Impacts of removing the headphone jack [MERGED]

[3square]

your subtle biased post isn't very subtle. Might as well come off saying what you really feel. Don't need the pretense, it is just plain insulting.

your negative impacts are barely making valid points. Your source for information is a youtube video? and a dip in sale? highly doubt it.

while you put together 2 nice paragraph for the CONs, yet you barely form two sentences for the PROs? How about fairly clarifying the PROs?
something like:
- the ability to have active sound cancellation. Something that needed an inline battery pack for earphone, and require bulky headphone cup for battery. Now it can be powered by the phone itself.
- The ability to add more functionality into the earphone/headphones: motion tracker, heart beat tracker, or touch sensor. the possibility is endless, now that we aren't relying on a dedicated battery anymore.
- Software on the phone can now control the listening experience. Think apps that can augment the surrounding audio
- Accessibility for the handicap is another positive impact.

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?

 

[Mac 128]

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?

Even if Apple Music is used less because of a lack of an adapter, I'm not sure that affects a subscription model. The only way it will impact Apple Music, is if they don't subscribe in the first place. Since Apple Music is available on Android, I don't really see not buying the iPhone 7 because of the headphone jack as an issue at all.

 

[nitromac]

your subtle biased post isn't very subtle. Might as well come off saying what you really feel. Don't need the pretense, it is just plain insulting.

your negative impacts are barely making valid points. Your source for information is a youtube video? and a dip in sale? highly doubt it.

while you put together 2 nice paragraph for the CONs, yet you barely form two sentences for the PROs? How about fairly clarifying the PROs?
something like:
- the ability to have active sound cancellation. Something that needed an inline battery pack for earphone, and require bulky headphone cup for battery. Now it can be powered by the phone itself.
- The ability to add more functionality into the earphone/headphones: motion tracker, heart beat tracker, or touch sensor. the possibility is endless, now that we aren't relying on a dedicated battery anymore.
- Software on the phone can now control the listening experience. Think apps that can augment the surrounding audio
- Accessibility for the handicap is another positive impact.

um, you could do all this if the headphone jack stayed too. The lightning port was always there.

 

[3square]

um, you could do all this if the headphone jack stayed too. The lightning port was always there.

then you will have a redundancy.

 

[Aibocyrus]

People don't want wires. They tangle. They get in the way.
This is why people want wireless charging.
Wireless is coming whether you like it or not.
Sure, this move kind of forced people into it a little quickly. But the bottom line is that whether we want it to or not, that is what the industry standard is going to.

 

[HippieMagic]

I use the headphone jack daily. I actually listen to music at my desk all day nearly every day, but to be completely honest I am really not that worried about losing the jack.

I have bluetooth in my car, a bluetooth headset, and an adapter that can all be used. Realistically I may be using the lightning port more for headphones but I will be using it slightly less for charging. Wear and tear really shouldn't be much more than it is currently, but I can see how it may be more.

In my opinion this is just the way things are, though. Yes, it's annoying... but not many people are using wired headphones anymore. Not like they used to at least. I am very disappointed in the lack of wireless charging, though. That would have made life so much better when it comes to using the lightning port as a headphone jack.

 

[california_kid]

They got the title of this thread all wrong. Should be:

iPhone 7/7+ Headphone Jack Removal [Insert Here]

 

[jamesarm97]

FYI, I received my second thunderbolt to headphone adapter to have a spare for the car and can confirm it works with the iPhone 6 Plus and newer (and maybe older). I figured it probably would since it is part of the spec.

 

[Mac 128]

FYI, I received my second thunderbolt to headphone adapter to have a spare for the car and can confirm it works with the iPhone 6 Plus and newer (and maybe older). I figured it probably would since it is part of the spec.

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/lightning-to-3-5mm-adapter-arrives-tomorrow.1995521/

 

[utahman130]

I have a pair of $10 panasonic earbuds that work really well for me. I'm sad that the headphone jack is gone, because I listen to music a ton. I'm going on a 10 hour bus ride next month, and I want to be able to listen to my headphones the whole time and charge my phone via my external battery. Still, the benefits of the 7 outweigh the drawback of the removal of the headphone jack.

In the end, I'm paying the same per month for my 7 as for my 6s, so I figured I might as well get used to not having a headphone jack and enjoy the rest of the phone.
-----
[doublepost=1473988700][/doublepost]Also, if Apple didn't include stereo speakers, would there have been enough room to have a headphone jack?

