If a report from the Japanese blog Macotakara is to be believed, Apple is planning on getting rid of the headphone jack in the next iPhone. As it attempts to once again shrink its flagship device, Apple is reportedly planning on shipping EarPods that connect through the Lighting port with the next iPhone in order to remove the thicker 3.5mm headphone jack. This is a bad idea.
Indeed it is. If Apple were to really remove the 3.5mm jack, it will do so for one reason: control. The 3.5mm jack is obviously an open standard, and Apple can do little to control what kind of headphones you use. Now that Apple owns a very popular brand of headphones, I’n sure the company is itching to lock consumers into its Lightning port.
If true, yet another terrible anti-consumer move from Apple.
Sorry, the 6s is just too big. I finally upgraded from my 4s, and I’m simply not comfortable with it. It’s too big in my hand, too big in my pocket, and the buttons are too far away. And it’s not like I have small hands, but one handed operation of the phone is flat awkward.
The 4/5s form factor were just great for me. I upgraded to get the new CPU, camera and other techno wizardry, but I just don’t like the size.
This phone, even thinner, would be more terrible.
I actually bought a used 4S a couple of months ago coming from a Nexus 5. I love the size of the 4S, it is definitely a more “human” size compared to that transportable 5″ smart-tv or bigger they call smartphones. I wish the hardware were a bit more powerful (3G, 512 MB ram and dual core 800 MHz, in android world that is no longer used even in ultra budget phone) but anyway it is still a perfectly usable and enjoyable phone. I wish apple would upgrade the 5S next year, at least to address the business fleets (my company is using the 5S right now, i doubt they will move to the 6 or 6s).
bye
Edited 2015-12-01 08:09 UTC
Get a Neo :
http://neo.nuans.jp/?lang=en
So you had a 4s, you upgraded to a 6s which is too big for you….why did you upgrade to the 6s, not 6?
In Apples stats you are now another “used small-phone, now uses bigbig phone, selling only big and bigbig phones strategy confirmed”
1 day later I realize that I messed up the 6s with the 6plus. I cannot remove my comment, sorry
The thinner the device a couple of things happen: the less resistant to damage it becomes, the closer to your hands the heat sources become. I do think you’re forgetting one important thing, Thom. Apple doesn’t have control over the Bluetooth standard and that’s what many, if not most people use with phones these days. Apple sees that and sees another opportunity to save a few pennies at the expense of legacy devices. I don’t see people drinking Apple’s Kool-Aid already to care much about the 3.5 mm port. They’ll keep on buying iPhones no matter.
I spent time at a pretty big airport a couple of months ago, and since I had a two hour lay over I got a good opportunity to see how scores of people interacted with their cell phones. I believe I saw only a single person out of hundreds using wired headphones with his phone. The reason I noticed is because he was definitely “out of the pattern” I was seeing. Everyone else had them either glued to their ear or using Bluetooth ear pieces for those talking on them, the rest had the volume mute or turned way down, if they were doing something else, so I doubt very many people out of Apple’s target audience are really going to care. They are already giving up replaceable batteries and extensible storage, what’s one more device they rarely if ever use anyway.
But when do you ever need to change out the battery and have removable storage…. right? Seriously, that’s the argument I always hear when some Apple fans go on a “drink the Koolaid!” Rant. I wonder how many people stop to think that the koolaid reference refers to a cult who drank poison. Because that saying is almost always referring to joining the Apple fanclub…
In fact I agree “control” is what Apple craves.
I mean, why pay for the 64GB iPhone or even 256GB iPad if you can get an SD for a fraction of the price premium Apple would like you to pay?
Edited 2015-11-30 23:44 UTC
For the software. You lose storage to have iOS. I am an Android user, but I have to admit that iOS is better. No stuttering music when silenced notificatiins arrive, no infinitely-growing thumbnail caches (Android keeps thumbnails for deleted images) no nerdy storage management like manually deleting the YouTbe cache by diving into obscure settings. No randomly-calibrated screen colors and black levels.
Edited 2015-12-01 00:00 UTC
Don’t know what phone you have, but I don’t have problems with “stuttering” music/video when the phone activates the notification tone and mine is an Android phone as well. Not all hardware is created equal, especially in the ARM world. With most OEMs mileage varies greatly with how various functions work together. It gets even more varied when you add in 3rd party apps which are of varying quality either running fore or background. iOS is not immune from that problem.
I’ve used all sorts of Android phones and have never once noticed any of these problems. Are you sure you’re not high?
