Apple Defends Decision To Remove 3.5mm Headphone Jack, Cites “Courage”

[delita]

Because that is the industry standard for all manner of headphones -WORTH- owning from companies who do NOTHING but sell professional audio gear. If you think there are wireless headphones to the caliber of AKG K612Pros and above you're very ignorant. There's nothing wireless even as good as 6 tiers down from them, and they run perfectly fine on my G4 which has a pretty neutral sounding DAC. Apple is high out of their minds, period.

Anyone using a PHONE as their SOURCE for "audiophile" grade equipment is ignorant.

Anyway, not saying you are WRONG for saying Apple is shitty for removing it, I'm just saying that I could personally give 2 shits because I jumped ship from wired headphones on my phone a while back.

I'll be giving away my AirPods to a homeless guy on the street, they look fucking stupid, probably sound horrible, and were built to be lost and never found so that people have to re-purchase them endlessly.

 

[mope54]

They don't give out the AirPods. The included earbuds are corded but have lightning ends.

 

[MaZa]

So to get your argument straight, you're pissed off about not being able to direct connect your AKGs to your phone?

Sorry, that seems like retarded logic. When I sit down with my AKGs I am connected to a DAC and tube amp. If I wanted to connect them to my phone, this simply makes it easier or at least no worse connecting them through the lightning to 3.5mm socket. If nothing else, I'll be able to bypass whatever crappy DAC is implemented in current phones.

Back when iPhones were using 30pin connectors, those of us over on head-fi had one of the members fab up 30pin to 3.5mm connectors so we could bypass the internal DAC. The only one worth anything was the Wolfsen DAC already mentioned. This is a non-issue for an audiophile but nice try attempting to sound like you know what you're talking about.

As a former head-fier if you cannot connect a fricking Koss Porta Pro, that has been a baseline for quality portable headphones for decades, your device is a fucking failure.

You can always aim for better, first by boosting the amplification with some Cmoy derivative mini-headphone amp and later a proper DAC to get your audiophile fix but there are plenty of famous headphones that simply makes your music sound good even with lesser equipment. If you want some extra proprietary connections for your wireless crap thats fine by me but dont drop out perfectly functional industry standards for those.

 

[Spidey329]

Courage or blind change?

HTC tried it (a few others) and it quickly was reversed on future models. The adapter is a nuisance, plain and simple. Sometimes you'd have access to a headphone, but forgot your adapter. Every phone I've had no headphone jack I've hated and I have a good pair of Jaybird X2's for wireless headphones. Sometimes I just want wired or my battery runs out.

Granted, Bluetooth headphones weren't as widely popular back when it was done before because they lacked proper tech (BLE), but still. This is just a ploy to drive their air pod sells. On top of that, they aren't exactly known for having quality ear buds.

 

[snowcrash]

If it was Samsung or any other popular Android phone manufacturers that decided to do this, it would be lauded by [H] readers as bold, forward thinking, and technologically progressive. It will show how much Apple has fallen behind technologically. That they are resting on their laurels and daring to call a minor update of iPhone 6 as iPhone 7.

Watch as what I wrote gets quoted selectively.

 

[Silentbob343]

Ppl need to stop crying over the headphone jack. Apple is giving you everything you need to use headphones. Just buy a pair of Bluetooth headphones. Its not like the 3.5mm headphone jack sounds better then the lightning port. I have a pair of lightning port headphones for my 6s and they sound great.

Yes, they do. They need to simply not buy a product they do not like. Apple needs to stop pretending this was some kind of grand "courageous" gesture and just a business decision to cash in on increased licensing fees and attach rates for new accessories. Also acknowledge that getting rid of the port added nothing to the end product.

 

[Silentbob343]

If it was Samsung or any other popular Android phone manufacturers that decided to do this, it would be lauded by [H] readers as bold, forward thinking, and technologically progressive. It will show how much Apple has fallen behind technologically. That they are resting on their laurels and daring to call a minor update of iPhone 6 as iPhone 7.

