No headphone jack on the iPhone 7... really?

Thanks for the shout-out, Mr-914. Dunno if you saw my follow up this morning or not . . .

My objections to the Air Buds are more or less as follows and in no particular order:

  • – I already lose my headphones on a semi regular basis and I use them daily. (Where did I put them down? Pocket, purse, backpack, desk, car, etc.) The idea of them being separate pieces is a nightmare for me.
    – I have tiny gopher-like ears and I struggle to find in-ear headphones that fit comfortably and don’t fall out as it is - although I have pretty good luck with the current generation of Apple headphones.
    – I run with my phone - and my in-ear headphones. Fit matters - so does the security of how they fit in my ear while running. Also, sweat affects the security and fit of the headphones. As a runner, this really matters to me. And, yes, they do fall out from time to time while I’m running.
    – My iPhone 6 battery does not last a full day with general usage. I have no confidence that the “5 hour” battery life on the air buds will perform any better than my phone battery - a recurring issue with every iPhone I’ve owned. Past experience tells me that 5 hour charge will be more like 2 1/2 hours within 6 months of daily use.
    – I regularly run longer than 2 1/2 hours. And I fly longer distances than that almost weekly. Marathon training will be right out with these headphones - assuming I could keep them in my ears while running in the first place. So will long haul travel.
    – On long haul flights, I regularly use the in-flight entertainment. Now, I’ll need 2 sets of earphones? NO.
    – I will lose one of them. Immediately. It will piss me off greatly - especially at that price point.
    – I will lose one and then step on it hurting my foot, making me swear like a sailor AND it will break the air bud which will piss me of and make me swear even more.
    – Because I travel so much and fly long distances and have a phone with a crappy battery, I regularly find myself walking through airports with my earphones plugged in AND with the phone connected to a battery. Guess that’s not happening anymore.

In short, I don’t see this “innovation” making my life any better or easier or more pleasurable. It’s just more stuff to buy, keep track of and maintain. It wasn’t broken. It didn’t need to be fixed. I don’t need more stuff to lose.

What I need is a better battery. THAT would be amazing. And appreciated.

My biggest problem with my studio guitar rig is the headphone wires. Wireless in ear monitoring has been around awhile for the stage players, now it has become affordable and feasible for the home studio players.

I look forward now to being untethered to my interface box headphone jack and wandering about my space.

Thank you Apple…

My opinion is wireless + earbuds = fail, no matter how it is executed, for every reason Michelle mentioned.

For cans, wireless could be an acceptable alternative, but ONLY if the sound fidelity is pristine - at least as good as my studio monitors (no compromises at all), coupling requires as little thought and effort as plugging into a jack (if I see a list of devices, that’s dealbreaker - I want to touch the headphones to the source or point them at the source for half a second and be done pairing. That is the only acceptable method of pairing), and battery life is something I never have to think about. Ever. Only under those conditions is wireless acceptable for cans. Otherwise, I’ll keep my 1/4 inch jack.

Not the first time Apple is early on the peripheral removal game but I think they’re too early this time around. I’m too young to remember the floopies coming out of Macs. But the Air removed the optical drive but was one of many laptops available from Apple and the trade-off in size was obvious. The optical drive later came off the rest of the line but was met with little resistance as it was expected and very rarely used. The external optical drive was fairly practical for those that need it as you rarely use optical drives on the go anyways…

The removal of user replaceable batteries, Ethernet port and so on was met with little resistance as they were truly on their way out.

It seems lately Apple has been stagnating on true innovation and making questionable design choice mostly on style, one-up-manship and frankly delusions of grandeur.

Having a single port on the Macbook is silly. Other manufacturers have managed to match the size and integrate a decent selection of ports.

Hiding the charging port under the mouse is silly. It’s happen several times I’ve needed to use my wireless mouse and I’m glad the port is out front and the cable used is the same as my phone so I always have one in my bag.

Now this latest iPhone. I think the removal of the 3.5mm plug is a bad move. Sure lots of users will learn to live without it. But we did live without smartphones at one point too… :laughing: Contrarily to the other ports Apple removed prior to this one, they were certainly on their way out. Also, their use, on computers was mostly done in stationary conditions, not on the go like a phone. The 3.5mm plug was one of the few truly universal standard. Just recently has there been alternatives, other wise every headphone with a cable uses 3.5mm.

The 3.5mm jack just freakin’ works. Bluetooth always has a delay making it annoying when watching video and unusable for music creation or gaming. It’s always a crap-shoot when switching connected devices weather everything will get recognized and paired properly. Especially in ear bud format, the battery life will never be great.

What was truly gained by removing the jack? Apparently interference with the camera module and water resistance. I personally don’t care about the water proof aspect but it seems odd Samsung managed to do it with a headphone jack. Why not make the overall envelope slightly larger if you really need to add hardware?

If they really had courage, why not go with a USB-C port? Their Macbook is now using it and most Android manufacturers are switching to it. I think it has the potential to become a very universal standard, in the way the 3.5mm was.

I am really surprised at the comments coming through.

