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[mkenyon]

I don't get it either. If your audio ecosystem - headphones, home stereo, car - are all completely wireless and you're satisfied with that, cool. I don't understand people cheerleading removing the extremely widely supported 3.5 port on the mere hopes it'll spur innovation down the road. What benefit would that bring you now? And would it be enough to outweigh alienating everyone who can't afford to replace all their devices on the whims of their smartphone manufacturer?

How about the endless audiophiles, like myself, who have multiple pairs of really fkn expensive IEMs and the like.

There isn't a single Bluetooth set that can match my IE60s. I don't know what it is, but the combination of sub-par products with Bluetooth compression just sucks. Pops and crackles galore.

Now I gotta use a dongle to plug my IEMs in?

Looks like the iPhone 6 was my first and last iPhone.

 

[see5harp]

Those people won't have to worry, they can get the adapter.

I'm just clarifying that you are the minority. Most people, GAF included, put music on or listen to music using headphones or ear phones that plug into them.

 

[Two Words]

Tim Cook: "Thankfully, we do have a product for those that still want to use standard AUX on their phones. It's called the iPhone 6s."

 

[mkenyon]

I'm just clarifying that you are the minority. Most people, GAF included, put music on or listen to music using headphones or ear phones that plug into them.

Yeah, because they sound better.

And fuck wireless internet too.

Give me all the cables forever.

 

[minor effort]

Also, all this talk about Apple only ditching 3.5 as a service to improve bluetooth audio devices.

Apple doesn't give a shit about standard bluetooth. Ideally they want you all buying AirPlay devices to use at home and CarPlay systems to use in your car.

 

[Rookje]

The problem with bluetooth is the risk of radiation. I'm not comfortable with that signal going to my ears all the time like that. Anyone have conclusive evidence that it's safe?

 

[Lothars]

Be honest, you think the iphone 7, which is a redesign year which usually does the best, will have worse sales?


It goes through phases.

Phase 1) OEMs laugh at Apple and use the fact that they still have a 3.5mm port as part of their marketing against Apple
Phase 2) Apple shatters sales records (again), OEMs stick to their guns for a bit, then they fold because they realize they're all still bombing (which all Android OEMs are other than huawei for the most part), at which point they copy apple.

What will happen is Apple will lose tons of sales, The apple fanboys will eat it up but next revision apple will bring it back like they never made a mistake.

 

[Maximus.]

Once everyone follows Apple with this decision, people will be fine.

 

[see5harp]

Yeah, because they sound better.

And fuck wireless internet too.

Give me all the cables forever.

It's also just because every pair of headphones I use has the same cable that is universal. It's the same reason I don't think it makes sense to buy a dedicated headset for gaming that only has a USB output either. I have no problem using the Bluetooth for audio in certain use cases like being the car or pairing to a portable speaker.

 

[PdotMichael]

So this little bastard is what holds back humanity to advance to the next level?

 

[Nafai1123]

Is the OP being sarcastic? This sounds fucking stupid.

 

[Dazza]

Guessing I'm not getting a iPhone 7 after all

 

[Roo]

Once everyone follows Apple with this decision, people will be fine.

The problem is not really about getting rid of the headphone jack itself.
The real problem is that the current technology they're trying to replace it with is nowhere near the quality and/or convenience a wired headphone offers.

If there were other alternatives as reliable (and affordable) as headphones I assure you people wouldn't have too much of a trouble accepting its removal from the phone.

 

[EviLore]

There's a pro-consumer approach to this and an anti-consumer approach, as far as how Apple handles this.

The most pro-consumer approach, whether people are pissed off at the time or not, is to kill Lightning and go USB-C while simultaneously dropping 3.5mm. One and done. Cheap and small DACless adapters for your existing wired audio since USB can pass analog audio signals, and Apple helps usher in the new definitive platform-agnostic standard that benefits everyone tremendously in the long run and will unify consumer electronics ports worldwide. USB-C can do almost anything as good or better, usually much better, than any existing specialized port can. The sooner it's the One True Port the better. Lightning, on the other hand, is annoying crap you deal with because you use iOS, designed because the legacy dock connector needed ditching and micro usb was a kind-of-bad standard too, but Lightning will never be anything more than an intermediary proprietary Apple-only bandaid solution with overpriced cables. Apple isn't trying to get other consumer electronics devices to use Lightning. The writing is on the wall and Apple heavily co-designed USB-C themselves. It's the Macbook's only port. It's just a matter of time.