Watch as what I wrote gets quoted selectively.

I don't think so, other manufacturers have done it and it hasn't worked out, but apple tells their customer base what they want and they typically listen so I doubt apple will reverse course as the others have.

 

[Skripka]

For only $39.99, you can even use wired headphones and charge your device at the same time.

Do lightning hubs allow you to reverse the host relationship to do that? Or are you just assuming it can?

 

[Trimlock]

Lol at all the salty tears in this thread.

 

[Dr_John]

I have an older car, which I love and intend to keep as long as it runs. No Bluetooth, USB, etc., but I can access the CD changer with a 3.5 mm jack. I do on occasion listen to music off my phone via this route. Very convenient. I know I'm not the target market for Apple, but I know several folks that do the same thing I do.

 

[zazzn]

I've had Iphones since the 4, I can say that this defiantly will make me jump when I'm finished with my 6. This is full retard mode.

 

[dyzophoria]

Actually I'm not complaining about the headphones (I'm on wireless ones as well), It is just that.. for a major product revision, the phone is just lame. lol

 

[Skylinestar]

I wouldn't say courage, courage would not be replacing it with a proprietary thing, rather a design choice if the device benefits from the extra slimness it could possibly go.

But what are they saying to beats customers? Fuck you is what. Buy our new shit so you too can look like some weird anime antenna eared thing.

"Exploding" headphones in 3 2 1. Would you really like to stick a battery in your ears?

I can see the rise of poorly made wireless earphones that can explode or short circuit, zapping your ear. This has been the case with budget power bank.

 

[arthur_tuxedo]

If you are willing to drop $700+ on a brand new phone but outraged over the prospect of having to buy an adapter to use your old headphones, I'm afraid I'm never going to understand your point of view. Personally I'd take the new second speaker over a 3.5mm jack any day.

 

[steakman1971]

Not defending Apple's decision, but they do bundle a pair of wired headphones with the device. You don't have to use Bluetooth. (Realize you do need a dock or adapter to listen and charge, which admittedly sucks).

 

[Dekoth-E-]

Geez man, hate Apple much? Who gives a shit? It's a headphone jack, lol.

I don't hate apple, I hate corporate decisions that are exclusively designed to cost the consumer more money. Again I say, care to try another excuse? Or did you realize it was a really pathetic one and your only recourse was to try and strawman? You don't use the port, that is fine. However most do and there was zero credible reason to remove it beyond "We want to force people to only use our proprietary standard".

If it was Samsung or any other popular Android phone manufacturers that decided to do this, it would be lauded by [H] readers as bold, forward thinking, and technologically progressive. It will show how much Apple has fallen behind technologically. That they are resting on their laurels and daring to call a minor update of iPhone 6 as iPhone 7.

Watch as what I wrote gets quoted selectively.

This isn't some "Anti-Apple crusade so go ahead and check the professional victim shit at the door. If samsung or anyone else had pulled this garbage there would be just as much furor about it. This has Zero to do with it being apple that did it. It is simply zero surprise that apple is the one who tried to pull it.

 

[Exavior]

If you are willing to drop $700+ on a brand new phone but outraged over the prospect of having to buy an adapter to use your old headphones, I'm afraid I'm never going to understand your point of view. Personally I'd take the new second speaker over a 3.5mm jack any day.

but you shouldn't have to spend money to make your new device look like shit by needing dongles for stuff that was built in before. Imagine spending $2000 on a high end gaming computer but in order to use HDMI output you needed to connect a device 3 times the size of the computer to convert the video card maker's new standard that nobody else can support over to HDMI.

if spending that type of money on an item I expect to be able to get at the very least the same level of use from it unless there was a valid reason to drop something due to it being old. There is no reason to get rid of a headphone jack however just yet as many people still use it. That is different than the move away from PS2 devices to USB.

something else you are over looking is not just headphones but devices that plug into headphone jacks. Anyone that uses a card reader on their phones for PayPal, square or any other popular service was given a device that plugs into your headphone jack. With this change these devices that people use to process credit cards at booths at events or food trucks suddenly can no longer use the device without some dongle (assuming it would still work through that) which is going to mean that the device would be harder to use.

