Support NeoGAF

[jts]

It’s one less port to design and engineer the phone around. I’m guessing it will have more of an impact in the design of the all-new anniversary iPhone next year, but they want to ease people into it this year so that the anniversary doesn’t catch the inevitable flak that Apple always get for any decision they make... by next year this has been easily forgotten as always. Why even bother?

 

[Pamplemousse]

It's removing functionality. There's no excuse for that.

 

[jts]

i ain't buying no fuckin beats. Are those the only Bluetooth headphones that'll work with it?

No, any bluetooth headphones work. Apple didn’t even buy Beats for their headphones, there will be Apple branded ones for sure.

 

[ZeroX03]

i ain't buying no fuckin beats. Are those the only Bluetooth headphones that'll work with it?

No, any Bluetooth headphones will work. And the market will probably shift to be a little more competitive as demand increases.

 

[zoukka]

They want to sell you adapters

And we're done.

 

[old manatee]

I use the headphone jack on my phone like 40 times a day.

 

[-Pyromaniac-]

I use the headphone jack on my phone like 40 times a day.

me too...instead I'll use the lightning port. Or if there's some good wireless earphones maybe I'll buy those?¿

 

[Sorcerer]

Money.

Now they can sell you a different spec model later with a built in headphone jack for an extortionate price.

For everyone else they will sell adapters and do everything they can to sabotage/undermine any third party who attempts to sell anything similar.

Has Apple ever brought something back they removed?
I can't see them doing that.
I want the optical port back on my Apple tv, but I know it ain't happening.

 

[womfalcs3]

I'm going to revert to an Android phone. I've been an iPhone user since 2012.

 

[hamchan]

I hope this backfires on Apple.

 

[jelly]

Would be funny if it's not Bluetooth or loosely supported and all the good features are Apple Wave.

 

[Owari]

But the newest and most superior iPhone has an AUX port. Just choose that one.

 

[manakel]

To quote myself from the other thread:

Okay, but this doesn't negate the fact that you won't be able to listen to music and charge your phone at the same time. So the countless number of people who don't have bluetooth in their cars and still use an AUX cord are SOL and just have to deal with having their battery drained during commutes?

My bluetooth headphones are shite compared to my wired Sennheiser headphones. When my phone is about to die, I plug it in to charge and simultaneously listen to music, especially before bed. That's not something I should have to give up because Apple wants to sell their garbage Beats by Dre headphones.

People who think it's for any other reason besides selling you their Beats headphones and adapters are delusional. This isn't pushing the standard forward when bluetooth headphones aren't better than - or even up to par with - wired headphones.

This is the first time that I'm actually considering switching to Android. The Samsung Note 7 looks mighty nice...

 

[border]

I am incredibly curious how Apple sells the public on the removal of the headphone jack. It seems like an incredible risk to take for very little reward in return. It's a big enough change that they will have to publicly justify it, rather than pretend it didn't happen. That part of the press conference is probably going to be a bit uncomfortable.

 

[SuperPac]

Hey, they wanna remove the headphone jack to add a better speaker for the speakerphone, that's fine with me. Acceptable loss. I use the iPhone's built-in speaker way more than headphones.

(Most of my listening is either via the speaker or via bluetooth in the car, bluetooth headphones or other speaker. The only time I use wired headphones is when I'm on a plane and they have a dongle for that.)

 

[jbug617]

coming to a store near you

 

[clockworkinyou]

I love the people that are still clinging to the 'let's wait till it's actually announced that there is no 3.5mm jack!'

Get out from under your rock - you say 'let's wait' but then you go on to say that 'wireless is the future'. The leaks, which aren't usually too far off, have been pretty accurate in recent years.

Fuck wireless. Tried a pair of Bluetooth headphones and it killed my battery from 100% to 22% after 2 hours in the gym. Not to mention the BT earbuds look like crap with the thing around your neck/over ear.

 

[DOWN]

Uh if it means better phone speakers or something else cool, that's fine. I'm sure Apple will give an answer.

 

[Any Questions]

They want to sell you adapters

The answer is MONEY.

 

[magenta]

A lot of people claim Apple is doing for the money but I don't even thinks it's that. Jony Ive is doing it purely for the design aesthetics, removing the jack and adding another speaker creates the sort of design symmetry he looks for. It's what he wants in a phone, the average user be damned.

 

[border]

To quote myself from the other thread:

People who think it's for any other reason besides selling you their Beats headphones and adapters are delusional. This isn't pushing the standard forward when bluetooth headphones aren't better than - or even up to par with - wired headphones.