However, I find it very unlikely that both changes would happen on the iPhone 7. Not unless we're really lucky. 2018 with iPhone 8 at the earliest for dropping Lightning? Most people are on a two year product cycle (or more) with iOS devices and to them Lightning is still the annoying new thing they're coping with.

Hey guys, let's replace all of these with a Lightning port!

Disagree with me? LUDDITE!

USB-C, you mean. Lightning isn't for non-Apple devices and can't really do anything useful at all aside from be small and plug in bidirectionally and make Apple licensing money.

USB-C, though: even just with current 3.1 specifications, can already easily replace wall outlets for almost anything other than major appliances. You could power your 80" TV with USB-C instead of your wall outlet, and also connect your receiver or content device to your TV for 4K+ video/audio with USB-C instead of HDMI, and run your gigabit internet connection from your router to your home theater with USB-C instead of CAT-6.

Do it, Apple. Do it.

 

[jerry1594]

I guess I will stick with the 6s or switch to android.

 

[Ramma2]

So this little bastard is what holds back humanity to advance to the next level?

NSFL dude seriously.

 

[magnetic]

Your post just made me remember the parody-of-itself that was the iPod shuffle third generation, where Apple thought "hey, maybe we could make this thing smaller if we removed all controls from it."

It's a rare example of Apple admitting they made a dumb mistake and they backpedaled for the fourth gen shuffle. Here's hoping that happens with the headphone jack, if indeed they put out an iPhone without one.

Oh man, I totally forgot about that thing. You're right, it's like an April's Fools joke, only it's not. Not that the original Shuffle wasn't already a bold move - an audio player without a screen was unheard of at that time, but the cheap price, the small size and the cute clip were great ideas.

People tend to only remember their successful products, but Apple has made many bad design decisions all throughout their history - it's just that these things don't stick out as much as their most famous products.

However, the Shuffle was a relatively niche product, so they probably were just testing the waters to see if that concept would take off. The iPhone is their flagship product where every change could potentially upset a lot of people.

 

[radios shipping overview]

Tim Cook: "Thankfully, we do have a product for those that still want to use standard AUX on their phones. It's called the iPhone 6s."

I'd really like to know how "aux" became incorrectly popularized as a catch-all for any 3.5mm audio jack.

Aux refers to an auxiliary audio input on a speaker or receiver.

 

[funkystudent]

OK. I am not against the idea of moving past the headphone jack but the solution is a new standard. Not apple proprietary bullshit.

Will be fun to see the PR reasons for it. Like we need slimmer phones when your phones are already bending in peoples pockets. Or that improved sound quality is important when listening on earbuds while outside.


Leaning into obsessive audiophile weirdness is a fun direction for apple though. There is some overlap in midset between audiences.

 

[EatinOlives]

I've had these beoplay h8 for a year now. Charge them once a week. Have had my iPhone 6 for almost 2 years now, have never once put anything into the 3.5mm headphone jacks. iPhone connects to my car by bluetooth, if I care about it then I'll connect by lightning for carplay.

The future is to be completely wireless, power included. But you people want to hold innovation back by wanting to keep living in the 90s.

Maybe I've been living under a rock, but what year is the year in which the universe suddenly decided that 3.5mm jacks are old shit that nobody wants and is ancient 90s technology that holds back innovation?

It's like the minute Apple looks like they're dropping them, suddenly 3.5mm jacks are shit and old and outdated. I've never heard this mentality from anyone. Not from casual listeners who are on $20 earbuds, and certainly not from audiophiles who want the best sound from their devices.

 

[minor effort]

I'd really like to know how "aux" became incorrectly popularized as a catch-all for any 3.5mm audio jack.