 

[wizzi01]

The fact that wireless headphones exist shows people want and asked for them. Apple is just deciding that this is the way to go, and I agree. I havent used wired headphones in probably 5 years. I hate wires. I keep my old LG G2 because it supports wireless charging and none of the newer phones I want do. I play poker at a casino a lot and I'd say about half the people in there wearing headphones are wearing wireless one's. Wired phones get in the way, you cant put your phone in your pocket, the cable has to be routed somewhere convenient, you cant bike with it, run with it, etc. I mean you can do all of these things, but you're constantly having to contend with the wire. It's part of your planning process to make sure you dont break something. Fuck all that noise, wireless is clearly best. Wireless earbuds only recently began to showcase, they are all expensive and most have poor reviews. Apple is just entering the market with their spin on it, it's just good timing to market it with the removal of a headphone jack that will largely go unused. Without a headphone jack new options in design become available to the cellphone chassis and such. You can still use whatever bluetooth headphones you want. If you're buying a top tier smartphone and are complaining about the cost of headphones well then you probably cant afford the phone.

I bought some bluetooth headphones to use while i washed the car so i wouldn't get my phone wet. I ended up getting a cheap mp3 player and corded headphones because bluetooth earbuds suck ass when you have to do a lot of moving around. I just pull the wire through my shirt and put the mp3 player in my pocket. It works much better that way then wireless.

 

[wizzi01]

If it was Samsung or any other popular Android phone manufacturers that decided to do this, it would be lauded by [H] readers as bold, forward thinking, and technologically progressive. It will show how much Apple has fallen behind technologically. That they are resting on their laurels and daring to call a minor update of iPhone 6 as iPhone 7.

Watch as what I wrote gets quoted selectively.

Yep, Samsung took the sd card slot out the note 5 people bitched and the put it back in the note 7. Samsung will try things, but if the buyers don;t want it at least it seems like they listen.

 

[Gorankar]

I have a novel idea. If the headphone jack is important to you, buy a phone that has one. Obviously this was about greed. And the "courage" BS was just that. But it's not like it is the only phone on the market, or even the best phone on the market.

Yep, Samsung took the sd card slot out the note 5 people bitched and the put it back in the note 7. Samsung will try things, but if the buyers don;t want it at least it seems like they listen.

Yep, I skipped the Note 5 for that very reason. Will get a Note 7 once the recall is worked out.

 

[SmokeRngs]

If it was Samsung or any other popular Android phone manufacturers that decided to do this, it would be lauded by [H] readers as bold, forward thinking, and technologically progressive. It will show how much Apple has fallen behind technologically. That they are resting on their laurels and daring to call a minor update of iPhone 6 as iPhone 7.

Watch as what I wrote gets quoted selectively.

Actually, I've had a couple older Samsung phones which required a dongle to hook up headphones and it sucked complete ass. The dongles were shit and it was a complete pain in the ass. It was an extra item to have to deal with and lose. It also meant that it was not possible to charge the phone while using headphones. It meant I couldn't do any type of data transfer while using headphones. It was a complete and total failure before and I don't see it as anything but a complete and total failure now.

 

[Deleted member 245375]

If they truly wanted to show actual courage in the face of all this, they wouldn't have included the headphone adapter in the box. They'd flat out say with no backing down that "This is how we do things now..." and that's that.

Tossing that adapter in the box was meant to do one thing: keep those complaining as quiet as possible with the "Hey, look, we get it, you consumers hate change, so here, have a $29.95 headphone adapter for free in the box so you can keep using your analog headphones/earbuds/IEMs/line-out adapters/etc..."

If you're going to make a true break from a path and show courage, you don't fucking do it with half-measures.