Coursework: Install ES File manager and go to the DCIM folder in “internal SD”/internal storage. Find the .thumbnails folder inside. Measure how much space Android wastes for thumbnails, even ones for deleted photos. Even thumbs for pictures stored in external memory go in internal memory. And internal memory can’t be expanded with MicroSDs.
Oh really? The Galaxy S3 had the stuttering audio issue:
http://www.keanei.eu/2014/06/14/stop-stuttering-playing-music-sd-ca…
https://www.reddit.com/r/AndroidUsers/comments/1k8u5q/how_can_i_pay_…
http://www.whathifi.com/forum/android/glitchy-stuttering-music-play…
Arriving notifications empty the buffer. The solution which involves poweramp doesn’t really work. The only solution is to change the kernel (SuperUberNerdy).
Now, I know many of you have already hit the reply button and have already typed “I think you ‘ll find the fault lies with Samsung…” but you are missing the point: With iOS, the hardware and the OS are always well-integrated with each other. You don’t have to worry who the fault lies when the integration is not good, because it’s always good. The SGS 3 was not some low-end throwaway phone. But in Android-land we have bugs and crap integration even with high-end phones.
And some of you have already typed “You should buy Nexus dude…” ignoring the fact Nexuses don’t have MicroSD slots anymore and their cameras are on par with lower-tier phones only. But anyway, don’t think for one uneducated moment that the integration of Android in Nexuses is any better:
Bad color calibration in Nexus 7:
http://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/53005195
http://www.displaymate.com/Tablet_7inch_ShootOut_1.htm
Bad performance after upgrade (not the iOS “now it’s half-second slower” kind of bad performance, the real thing)
http://www.itechpost.com/articles/12941/20141120/android-5-0-lollip…
Bluetooth audio doesn’t even work in Nexus 5:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Nexus5/comments/1q4d8r/bluetooth_streaming_…
The Nexus Player was launched as a streaming player (mostly), couldn’t function as a streaming player at launch-time:
http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2014/11/googles-nexus-player-more-pr…
Wow! Just imagine if iPhones had the same problems. Or if the new Apple TV didn’t do streaming well. Everyone would be shouting their lungs out. I HATE this trend by journalists and commentators to gloss over Android problems or pretend they are not there, just because Androids have a better specs/price ratio and some of them get MicroSD cards. It’s cheaper but it’s not as smooth nor as well integrated. Can we agree on that?
Edited 2015-12-01 13:46 UTC
Yes, really.
Have anything to add to my post or want to dispute the validity of it’s content, or you want to keep making “humorous” (read: douchey) two-word posts?
And my post didn’t revolve around the Galaxy S3 in case you didn’t notice.
Edited 2015-12-01 17:22 UTC
There’s nothing to add. You claimed that Android phones have a variety of noticeable problems. I pointed out that I have never encountered any of the ones you mention.
Rather simple, really.
I would have no problem with your comment if it wasn’t for the douchey “Are you sure you’re not high?” fanbot dismissal at the end, as if someone needs to be high to experience issues with the often poorly integrated and buggy software in Android devices, even in the Nexus line.
Now go and troll somewhere else fanbot.
Edited 2015-12-01 23:09 UTC
And that has nothing to do with Apple and SD cards.
The point is, why would anyone pay for the 256GiB iPad if you could just pop in a 512GiB SD card on a 16GiB iPad for way less than the outrageous prices Apple wants for the higher-end storage versions?
Edited 2015-12-01 01:39 UTC
I echo what the others said: I haven’t even heard of these things before your comment.
Checked… http://www.apple.com/nl/ipad/compare/ … there isn’t a 256 GB iPad (not even the Pro)
Why would you like an SD-Card?
* Buy a device with 16 GB without worrying if it will be enough
* Upgrade the device with 128 GB for 40 Euro whenever you want instead of 200 Euro at initial purchase
* Buying a new device? Don’t spend 200 Euro extra again, just use the SD-Card that you already have
Why would you not like an SD-Card?
* It makes the device uglier because you should be able to open it
* You have to go to storage settings and configure where you would like to store your apps/downloads/music/pictures/videos/maps
Not having SD mostly harms users and benefits the Manufacturer
Just like not having a headphone jack and forcing bluetooth/lighting/usbc??? harms users and benefits the manufacturer
For the billionth time: You get less storage options for considerably better (less buggy and less problematic) software (see my comment above, which nobody has disputed or the factuality of it so far). Take it or leave it.
And BTW I do find it ironic that in order to have the “best” user experience in Android (where “best” means just getting the latest version of it in time for 2 years or so and not much more, see above comment of mine), you have to get a Nexus and lose storage options too.
Edited 2015-12-01 14:18 UTC
And for the third time: what does that have to to do with SD cards?