 

[RoboWarriorSr]

Another negative for customers would be DRM, I wouldn't be surprised if we see something similar to HDCP for audio roll out.

 

[Bawstun]

The effects? They will sell millions less in units. Maybe not in the USA, but certainly abroad and in developing markets such as India and China. A really silly decision - unless they're making all that money back from the new licensing and royalties created by the new workarounds people will be needing. I'm sure some accountant figured this out somewhere for 'em.

 

[Chew Toy McCoy]

The effects? They will sell millions less in units. Maybe not in the USA, but certainly abroad and in developing markets such as India and China. A really silly decision - unless they're making all that money back from the new licensing and royalties created by the new workarounds people will be needing. I'm sure some accountant figured this out somewhere for 'em.

That may be true but I think that is largely the result of just reading headlines and freaking out. The free adaptor should be fine for the majority of users. I don't think this is anywhere near as bad as the iPhone 1 that had its own proprietary headphone jack size that only worked with the headphones that came with the iPhone and I believe there wasn't even an adapter available at release.

 

[Shirasaki]

So the first day out of the box at least, it looks like the best solution for most is to keep using their old 3.5mm headphone jack, which has now become more complicated and frustrating. Now that's real innovation! Or courage?

Tech industry is now innovating for the sake of innovation, not for the sake of better future. They change because we need a change, we need something new, although the new stuff is not always better than old one.

Wireless is the future. This is just the beginning.

Why wireless is the future? Can it completely replace wire?

 

[bbasra]

Hi Guys,

I have a pair of Bose noise cancelling headphones (for iPhone) which has an inline remote for controlling volume\tracks\mic that I use part of my daily commute.

Just wondering if the inline remote will work with the lighting adapter :0(

Thanks.

 

[Chew Toy McCoy]

Tech industry is now innovating for the sake of innovation, not for the sake of better future. They change because we need a change, we need something new, although the new stuff is not always better than old one.

Why wireless is the future? Can it completely replace wire?

So you're saying you still have ethernet cables running to every internet enabled piece of hardware in your house. The jury is still out on this whole wifi thing.

 

[VSMacOne]

Why wireless is the future? Can it completely replace wire?

Absolutely. Everything except for charging is wireless. And it gets better every year. If the rumors are true and Apple is working with a company to develop truly wireless charging from a distance it will be all there. Just a matter of time IMO.

 

[zhenya]

So you're saying you still have ethernet cables running to every internet enabled piece of hardware in your house. The jury is still out on this whole wifi thing.

Wifi is different than wireless audio because the vast majority of content consumed over wifi can tolerate a bit of latency and lost packets. A real-time audio stream, especially one tied to a video on your screen, is much, much more sensitive to these problems. I'm not saying they won't ever be fixed, but right now the problem is still significant, and years of wifi hasn't done much to improve this kind of reliability (streaming video gets around it by buffering the entire video/audio stream together - and these still sometimes get out of sync.) Transmitting audio separate from the video, wirelessly, is very difficult to do in real time while never loosing a packet.

 

[iLLUMI]

The only concern I have is with sound quality over BT vs the quality over wired.
If they (Apple or whoever else) can improve the sound quality over BT then I think a lot more people will be happy to opt for a set of BT headphones. I've tested the Bose QC 35's and the sound quality was pretty poor however a lot of people have told me that you don't buy these headphones for sound quality but for the noise cancelling ability. I was under the impression that being Bose they would sound great. But alas....
Or am I wrong in thinking that wired is superior to BT?

So I guess there are other BT headphones out there that you guys are using that are superior in sound quality and that you're happy with?
Any recommendations for BT headphones? Has anyone tested the new AirPods? If so are they worth buying?

I think wireless has always been where we've been heading and the removal of the headphone jack shouldn't be a problem for anyone, looking further down the track that is. I think this is really just a bit of "culture shock" that finally someone has taken the step/leap forward and actually removed the jack.

I'm sick and tired of having to untangle headphone cables too. They always seem to manage to tangle themselves up when you're not looking at them. LOL

 

[zhenya]

Currently all Bluetooth headphones use compression so they may or may not sound good depending on the devices and your tolerances. The highest quality Apt-x codec is not being used by Apple. You buy Bluetooth for convenience not for quality.