(yes I love Breaking Bad, sue me)

 

[Wierdo]

I mean the idea makes sense imho, it's just that Apple's alternative is gonna be a proprietary dongle, not exactly a good thing for the consumer, but I guess they can get away with it in their niche if the cult mentality is still alive.

 

[verbatim81973]

Bad idea, should kept the jack for more options.

 

[TechLarry]

Ah, yes. Nothing like warm, toasty Lithium Ion in the ears to make for an interesting day...



NOTE: This is a comic parody. No actual reference to any product is inferred.

 

[andrewaggb]

If it was Samsung or any other popular Android phone manufacturers that decided to do this, it would be lauded by [H] readers as bold, forward thinking, and technologically progressive. It will show how much Apple has fallen behind technologically. That they are resting on their laurels and daring to call a minor update of iPhone 6 as iPhone 7.

Watch as what I wrote gets quoted selectively.

Samsung ditched the SD slot and replaceable battery and I think most people were unhappy. As an owner of a note 5 I can honestly say I miss both and might go elsewhere next time.

 

[Hellstoaster]

Apple will be called out on being complete morons and their next iteration will put the jack back on the phone and call it a new feature. People talk about being "freed from cords" which is also bullshit. There was nothing stopping them from using bluetooth headphones when the phones still had the headphone jack. I'll stick to my 6s until it either dies or Apple gets their heads out of their rear. At least I can still use my Sennheiser open back headphones without a stupid dongle on that phone.

 

[NeoNemesis]

'Courage' would have been building something better, backwards compatible, and open source.

What Apple actually meant was 'Greed'.

 

[delita]

I don't hate apple, I hate corporate decisions that are exclusively designed to cost the consumer more money. Again I say, care to try another excuse? Or did you realize it was a really pathetic one and your only recourse was to try and strawman? You don't use the port, that is fine. However most do and there was zero credible reason to remove it beyond "We want to force people to only use our proprietary standard".



This isn't some "Anti-Apple crusade so go ahead and check the professional victim shit at the door. If samsung or anyone else had pulled this garbage there would be just as much furor about it. This has Zero to do with it being apple that did it. It is simply zero surprise that apple is the one who tried to pull it.

Lol, cool story. I didn't make an excuse. I simply give zero shits about it. I use wireless headphones already, moot point to me. They can have the headphone jack. By the way, all corporate decisions are exclusively designed to cost the consumer money. What planet are you living on?

 

[Tsumi]

i ditched headphones for bluetooth wireless a year ago, never looked back. being freed of shitty headphone cords in the gym is quite a good feeling. besides, this was all towards making the phone more water resistant anyway, i can dig that.

Sony has had a water resistant headphone jack since the Xperia Z. That is simply an excuse for the sheep to buy into.

The fact that wireless headphones exist shows people want and asked for them. Apple is just deciding that this is the way to go, and I agree. I havent used wired headphones in probably 5 years. I hate wires. I keep my old LG G2 because it supports wireless charging and none of the newer phones I want do. I play poker at a casino a lot and I'd say about half the people in there wearing headphones are wearing wireless one's. Wired phones get in the way, you cant put your phone in your pocket, the cable has to be routed somewhere convenient, you cant bike with it, run with it, etc. I mean you can do all of these things, but you're constantly having to contend with the wire. It's part of your planning process to make sure you dont break something. Fuck all that noise, wireless is clearly best. Wireless earbuds only recently began to showcase, they are all expensive and most have poor reviews. Apple is just entering the market with their spin on it, it's just good timing to market it with the removal of a headphone jack that will largely go unused. Without a headphone jack new options in design become available to the cellphone chassis and such. You can still use whatever bluetooth headphones you want. If you're buying a top tier smartphone and are complaining about the cost of headphones well then you probably cant afford the phone.

It's called having choice and having the choice taken away.