This is the first time that I'm actually considering switching to Android. The Samsung Note 7 looks mighty nice...

A car stereo with Bluetooth/USB costs like $60-$100 at this point. It's such a life-upgrade to not have to deal with the aux cable and cheap cigarette lighter power station everytime you get in your car....and an easier fix than switching from Apple to Android. I'd get one whether you switch or not though.

 

[Bboy AJ]

To incentivize wireless development and to obsolete an ancient, ancient standard that's far outlived its stay. Wireless is mediocre now. But now that the iPhone doesn't have a shitty aux port? Wireless is the new standard and tech will boom.

 

[DOWN]

Y'all really think Jong Ive wasn't pushing this? Apple has removed a ton of ports to negative outcry, without any cash incentive in most cases or evidence that Jony was not all about that minimalism anyway.

 

[manakel]

A car stereo with Bluetooth/USB costs like $60-$100 at this point. It's such a life-upgrade to not have to deal with the aux cable and cheap cigarette lighter power station everytime you get in your car....and an easier fix than switching from Apple to Android. I'd get one whether you switch or not though.

I personally have bluetooth in my car, so it wouldn't be an issue for me.

Other people don't have that luxury, and aren't going to dish out money for a car stereo/installation just because Apple wants to dick over their customers.

 

[old manatee]

me too...instead I'll use the lightning port. Or if there's some good wireless earphones maybe I'll buy those?¿

That sounds way more inconvenient and expensive.

What are the benefits?

 

[CorrisD]

To quote myself from the other thread:

People who think it's for any other reason besides selling you their Beats headphones and adapters are delusional. This isn't pushing the standard forward when bluetooth headphones aren't better than - or even up to par with - wired headphones.

This is the first time that I'm actually considering switching to Android. The Samsung Note 7 looks mighty nice...

Pretty much, Apple have a habit of trying to use their own proprietary ports on consumers and they try to do it straight away instead of letting new standards gradually take a hold of the market. They want to also change the standard but will have little to replace it and chop off a massive part of the available market.

I really honestly fear for the phones lightning port if they expect headphones to be plugged into it constantly, gonna end up with a lot of messed up ports from constant jiggling I imagine.

It really wouldn't be so bad if everyone came together and decided to use a new port standard together, but we're gonna end up with lightning and what looks like usb-c as the two future phone connections, and a shit load of adapters.

 

[liquidtmd]

you're prettttay delusional if you think they will put it back in after taking it out

Admittedly not Apple but I remember this exact response in relation to Samsung and SD cart slots

 

[Liu Kang Baking A Pie]

To incentivize wireless development and to obsolete an ancient, ancient standard that's far outlived its stay. Wireless is mediocre now. But now that the iPhone doesn't have a shitty aux port? Wireless is the new standard and tech will boom.

Yep. Every time Apple's made a hard change to the standards, tech gets much better much faster.

Flash was one of those things everyone thought they *needed* in their phone, and people thought it was impossible for the world to go native video and animation on the web. Standards and tech changed faster than if Apple had tried to play nice with old shit.

 

[xkramz]

But the newest and most superior iPhone has an AUX port. Just choose that one.

No

 

[massoluk]

To incentivize wireless development and to obsolete an ancient, ancient standard that's far outlived its stay. Wireless is mediocre now. But now that the iPhone doesn't have a shitty aux port? Wireless is the new standard and tech will boom.

Is it? I think you and I may have a very different definition of obsolete.

 

[Jedi2016]

Sure there's a reason for it. Allowing customers to use their own headphones is lost revenue. Making everything proprietary means more money.

 

[Alligatorjandro]

I wanted to buy some Bluetooth earbuds but they were all expensive compared to regular ones.

 

[shoreu]

I hope this backfires on Apple.

Same

 

[Henrar]

Admittedly not Apple but I remember this exact response in relation to Samsung and SD cart slots

Yet at the same time people bitched about lack of IR blaster and removable battery. They didn't bring those two back. People will move on.
I would bitch about it if Apple had some decent DAC on the phone or sold music that can take advantage of better headphones, which they don't.

 

[border]

Other people don't have that luxury, and aren't going to dish out money for a car stereo/installation just because Apple wants to dick over their customers.

Apple's stance would likely be that if a car stereo made in the last 6-8 years is a luxury for someone, then that person is probably not in the market for a $650 phone.

I guess this becomes more of a issue 4-5 years down the line when presumably every common version of the iPhone has no 3.5mm jack.