If you are concerned about paying for the the earbuds then don’t buy them and just use the ones apple give with the phone.
If you are concerned about losing an earbud then don’t buy them and just use the ones apple give with the phone.
If you are concerned about losing power after 5 hours then don’t buy them and just use the ones apple give with the phone.
If you have old ones then just use them with the adaptor that comes with the phone.
If you are upset that the jack was removed then don’t be because it is still technically there, it’s just slightly further away from the phone.
If you lose the adaptor then buy another for $9 while you buy another set of earbuds they were attached to. THIS IS THE WORST CASE SCENARIO.

mas - They took something that wasn’t broken and broke it. The 1/8 inch jack is a universal standard that works really, really well. There is no reason to be surprised at the comments. Forcing users to connect headphones via adapter to a device that functions as a primary music player is an antagonistic move. It isn’t innovation. It’s crass commerce and it only benefits Apple.

That’s a bit over the top.
You can still listen to music, in multiple ways, and you only need the adapter if you don’t want to use the earphones they give you when you buy one. No one is forcing anyone to do anything and there is so much choice out there now for consumers they can easily go somewhere else, however, my bet would be on them selling a gabazillion.

While I wouldn’t say it is mindblowing innovation it is still innovative if only incrementally (Not sure if anyone else currently does it?) and I can see the potential for it to benefit far far more people than just Apple, more so than if they just left the jack in it. Universal standards have always changed and were never meant to be eternal, just like the jack.

Again, still surprised.

You’re surprised about a board called “design discussions” discussing design decisions?

In contrary to the examples of technology they’ve removed from their devices, the 3.5 jack is one of the most commonly used parts of the iPhone.
The floppy, cd-drive, ethernet-cable, was not.

In the long term I think it is the correct move, but the solution they’ve presented feels rushed and not as well executed/thought through as I expect it to be.

Dude that’s a pretty uncharitable interpretation of my posts.

What I am surprised at is that so many people here really don’t seem to like Apple’s decision. Apple is a business, did they do what is best for their business? I think yes and tried to address peoples concerns which I think are being over stated. I am totally happy for you and anyone else to disagree me whenever you are ready to join in the discussion .

Cheers
MAS

Functionally/technically I just don’t see the pro/con being in any way pro removing the aux.

pro:
more place (or they could make the phone thicker)
waterproofing (obviously also possible with the aux port)
wireless is the future (there being an aux port in no way prevents people from using wireless)
better sound quality using digital signal over the lightning connector so as to let headphones use their own DAC (there being an aux port in no way prevents people from using lightning)

con:
can’t use 99% of already existing headphones without a dongle
can’t charge phone while using the lighnting port for audio
making a big deal about usb c in the macbook and then forcing the lightning port on the iphone seems weird

from a business POV: I’m sure they crunched numbers but I’m not convinced the extra sales from dongles and headphones will be worth it

I don’t think this is a cash grab in anyway. I think Apple has done the most important 95% of phone innovation and is now running low on ideas.

As for being disappointed from a design perspective, I find it unsettling that they are milling so much aluminum off the back of the phone just to have that little camera pimple.

I do like how (it seems from photos) that they have improved the antenna integration. The iPhone 6 was a step back from the 4+5 aesthetically with the antennas. I feel this is a step forward.

User observation: I have had Nokia/MS Lumias for some time now. The speakerphone speaker and mic is located on the back of the phone requiring it to be placed face down to use. Whenever I’ve seen other people use speakerphone (iPhones or Galaxies) they always place the phone screen side up and keep tapping the screen as though they think the call dropped. Also, people seem confused where the mic is. Is it using the normal phone mic or the speakerphone? Why couldn’t they work on making speakerphone experience better?

For the people who are singing the benefits of wireless headphones and the push for “innovation” - I get that.

The problem is you can use wireless headphones on any cellphone today.

I appreciate that the 3.5mm adapter they built is only $9 (you know they wanted to charge $39.99 for it) - which is probably the only way they’ll quell the initial outrage.

In the meantime, I look at the $600 worth of headphones I have sitting on my desk and think “Time to get some adapters”.

The real question I would ask is “if Apple launched the Airpods without any other motivating factors, would people buy them?” - I suspect that answer is no given the already available plethora of well designed BT headphones on the market.

Conveniently Apple owns Beats - the market leader in BT Headphones.

Be prepared for latency.

So, Belkin will offer this adapter for charging and listening. Why not include a round headphone jack?

The only thing better than this is if there was another dongle for a cassette tape adapter to go into an 8 track adapter so I can play music in my classic automobile.

:laughing: :laughing: :laughing:
+1

I like thinking about the affordances that people have listed as part of the wired headphone experience. Circumstances that are more ‘real world use’ than idealized CE user flows include dangling the cords around your neck while taking out the earbuds to talk to a real person, knowing there is a left earbud connected to the right, having the subtle visual cue of the white cord saying “don’t bother me now”, being able to use the same headphones on the airplane entertainment system, having an emergency lifeline to try and arrest the fall of your iPhone onto concrete when you drop it.

On the other hand the phenomenon of being on the treadmill and catching your hand on the swinging wire thus launching your phone backwards across the gym floor will be impossible with wireless earbuds.

That image Sain put up is a nightmare. Daisy chained adapters should please no one.

I want a set of Jaybirds.