Lol, cool story. I didn't make an excuse. I simply give zero shits about it. I use wireless headphones already, moot point to me. They can have the headphone jack. By the way, all corporate decisions are exclusively designed to cost the consumer money. What planet are you living on?

Sounds like the exact same argument as the "I don't use the start menu so no one else should care" when Windows 8 came out. I wonder what your position on that was... Oh wait, you must be on OSX. Nevermind then, carry on.

 

[limitedaccess]

I actually have a different view on this from another perspective.

With Apple pushing for wireless this might quicken the development pace for truly wireless earphones and into much lower price ranges (currently ~$200) due to the economy of scale, and the need for competitors to under cut Apple.

 

[Advil]

No, it won't. It's Apple.

You could launch this same idea on a universal platform like Samsung like this:
'
Put *gasp* TWO, that's right, TWO ports on the bottom of it. OMG. Not one, but TWO! Then you can charge AND have headphones.

You could *gasp* even have smart circuits that will charge from either port so you have a much lower chance of having your ONLY STUPID PORT break and be completely screwed while you get your phone replaced.

One of the worst design decisions of the cheap tablets was the whole single port thing. With phones now pretty much being small tablets that make phone calls they suffer the same issue. A single catastrophic point of failure and also the complete inability to PLUG SOMETHING THE HELL IN when wireless just isn't happening for whatever reason.

 

[Deleted member 245375]

Here's my take on it: for a company that - because of this move - is so adamant about pushing "the wireless future" I'm still somewhat baffled by their lack of wireless charging aspects for iPhones. Considering the hardware necessary (at least given today's state of wireless charging technology) and the need for the "thick wireless charging inductor coil" (at least by Apple's standards of thin) it'll be interesting to see if they can finally make wireless charging a reality on iPhones with the next major version. The rumor is they're actively developing wireless charging capability for the iPhone 8 based on what I've read lately.

I'll take bets now: who would bet against me and my belief that if Apple does actually get the iPhone 8 to be wireless charging capable that it will NOT use any current wireless charging standard like Qi which is the most popular one in use today?

They just love making proprietary shit, will probably make it so locked down it'll use some encryption working in the background so you can't charge from non-Apple certified/licensed wireless chargers, etc. I'm not saying they can't do it, it's Apple of course and they love stealin---errrr using ideas that other people have come up with first and then polishing them off a bit. They could even potentially do it better, there's no point in saying they can't, but we'll see what happens I suppose.

Get ready to buy all new accessories all over again.

 

[DJS4000]

If you are willing to drop $700+ on a brand new phone but outraged over the prospect of having to buy an adapter to use your old headphones, I'm afraid I'm never going to understand your point of view. Personally I'd take the new second speaker over a 3.5mm jack any day.

it's entirely not about the price. it's about the inconvenience. for a company that's been praising itself with the claim that their devices "just work" for years this is especially ridiculous.

if i want to listen to music on my phone - which i do a lot - right now, i just plug in my klipsch S4s, press play, and that's it.

if i wanted to do the same with the new iphone i'd have to use either an adapter or BT headphones. both alternatives intoduce one or even multiple single points of failure into a process which literally has been "plug device A into device B" for decades.

...just...why?

If it was Samsung or any other popular Android phone manufacturers that decided to do this, it would be lauded by [H] readers as bold, forward thinking, and technologically progressive. It will show how much Apple has fallen behind technologically. That they are resting on their laurels and daring to call a minor update of iPhone 6 as iPhone 7.

Watch as what I wrote gets quoted selectively.

wat. various manufacturers tried this before and are trying it again right now. lenovo is shipping the newest moto phones without a headphone jack and people are already tearing them a new one.

 

[nysmo]

I bought some bluetooth headphones to use while i washed the car so i wouldn't get my phone wet. I ended up getting a cheap mp3 player and corded headphones because bluetooth earbuds suck ass when you have to do a lot of moving around. I just pull the wire through my shirt and put the mp3 player in my pocket. It works much better that way then wireless.