 

[low-G]

It isn't going to work for Apple to remove a feature like the headphone port. Most customers are just going to have that much worse of a time. Not a deal breaker for a lot of people, but when we've had 10+ years of quality wireless headphones this move will be practical and stick.

This is the equivalent of a games platform dropping all traditional games and ONLY doing VR. It's gonna cost ya.

 

[clav]

Apple's stance would likely be that if a car stereo made in the last 6-8 years is a luxury for someone, then that person is probably not in the market for a $650 phone.

I guess this becomes more of a issue 4-5 years down the line when presumably every common version of the iPhone has no 3.5mm jack.

More like people asking, "When was the last time you used headphones?"

"Why do you want to use headphones? For what? Just use the speaker then! You must be listening to something inappropriate."

 

[Kill Your Masters]

We're at a level where range, battery, and quality are all perfectly acceptable for the general consumer. That's all Apple cares about. If it pushes various industry to create a better standard across the board it's not only good for them but the rest of the companies involved in the industries.

We may be, but the price is not. To get a similar quality Bluetooth sound you basically have to pay twice the price to get a similar sound quality as wired, or am I wrong? Like, are there Bluetooth in ear buds out there for 40-50 bucks that sound as good as wired in ears in the same price range? (Just throwing out a price I believe is "general consumer" level)

I had a few of those sub 50$ Bluetooth buds. They don't even come close. And they stick out of the ear like crazy. Mostly no name chinese brands. Jaybirds are great but the price is crazy.

 

[Unknown Soldier]

Admittedly not Apple but I remember this exact response in relation to Samsung and SD cart slots

Samsung brought back microSD because it made sense, people use their phones as their cameras and camcorders as well as music players and store a lot of media. People were enraged when microSD went away and sales actually did get affected with the Galaxy S6 and Note 5.

However when IR blaster and removable battery went away, people were like meh. Those haven't come back and never will.

So it will depend a lot on HOW people react to no more headphone jack on iPhone. If people are enraged and sales are severely affected, it could actually come back.

 

[Garrett Hawke]

- they want the space for something else (battery?)
- they want dual speakers instead
- they want people to buy Beats wireless headphones

take your pick

- make the phone thicker
- make the phone thicker
- never

 

[ItIsOkBro]

dual speakers on the same side of a phone

apple's genius is just too much for my simple brain to even comprehend

 

[ZeroX03]

Is it? I think you and I may have a very different definition of obsolete.

Obsolete isn't the word I'd use, but think of it this way: 3.5mm only carries audio. When you've got USB-C or Ligthning connectors that are half as long and can transfer data, power and display out as well as audio, the 3.5mm is kind of poor in comparison. Now obviously the industry has developed around it, but say if all headphones were USB-C instead, wouldn't it be more convenient if your phone had two USB-C ports instead? You would have far more options instead of one being limited to audio.

Obviously Apple isn't going in that direction, but the hypothetical is mostly to show that the 3.5mm option isn't perfect. It's ubiquitous, but there are better options.

Not a deal breaker for a lot of people, but when we've had 10+ years of quality wireless headphones this move will be practical and stick.

The problem is that there's less of an incentive for good wireless tech to be pushed while everyone is just going "eh 3.5mm is fine". They need to be dragged uncomfortably forward for the quality wireless tech to be sped up.

 

[Liu Kang Baking A Pie]

Remember when Apple having no physical keyboard on the phone was as controversial as this?

We *needed* it.

 

[Easy_D]

- they want the space for something else (battery?)
- they want dual speakers instead
- they want people to buy Beats wireless headphones

take your pick

Dual speakers would fit regardless tbh, the Moto G's are roughly the same size and have had dual speakers for years.

 

[Owari]

No

Then don't act like the option isn't there.

 

[flamingotripod]

Are there even any benefits from removing the headphone jack? Seems like alot of people are suggesting the push for bluetooth but I dont see how that benefits the phone in any way

 

[Jarmel]

-Propriety adapters that they can sell you for a surcharge
-Sell you bluetooth headphones (Beats don't sell themselves)
-Digital DRM

There isn't any consumer upside to this.

 

[ZeroX03]

People are really overestimating the profit from adapters. It's practically a blip. The iPhone 7 will come with lightning EarPods, which will satisfy most customers.

 

[Bleepey]

Remember when Apple having no physical keyboard on the phone was as controversial as this?

We *needed* it.

No headphone jack is anti consumer, no matter how you spin it.

 

[Nozem]

Well somebody has to drag us into the cordless future.