Aux refers to an auxiliary audio input on a speaker or receiver.

It's a testament to just how ubiquitous the 3.5mm audio jack is. It's everywhere, it's inexpensive, it's immediately accessible, and it's simple.

"AUX" as a catch-all for 3.5mm seemed to come about the time every car manufacturer included it as their default auxiliary audio input.

 

[TheFrza]

So the argument here is that Apple is "evolving" by eliminating the connection? That doesn't make sense. Why is the question we should ask. Change for the sake of change? Other than Apple wanting more money, obviously.

As a general rule, don't we all agree that change for it's own sake is useless and not time/money well spent?

 

[Kabuki Quantum Lover]

Maybe I've been living under a rock, but what year is the year in which the universe suddenly decided that 3.5mm jacks are old shit that nobody wants and is ancient 90s technology that holds back innovation?

It's like the minute Apple looks like they're dropping them, suddenly 3.5mm jacks are shit and old and outdated. I've never heard this mentality from anyone. Not from casual listeners who are on $20 earbuds, and certainly not from audiophiles who want the best sound from their devices.

It all started this morning at 5:36AM EST when this thread was created.

 

[Sai-kun]

...that would be spectacularly fucking dumb.

 

[notworksafe]

I'd really like to know how "aux" became incorrectly popularized as a catch-all for any 3.5mm audio jack.

Aux refers to an auxiliary audio input on a speaker or receiver.

cause people plug their headphones into the input labeled "aux" on their car/stereo/etc

 

[Jack Remington]

Quite possibly the dumbest move I've seen in awhile.

It also betrays the original iPhone concept. It was an iPod + a phone.

I'm supposed to get an adapter in order to use my $200 headphones. Fuck off with that shit.

 

[EatinOlives]

It all started this morning at 5:36AM EST when this thread was created.

This is what it appears to be.

Not to say 3.5mm is the end-all for every audio cable solution, but I'm gonna have to see receipts for the people who claim this is the future and the market doesn't want 3.5mm anymore.

 

[Somnid]

Evilore knows what's up.

At least one argument in here that doesn't hold up as a reason to keep it is "my awesome audiophile headphones." Audiophiles are already using external DAC/Amps and will continue to. If anything this would allow the market to cater more to this segment because $400 headphones on an iPhone is certainly not money well spent.

The best argument against is that Lightning is dumb and proprietary with no advantage over USB which should be the replacement.

 

[StylesClash]

I'll say it again. This will fuck over those of us with older cars who still need that port. I hope that shit doesn't happen.

 

[Jack Remington]

Is there a problem with 3.5mm that I'm overlooking?

It's tiny, extremely reliable, and not at all intrusive.

This is like a restaurant no longer serving water because fuck it, water is old news.

 

[ItIsOkBro]

Is there a problem with 3.5mm that I'm overlooking?

It's tiny, extremely reliable, and not at all intrusive.

This is like a restaurant no longer serving water because fuck it, water is old news.

3.5mm is HUGE.

 

[jstripes]

USB-C, you mean. Lightning isn't for non-Apple devices and can't really do anything useful at all aside from be small and plug in bidirectionally and make Apple licensing money.

USB-C, though: even just with current 3.1 specifications, can already easily replace wall outlets for almost anything other than major appliances. You could power your 80" TV with USB-C instead of your wall outlet, and also connect your receiver or content device to your TV for 4K+ video/audio with USB-C instead of HDMI, and run your gigabit internet connection from your router to your home theater with USB-C instead of CAT-6.

Do it, Apple. Do it.

I'm for Apple switching to USB-C, in fact that's the only way I'd get behind them ditching the 3.5 mm jack, but it's going to be a painful switch for everyone who supplies accessories. It'll be good for them in the long run, being able to sell a single model for both iPhone and Android, but it's going to be a year full of anger.

Think about the expensive little gadgets like this that are going to be problematic:

 

[EthanC]

What will happen is Apple will lose tons of sales, The apple fanboys will eat it up but next revision apple will bring it back like they never made a mistake.