 

[Chew Toy McCoy]

Wifi is different than wireless audio because the vast majority of content consumed over wifi can tolerate a bit of latency and lost packets. A real-time audio stream, especially one tied to a video on your screen, is much, much more sensitive to these problems. I'm not saying they won't ever be fixed, but right now the problem is still significant, and years of wifi hasn't done much to improve this kind of reliability (streaming video gets around it by buffering the entire video/audio stream together - and these still sometimes get out of sync.) Transmitting audio separate from the video, wirelessly, is very difficult to do in real time while never loosing a packet.

Valid point. I really don't do much video with headphones so I haven't really run into this issue yet.

 

[Tom8]

Personally I'm not that bothered/affected by the removal of the headphone jack. I listen to music/podcasts on my phone all the time just through the out of the box headphones, i'm not a massive stickler for audio quality. The main inconvenience is not being able to charge and listen (without buying an adapter) which i do quite often on train journeys. That being said I'm sticking with my iPhone 6 for another year as it's still going strong and I don't feel the need to upgrade yet.

I agree with others who've said this marks the tipping point for the headphone jack, i'd be prepared to wager that this time next year most, if not all, high end smartphones will be shipping without a headphone jack. I imagine all apple products will be headphone jack-free, so we might see lightning ports added the Mac line in the next refresh. I do wonder if Apple will update the old iPods to remove the headphone jack, but i expect we're at the point now where it's not even worth the money because they sell in such relatively small numbers.

I've been thinking about buying some bluetooth earphones for a long time and this has essentially acted as the trigger for me to start searching seriously for a pair, especially since I'm considering buying an Apple Watch series 2 and will use it for running.

 

[Shirasaki]

Those who says CD is gone, CD is still there and PS4, with bluray drive, are still on sale. There are many games released in CD disk form. Apple does not eliminate CD industry.

Those who says floppy disks, they are gone because one floppy disk can only store a very small amount of data and potentially bulky (needs a bunch of them). Replacing them with hard drive and Flash drive is of no doubt.

Headphone jack may become minor and away from main stream but it will hardly disappear as there is nothing easier than headphone jack providing audio output without worrying anything. No setup, no connection process.

I am frustrating on cable management as well but wireless connection issue is also pretty annoying. Expensive wireless one does have better quality but they ARE expensive. My 20 AUD Sennheiser EarPods works great and sounds very good. It is wired and with headphone jack. So far I see no wireless earphone suites my listening taste. I will continue using devices with headphone jack until the day I have no choice at all.

 

[zmunkz]

The effects? They will sell millions less in units. Maybe not in the USA, but certainly abroad and in developing markets such as India and China. A really silly decision - unless they're making all that money back from the new licensing and royalties created by the new workarounds people will be needing. I'm sure some accountant figured this out somewhere for 'em.

Ehhh, I doubt it. People said this about the iPhone because it couldn't load a quarter of the world's websites (no flash will be their downfall!). They said this when they dropped the CD drive (how will anyone install software??). And several other times in Apple's history. I think once a few cool gadgets come out that use the new capabilities of a powered digital port, thinking will shift. Besides it is really not that inconvenient. Only scenario without a simple workaround is wired-listen+charge, and that doesn't come up often for most people.

 

[rainafterthesun]

Honestly I may be the only one excited about this. I would loveeeeeee it if they got this sh*t nailed down today (no patience and not an early adopter in the sense that I want the product to work perfectly NOW instead of getting bits and pieces over OS or hardware updates:releases)

But I guess while I'm waiting I can do more extensive research into the effects of too many Bluetooth devices and negative (if any) effects on ones' health.

But how cool would it be? Right now you can, once you've first connected the air pods to the iPhone via the iCloud ID...you can have it automatically recognize other devices logged under the same ID and it automatically pairs. No more manually doing so. Just like with your watch, once it's near the MacBook, it can "talk" to it and automatically log you into your computer.

Wireless sharing of info without having to email or rely on data (airdrop, you can do hundreds of pics in mere minutes).

Wireless syncing of your phone to a home kit so when you walk into your house, without taking your phone out, your lights come on.

All of this is available now. I can't imagine what's next. It's about making your life easier. For those who don't want to move that way now (or ever) they have the adapter included and the headphones with lightning connector included (sounds better with it then the 3.5aux if you ask me).