven't used the headphone jack since 2013. Bluetooth all the way. And unless you're a serious audiophile, you won't notice the difference.

 

[bufffilm]

I dont mind them removing the port, since the Lightning port is just as good, if not better for it. And heck, if you can spend 700$ on a phone, I think you can spend 150$ on a new set of headphones. What I do mind though, is that long term we will end up with lightning headphones and USB-C headphones, meaning 2 standards instead of the current one.

For Apple it makes sense to stay with Lightning due to profit, for the end-user, it is freaking annoying and will only be more and more apparent as USB-C comes with everything as the ultimate standard.

I think the Lightning port isn't as robust as the 3.5" jack.

Over time, owners who are using lightning ear/headphones may experience problems with this.

 

[metsjetsfan]

It's courageous

 

[caelius]

I don't mind since my Momentums are Wireless anyway.
I just think that they should've used USB-C instead - like they already did with the rMB...

 

[mrex]

an adapter for charging, another for a jack... if you happens to have macbook with usb-c, just more adapters to store. so get a bag to keep all adapters with you. sometimes you can play the game hide and seek..

personaly not interested in this adapter-game. it is only missing an adapter for an adapter...

Everyone is ditching the 3.5. Apple just happens to be one of the first to do it. A year from now this wont be a thing.

and im sure they use just one plug instead of many.

 

[drewjonn]

Really, you can't imagine why people who probably own several pairs of 3.5mm headphones might be a bit irritated they have to use an adapter to connect them to their iPhone? Really?

Put them all on Craigslist and buy a bluetooth headphone. Or don't bother with the 7 at all would be a better solution.

 

[MistrSynistr]

Really, you can't imagine why people who probably own several pairs of 3.5mm headphones might be a bit irritated they have to use an adapter to connect them to their iPhone? Really?

And you can't imagine everyone else who can't understand why you can't just connect the free adapter?