If you hate Android, so be it; I don’t care, and I hate it too.
But the point still stands: this is an Apple shenigan purely designed in order to increase profit at the cost of consumer freedom. There’s absolutely no reason they couldn’t offer an SD slot. Heck, even PalmOS did it, and they had _no_ filesystem to speak of…
1. Nobody is commenting on your statement about software because it is WAY off-topic in a topic about an audio-jack. The SD-Card subtopic is at least related and informative.
2. I would personally call that comment troll-bait and am very happy nobody took that bait.
3. It sucks that the new Nexus phones don’t have SD, it sucks that Android is basically playing down support for SD lately, it sucks that most Android phones don’t get updates. Pointing out flaws in others products that your own product also has and calling that irony doesn’t make sense though.
Conclusions: Having SD available is a big plus. Having SD available in limited, fixed storage devices (like phones, tablets or ultrabooks) is almost a must. Phones without SD should be significantly cheaper.
Kudo’s for Microsoft for including SD in their highends 950, 950xl and my 1520. I miss it in my 1020 and it reduces the functionality of that phone
Edited 2015-12-02 05:47 UTC
Like I said, they already show they don’t care about those two features. Combined with what I’ve seen with regular phone use while just watching people passively, I can’t see why most of the same people care about the 3.5mm port either. Many are just using Bluetooth headsets or the built in speaker.
The “poison” in this case is the slow push towards planned obsolescence most OEMs are pushing, Apple especially, not so much vendor lock in.
I’ve traveled by air recently as well and observed the same – most people using wireless headphones or no headphones with the volume turned down low. I can’t remember the last time I used the 3.5mm jack on a phone myself. About the only time I see anyone using wired headphones is the occasional kid walking down the street. I’m not on board with the idea that dumping the 3.5mm jack from a cellphone is a big deal, much less a control grab. Seems more like purging unnecessary or mostly dead weight. It reminds me of a serial port on a pc. Yes, some people still use it but it appears the majority has moved on.
I use the 3.5mm jack all the time – I prefer corded headphones to BT ones, and I like to have the choice and flexibility of being able to use whatever headphones I want, or a line in if I happen to be somewhere that has that option. I also use Bluetooth, but not for headphones.
I reckon that the 3.5mm jack isn’t as dead as you seem to think it is – looking around my office now, anyone using headphones (and there are quite a few) are all using corded headphones of various types, and mostly with their phones – only one has theirs plugged into their PC.
I didn’t say the 3.5mm jack was dead, I said it was unnecessary and mostly dead weight as pertaining to cellphones. The sky won’t come falling down if the 3.5mm is abandoned in cellphones. People still using it will simply either make the move to wireless, or use an adapter that adds the 3.5mm jack back. I disagree that removing the 3.5mm from the cellphone itself is a huge mistake.
I found that BT was unusable the last time I flew. This was on a full A-380. With just about everyone seemingly using BT listing to music was nigh on impossible just because of the contention of signals concentrated inside a metal tube.
Wired was the only way to go.
Anyway, my ancient iPod Touch and a decent pair of noise cancelling over the ear headphones are my preferred travelling companions. On this flight I’d accidentally left the phone at home so it was wired ear buds but that was better than choppy BT reception.
As someone who has flown some 80,000 miles this year, I can’t see BT taking over completly just because of the problem described above.
As for a crappy consumer decision, I’ll bet those very words were said when the original iMac came out with USB only or was it no floppy(my memory is failing with age a bit). Now look what happened to non USB KB & Mouse connectors and the floppy disk?
Sometimes a brave step has to be made to move the whole industry forward. Personally, I don’t see a need for Apple to change just yet. maybe in 2-3 years but not yet.
I’ll be on a couple full capacity flights next week. Unfortunately it will be too late to reply with my observations but I still intend to check things out.
I see the subway full of young people wearing enormous wired headphones (many made by Beats, which I believe is now Apple property). I also see many people with wired earbuds. I see hardly anyone using BT headphones: it might be because even though they are practical, if you care for quality, they sound like shit.
I never see anybody using a BT headset either, come to think about it. I guess people don’t talk much on the phone anymore. Maybe Apple will also remove the earphone an microphone and make the phones squatter.
Should be, actually: “We don’t need any iPhone at all” (not being snobs).
I would be very surprised to meet someone who both (a) considers this is a bad news and (b) can’t name at least a dozen of more serious reasons to avoid using iStuff. Really, by buying iPhone people concent to quite a lot of control on Apple’s part, and this particular stone does not even stand out in the wall. On the other hand, every iPhone fanboy can name several reasons why it is actually a wonderful decision, and say why he can’t wait for iPhone to free him from this terrible and opressive 3.5mm garbage.