Thats exactly what I'm talking about. You gotta do all this bullshit fuckery with a wire under your shirt and whatnot. A lot of people dont want to do this. Maybe these airbud things will fit better. I know there are sports branded one's out there. But the whole wireless earbuds thing is new so we're going to see a lot of radical designs until they get it right.

 

[nysmo]

It's called having choice and having the choice taken away.

I'm sure thats what someone said when physical buttons were removed from all over the phone.

 

[nysmo]

Great argument except, you know, for the fact that a smartphone can be an absolute necessity for people.

Beyond that, maybe it shouldn't be surprising that removing a port that is both standard and ubiquitous when, from the customer's perspective, there's no good reason to do so would be controversial.

Nobody needs an iphone 7.

There is a good reason to do so. It prompts the industry to kick an ancient standard, it starts the wheels turning so things like wireless earbuds become common place and dont cost $160 and sound like shit, it may free up interior space for other features to embed, somewhere it was mentioned that it could impact water proofing, maybe eventually an iphone can be dropped 20 ft below an olympic swimming pool and still be retrieved without damage. If anything it satisfies Apple's insatiable desire to seem clutter free and cutting edge. An old phono jack just screams 20th century. Some people are OCD about such things and apple certainly caters to that crowd with super sleek streamlined designs.

 

[Deleted member 245375]

But the whole wireless earbuds thing is new so we're going to see a lot of radical designs until they get it right.

There are literally hundreds of variations of Bluetooth headphones/earbuds/IEMs that have appeared over the past decade, there is nothing "new" about wireless audio. It's just that - once again - Apple decides they can do it better (when they really can't) and decides to do it their own way (again, not really better) that the Cult following gets in line once more for and drains the Kool-Aid tanks dry.

If you want to see the best example of a company producing a product that removes something the previous generation of the same product had and people went fucking insane over it (and the company made billions from the idea of "less is more") one need look no further than the original Nike Air tennis shoes. They made a shoe that previously had a relatively solid (honeycomb chamber design with minimal air spacing) sole to it and then someone thought "Hey, let's cut a chunk of that sole out and fill it with compressed air, literally... we'll save materials on the manufacturing (meaning the raw material NOT being used in a few pair of Nike Airs would be enough to make the entire air-hole-filled sole of another pair at no additional cost), market it like it actually matters, and the stupid dumbass ignorant consumers will fucking love it..."

They created a newer version of the shoe that was made from about 65% of the raw material that made up the previous generation of the shoe because it's got a big ass hole filled with compressed air and yet they charged like 40% more for the product, with prices topping about $100 for the first time in the history of tennis shoes. Then came the Michael Jordan "Air Jordan" branding campaign and bam, Nike made money almost as fast as it could be printed at the national mints.

See how that turned out?

 

[nysmo]

There are literally hundreds of variations of Bluetooth headphones/earbuds/IEMs that have appeared over the past decade, there is nothing "new" about wireless audio.

we're not talking about wireless audio, we are talking specifically about wireless earbuds that sound good.

 

[Dekoth-E-]

If it was Samsung or any other popular Android phone manufacturers that decided to do this, it would be lauded by [H] readers as bold, forward thinking, and technologically progressive. It will show how much Apple has fallen behind technologically. That they are resting on their laurels and daring to call a minor update of iPhone 6 as iPhone 7.

Watch as what I wrote gets quoted selectively.

Lol, cool story. I didn't make an excuse. I simply give zero shits about it. I use wireless headphones already, moot point to me. They can have the headphone jack. By the way, all corporate decisions are exclusively designed to cost the consumer money. What planet are you living on?

Then why are you here exactly? If you don't have a dog in this fight so to speak what was the exact purpose of your comment. Because from this perspective your only reason for commenting was blatant fanboy Apple defending and now you are trying to back peddle now that someone called you out. As someone else mentioned, "I don't use it therefore no one else should" is the same garbage reasoning we shot down around here for years on Win8 Start menu debacle and many other things.