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

Megalith

Megalith

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That must be the new synonym for greed. Future Apple devices will now require a dongle for tethered headphones/IEMs, but if you are interested in a wireless solution, the company has you covered with their $159 AirPods.

…the iPhone will leave the 3.5mm headphone jack behind. It was Schiller's job to justify why Apple was doing so, and he defended the company's decision by citing three reasons to move on—and one word: "courage." Schiller explained to the San Francisco event crowd that Apple would push the Lightning port standard for wired headphones and push a new proprietary wireless standard, driven by the new "W1 chip" in iOS devices, which Schiller called Apple's first wireless chip. The 3.5mm port, on the other hand, has to go, Schiller said, because the company can't justify the continued use of an "ancient" single-use port.
 
For only $39.99, you can even use wired headphones and charge your device at the same time.

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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 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.
 
Apple did it so that consumers will have to spend more money on iCrap. That's it. Anybody who thinks otherwise is an iDiot.

And Apple will, as always, get away with it.

Appletards will always do what they are told to do.
 
Wyodiver said:
Apple did it so that consumers will have to spend more money on iCrap. That's it. Anybody who thinks otherwise is an idiot.
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i spend 0 money on extra iCrap. i buy the phone. that's it. i can't speak for "idiot consumers" though.
 
illaghee said:
They will still line up.
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And that's exactly what Apple is counting on. Its just genius, really. You can't imagine the amount of people I've seen validating this move with some philosophical gymnastics.

The thing that's kind of shocking to me is that they're charging $160 for the "AirPods". Even for Apple, that price seems a little absurd. If I'm not mistaken, the sound quality is the same as their current throwaway ear pods, no? Just making them wireless takes them from 50 cent ear pods to $160 "AirPods"? I mean jesus, that's like the Magikarp of ear phones.
 
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MrTryfe said:
And that's exactly what Apple is counting on. Its just genius, really. You can't imagine the amount of people I've seen validating this move with some philosophical gymnastics.

The thing that's kind of shocking to me is that they're charging $160 for the "AirPods". Even for Apple, that price seems a little absurd. If I'm not mistaken, the sound quality is the same as their current throwaway ear pods, no? Just making them wireless takes them for 50 cent ear pods to $160 "AirPods"? I mean jesus, that's like the Magikarp of ear phones.
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No kidding, the Apple ear buds sound wretched. I can't imagine people being happy with a wireless version of that for $160 unless they improve the sound quality.
 
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.
 
The only valid defense of this move is "We want to make more money." Perfectly reasonable to me.
 
delita said:
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.
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My S5 has a headphone jack and is water resistant.

Apple playing catch-up again, and poorly.
 
The air pods are just Apple's offering for wireless headphone solution; and not a very good one, imo; there are tons more options for your wireless audio needs. As I understand it, they can push more power through the lightning port and allow for some rather interesting things with output; positional audio, etc. The Audeze Headphones using lightning port, have been out for over a year and sound pretty good. I really don't understand all the vitriol over this design choice for a non-necessity potential purchase.
 
delita said:
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.
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My phone has a headphone jack and is water resistant. Want to try another excuse for justifying blatant anti-consumer behavior?
 
Dekoth-E- said:
My phone has a headphone jack and is water resistant. Want to try another excuse for justifying blatant anti-consumer behavior?
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Geez man, hate Apple much? Who gives a shit? It's a headphone jack, lol.
 
delita said:
Geez man, hate Apple much? Who gives a shit? It's a headphone jack, lol.
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Hate or love, all equally misguided when aimed toward a corporation.

Fact: Many people still use the headphone jack. So every other argument is mute from that point on.
Removing a feature that there is still demand for, and the fanboys will still defend them. I think this was just a great thought experiment from apple to try if they can pull shit like this without consequences. Apparently they can.
 
delita said:
Geez man, hate Apple much? Who gives a shit? It's a headphone jack, lol.
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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.
 
Apple : Courageously making changes that no one asked for or wanted...
 
delita said:
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.
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So. How is it that the Lightning connector can be made waterproof/resistant but the 3.5mm connector cannot?

It's utter, complete bullshit. They wanted to sell $159 earbuds and needed to entice people into buying overpriced crap by making it an apparent necessity by removing the headphones jack. Nothing more.
 
At least when you break your headphone jack it is now replaceable, but now you can't charge your phone while playing music. I don’t know anything about the DAC or op-amp they are using. iPod Photo and Video series were known for amazing Wolfson DACs, but only the first generation of iPhone (to my knowledge) used one. Maybe cell phones will offer digital output options in the future. There should be two ports on the bottom, but Apple is all in to save and grab money at the same time (additional attachments, proprietary headphones). Edit: digital output options do exist.
 
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bucket said:
Apple : Courageously making changes that no one asked for or wanted...
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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.
 
Apparently "courage" is relying on millions of fanboys and fangirls buying your bullshit no matter what.

Apple could require the use of a $2,000.00 proprietary cable to charge the phone, and people would walk away from the apple store, holding ice packs on their asses, gushing about how they've never been fucked so hard and so well in their lives.
 
Vercinaigh said:
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.
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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.
 
nysmo said:
If you're buying a top tier smartphone and are complaining about the cost of headphones well then you probably cant afford the phone.
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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.
 
If they hadn't removed the headphone jack, you couldn't use wireless headphones... so courage and progress.
 
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