I guess you haven’t met this guy:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Dorsey
Ha! Back of the net.
Yes, apparently Thom can have independent thoughts about MacBooks not having PC vendors’ crapware on it, versus iPhones being restrictive and walled-up. This (i.e. nuanced thought) is a good thing, a part of growing up.
Right, because a Mac is the exact same thing as an iPhone, of course.
Nonsense apple haters always make ne LOL
<hint-of-sarcasm>Even the extremely portable and lightweight and 1-USBC-connector-to-rule-them-all MacBook has …. a 3.5 mm headphone connector on the other side (not bluetooth)</hint-of-sarcasm>
Feels like smartphones have reached where PCs were 5 (10?) years ago: they’re pretty much finished, evolved products (barring incremental improvements).
A bit boring, but it might just be the way it is?
To get even more fanciful, it’s possible too that there won’t be another computing product to take its place. Computers, smartphones and the Internet might just progress like the car industry for the next century – a series of new marketing products, without leaps in functionality.
There already are headphones that use the lightning connector.
The marketing will be: Why charge up batteries or carry around a DAC with you, when you can have them both integrated in a single headphone so you can listen to top quality audio while keeping your phone charged.
It’s not like Sennheiser, Audio Tehnica or any other brand disregard the 3.5mm jack standard in their headphones as well. Nowadays having a hifi audio headphone with standard replaceable cable can be quite a hassle.
I don’t get the race to the sheet-of-paper phone, either. My Nexus 6P is the thinnest phone I’ve ever had, and it feels weird, somehow fragile (it’s not any more so than other phones I’ve had), and seemingly eager to fall to the floor at any moment if I’m not careful. I’d gladly take on a few mm of thickness for, say, wireless charging. As it stands, I’ll probably get a bombproof case just to add some bulk back to it.
Oh, and I still use my headphone jack.
The past year or so, the aforementioned companies released headphones with lightning port adapters. They all sounded Awesome. The Sony’s, and some others have built in Dac’s and don’t require being powered from the Lightning port.
So, guys, while some of you appear like really bright guys, let’s use those noggins. Some of you are the very same ones that complained that phones with touch screens would never be serious business tools. What makes the future great is the presence of possibilities, let’s embrace them.
How are those DACs powered then? Wishful thinking and unicorn tears?
You charge the headphones, then plug them into the lightning port for playback. Duh. No smug/douchery needed.
https://docs.sony.com/release/MDR1ADAC_QSG_EN_ES_FR.pdf
Does that mean that the iPhone audio output is no good and must be replaced by another one designed by a third party and built in the headphones?
If this is true, then they had better be prepared for a lot more iPhones being sent in for repairs. The lightning jack is one of the least robust orifices on an iDevice.
Sure you won’t realize it if your iPhone’s untouched while plugged in, but visit a few forums and you’ll see just how many people suffer from failed lightning connections die to overstressing the jack – usually due to them inadvertently yanking a lot whenever they answer calls/messages while charging, or from having an external battery pack plugged in while using the phone on the go. Having a headphone cable dangling from the thing is just going to bring more harm than good, I reckon.
Edited 2015-12-01 05:31 UTC
yes, Lightning port is terrible.
RS232 is much better
btw they could use 2.5mm for headphones and force people to use adapter
What makes anyone think that these rumours are credible?
Just because some analyst spots that a few high-end headphone manufacturers are making headphones that plug directly into the lightening port does not mean that Apple will be removing the 3.5mm jack.
Feels like exactly the kind of rumour that Samsung would love to spread.
I saw this coming over a year ago – the writing has been on the wall for the old-hacked to death mini jack for several years.
the mini-jack is a lot like the floppy drive and the optical drive – there will be a tiny amount of pain when it first disappears, but workflow’s will adjust and the new way will quickly usurp the old way.
But unlike your Floppy disk example, the 3.5mm jack works well, is reliable, and is everywhere. And no matter how cheap it becomes to make the chips, having to include a DAC will always make headphones more expensive than having a 3.5mm jack.
No, the DAC is already present to feed either a jack or a lightning port. The difference will be on the connector itself. I understand the “water resistant” motive behind it, yet… Sony solved the problem with their Xperia, and above all :
Could these fucking smartphone users do actually care about their device and not just use it like a brick ? It’s an electronic device, it’s somewhat fragile, why can’t they be a little more cautious ?