What Apple will do is release the much rumored 4inch iPhone and it will have a standard headphone jack. A backwards audio port to go with a backwards screen size for all those people that have to have an iOS device. Plebes like me will just keep buying 100 dollar fully functional Android phones and not give a shit.

 

[aeolist]

His logic is that it would force wireless/bluetooth sound options to get better, in the same way how Apple's abandonment of Flash was a big factor in lots of sites abandoning the technology in favor of HTML5, which is generally more reliable.

However, I think a headphone jack and a bloated piece of software that has a reputation as a memory hog and being full of security flaws are two very different things.

also html5 was already fast becoming the dominant form of online content delivery before jobs delivered his condemnation of flash.

 

[MilkBeard]

I use earbuds a lot, and I also hook my phone to my mixdeck with a spillter as a backup.

I'll be sticking with Android thank you very much.

 

[HoodWinked]

do it apple i want to see the aftermath.

one design issue that i see is a 3.5mm jack can rotate so its really resilient. if you have a very rigid jack like a lightning port it will put a ton of stress on it and it will become prone to breaking. also which way would you flair the wire from the jack if it goes straight out it will be awful to keep in a pocket also the neck of the wire will fail quickly. if you make it flair sideways its bad if you have the phone going the opposite way.

 

[Lord Error]

I wouldn't mind removing aux port if someone finally comes up with a lossless protocol for BT audio transfer. Until then, there's no real benefit. Audio degradation through BT wireless is too noticeable, and I don't think anyone has yet been able to get around that. Otherwise, I was very happy with the DAC embedded in the iphone 5 and 6. I hope that the one embedded in the lighting adapter won't be worse at least.

 

[post-S]

So everyone gotta buy those lighting adapters right?

 

[MoodyFog]

I use earbuds a lot, and I also hook my phone to my mixdeck with a spillter as a backup.

I'll be sticking with Android thank you very much.

You were thinking of switching to Apple?

 

[ship it]

Is the OP being sarcastic? This sounds fucking stupid.

I was thinking the exact same thing

 

[Joel Was Right]

I don't mind as long as I can get decent Seinheisser earphones for less than £20.

 

[lednerg]

That'll be fun, listening to FLAC's being compressed via some bullshit I have no control over.

 

[breakfuss]

Who uses the aux on their phones anyways. Buy an iPod if you want to listen to audio.

What? Are you serious? I use mine daily. The better question is who in the hell still uses a dedicated music device?

 

[Joel Was Right]

Who uses the aux on their phones anyways. Buy an iPod if you want to listen to audio.

9/10

Excellent.

 

[Palette Swap]

There's a pro-consumer approach to this and an anti-consumer approach, as far as how Apple handles this.

The most pro-consumer approach, whether people are pissed off at the time or not, is to kill Lightning and go USB-C while simultaneously dropping 3.5mm. One and done. Cheap and small DACless adapters for your existing wired audio since USB can pass analog audio signals, and Apple helps usher in the new definitive platform-agnostic standard that benefits everyone tremendously in the long run and will unify consumer electronics ports worldwide. USB-C can do almost anything as good or better, usually much better, than any existing specialized port can. The sooner it's the One True Port the better. Lightning, on the other hand, is annoying crap you deal with because you use iOS, designed because the legacy dock connector needed ditching and micro usb was a kind-of-bad standard too, but Lightning will never be anything more than an intermediary proprietary Apple-only bandaid solution with overpriced cables. Apple isn't trying to get other consumer electronics devices to use Lightning. The writing is on the wall and Apple heavily co-designed USB-C themselves. It's the Macbook's only port. It's just a matter of time.

However, I find it very unlikely that both changes would happen on the iPhone 7. Not unless we're really lucky. 2018 with iPhone 8 at the earliest for dropping Lightning? Most people are on a two year product cycle (or more) with iOS devices and to them Lightning is still the annoying new thing they're coping with.

As much as I want to see USB-C bury Lightning (and most connectors, really), removing that jack seems unnecessary to further that goal.