I don’t think the rumor is very credible, but I didn’t complain about that because it was both indicated in the original article and in the summary here:
On the other hand, there is always the possibility that some high profile Apple employee is reading OSNews and uses our feedback to influence the direction of future products
The response to a rumour about Apple possible replacing the 3.5mm jack with a lightening connector seems a bit over the top. When I heard the rumour I thought its was exactly the sort of thing Apple does, it gets rid of old standards and old ports and old ‘features’ and the result is a sort of minimalist design that you either hate or love. I love it, as do hundreds of millions of other people, and those that hate it have plenty of alternatives in the market place. If lots of ports, pop out batteries and slots for sticking memory cards in are your thing then you are hardly badly served by the market.
I can’t see what the fuss is about. Personally I want my iPhone to get lighter and leaner – its still too big an object in my pocket. The notion that it is some sort of dangerous or nefarious move by Apple, or is anti-consumer is risible. Apple does seek to control the entire product stack so it can produce fully integrated products where all components (software, services and hardware) are controlled by Apple so that the finished product is a complete expression of Apple’s design. Apple then places those products in a market place full of competing products not designed with that philosophy and lets the consumer decide which they prefer and how much they are willing to pay for their choice. What’s the problem?
Plus of course there will a 3.5mm jack to lightening port adaptor for those who want to plug in old style kit. In a few years connecting this sort of stuff by cable will be archaic.
Storm in a tea cup.
I was reminded of this cartoon
https://xkcd.com/1406/
When you say too big in your pocket, do you really mean too fat? Surely most of the bulk of the phone already comes from its width and height, rather than its thickness.
Personally I’d much rather a phone that was a couple of mm thicker, so a battery could be included that lasted more like a phone used to and less like a laptop does.
I predicted this in 2014:
http://wfnk.com/blog/2014/06/apple-will-kill-the-mini-jack/
Same reasons – thinness of lightning port, new headphones with the DAC inside, too many service jobs on the minijack, the fact that the mini jack is 50 years old and apple wants “better”.
I think the potential change in headphone usage / connection is the big change here, not the thinness of the overall design. will there be a backlash against rendering old headphones useless with new iPhones? hard to say.
perhaps this allows them to push hi-res audio to the headphones without taxing every phone. Remember, iTunes has been collecting (but not selling or streaming) 24-bit masters for many years now.
Overall I’m split on the decision, if it’s true. Apple can’t screw up music much more than they are now.
Backlash will only come from people unwilling to go wireless for whatever reasoning. It won’t matter one bit because space is a hot commodity inside a cellphone. The 3.5mm jack is an unnecessary waste of space at this point. I doubt Apple will leave the 3.5mm’ers out in the cold though. Don’t be surprised to see an adapter available to anyone still wishing to use the 3.55mm jack. And don’t be surprised if it comes with a premium price tag attached to it.
Bah.. it’s just another dongle fetish that Apple has. The 3.5mm/lightning dongle will allow another $50 revenue stream to augment the saturated mobile market dollars.
Technically I’ll welcome it, but not if it isn’t an open standard.
The thinness and newness are the selling points since design and marketing is key at Apple.
Lightning looks better, is smaller, and has far more capabilities than minijack. For instance it can charge your wireless headset, no additional charging cable needed.
I can imagine (hope?) Apple will set up a 2-tier music quality system:
-keep 256k AAC lossy as the low-fidelity standard option. so many just don’t care about quality and will pay for 10% crap.
-start providing 24bit lossless ALAC files or streaming to these new lightning headphones for people who care about sound, probably at a higher price than the 256k files.
When you’re charging up your iPhone in a room where others are sitting reading, and want to listen to music (or whatever) without disturbing them, how do you do this with a Lightning port headset once the headphone jack is gone? Or do Apple plan to fit two ports, or sell doublers? That will rather defeat the object of slimming down the phone, won’t it?
No because the phone itself is still slimmer and has less parts (granting less cost to manufacture). And they would have the added bonus of selling another overpriced product with a high profit margin, the port doubler you mentioned, to people who need/want it. Sounds like a win-win for Apple to me.
What this could mean is USB headphones with a Type-C plug.
Thunderbolt is merging with USB going forward, and there have been rumors the next iPhone will use a USB connector in place of Thunderbolt. The Eu’s mandate to use USB as a universal phone connector standard is the reason behind it.
The MacBook with one USB connector set the design language for the rest of the Apple products.
Edited 2015-12-01 18:10 UTC
BlackBerry Priv or Vienna with a real keyboard it shall be!
Apple really has developed an unhealthy obsession with making things thinner, they’ve even sacrificed upgrading ram and replaceable components on machines all for the sake of making their machines as thin as possible. If Apple were a person Apple would be bulimic…Apple go to rehab, you’re bulimic!!
Edited 2015-12-02 23:25 UTC