I mean, there's probably a scenario in which they introduce a phone with a single USB-C port and a new "headphone over USB-C" standard where they somehow add nice features to headphones while being transparent to analog signals, but at face value I expect a Lightning-only deal with no particular end-user benefits.

 

[Jack Remington]

3.5mm is HUGE.

Huge? It's like the size of the tip of a pen.

Feels like we're going back to the Derek Zoolander phone trend is 3.5mm is considered large.

What? Are you serious? I use mine daily. The better question is who in the hell still uses a dedicated music device?

I have one that I use for traveling. Listening to music during even a 3-4 hour flight would be very draining on my battery. The iPod lasts 8-10 hours.

 

[-Pyromaniac-]

There's a pro-consumer approach to this and an anti-consumer approach, as far as how Apple handles this.

The most pro-consumer approach, whether people are pissed off at the time or not, is to kill Lightning and go USB-C while simultaneously dropping 3.5mm. One and done. Cheap and small DACless adapters for your existing wired audio since USB can pass analog audio signals, and Apple helps usher in the new definitive platform-agnostic standard that benefits everyone tremendously in the long run and will unify consumer electronics ports worldwide. USB-C can do almost anything as good or better, usually much better, than any existing specialized port can. The sooner it's the One True Port the better. Lightning, on the other hand, is annoying crap you deal with because you use iOS, designed because the legacy dock connector needed ditching and micro usb was a kind-of-bad standard too, but Lightning will never be anything more than an intermediary proprietary Apple-only bandaid solution with overpriced cables. Apple isn't trying to get other consumer electronics devices to use Lightning. The writing is on the wall and Apple heavily co-designed USB-C themselves. It's the Macbook's only port. It's just a matter of time.

However, I find it very unlikely that both changes would happen on the iPhone 7. Not unless we're really lucky. 2018 with iPhone 8 at the earliest for dropping Lightning? Most people are on a two year product cycle (or more) with iOS devices and to them Lightning is still the annoying new thing they're coping with.



USB-C, you mean. Lightning isn't for non-Apple devices and can't really do anything useful at all aside from be small and plug in bidirectionally and make Apple licensing money.

USB-C, though: even just with current 3.1 specifications, can already easily replace wall outlets for almost anything other than major appliances. You could power your 80" TV with USB-C instead of your wall outlet, and also connect your receiver or content device to your TV for 4K+ video/audio with USB-C instead of HDMI, and run your gigabit internet connection from your router to your home theater with USB-C instead of CAT-6.

Do it, Apple. Do it.

I agree with most of this and just to note that 2018 will be a big update year as it is since all signs point to OLED displays for then. Changing to USB-C will be the last big thing left. It will be like the scene at the end of Godfather 1.

Definitely don't think they do it all at once on the 7 but you never know.

 

[J-Rzez]

Good. While you're at it, remove Bluetooth/RF and come up with a special wireless tech that's just as good as the existing stuff but only works with licensed things. Also make a charging cable that only works when you buy an adapter for the wall and car, and of course, not any form of USB standard like C, just make it USB-Capple pls.

I remember when Sony used to come up with all the crazy proprietary thingies and people bitched the out, like the one on my x-series walkman. But when Apple does this, then it'll "be fantastic"/cnet.

 

[deltatheta]

Yeah, can't wait to go from just plugging some headphones in and they always work to having another piece of equipment that I have to remember to keep charged, remember to turn off when I'm done with, have it occasionally lose connection and have to re-pair it, go through the de-pairing and re-pairing process whenever I want to use it with another device, make sure that my phone's Bluetooth is turned on... etc.

 

[-Pyromaniac-]

Yeah, can't wait to go from just plugging some headphones in and they always work to having another piece of equipment that I have to remember to keep charged, remember to turn off when I'm done with, have it occasionally lose connection and have to re-pair it, go through the de-pairing and re-pairing process whenever I want to use it with another device, make sure that my phone's Bluetooth is turned on... etc.

There will be headphones that work with lightning/usb c/whatever apple works with. It won't be wireless only.