Purported 'iPhone 7 Plus' packaging shows Lightning to Headphone Jack Adapter in box, 256GB storage

AppleInsider

An insert claimed to be for Apple's anticipated "iPhone 7 Plus" would --?if legitimate -- not only confirm the product's name, but also reveal that it will come with a Lightning to Headphone Jack Adapter in the box.

The alleged Apple packaging material was published on Wednesday by Techtastic.nl, providing a list of what could be in the "iPhone 7 Plus" box in multiple languages. It states that the handset will ship not only with EarPods with a Lightning Connector, but also a Lightning to Headphone Jack Adapter.

The supposed insert also indicates that the "iPhone 7 Plus" will be available in a 256-gigabyte storage capacity. That would be double the current maximum of 128 gigabytes found in the iPhone 6s series.

Beyond those tidbits, the sheet includes the usual alphabet soup of tech specs, detailing the inclusion of a Lightning to USB cable and power adapter, and support for wireless technologies including LTE, Wi-Fi, NFC, Bluetooth, and GPS.

Such materials would be incredibly easy to fake, including just text on a slip of paper. However, packaging materials for upcoming iPhones have leaked in the past, including last year when the box for the iPhone 6s Plus surfaced online in late August, a few weeks before the handset was officially revealed.

With the next-generation "iPhone 7" series expected to ditch the legacy 3.5-millimeter headphone port, speculation has mounted as to how Apple plans to sell it to consumers. Some speculated that Apple would not include an adapter for legacy headphones in the box, as the company has offered no such concessions in the past when it ditched features like the 30-pin iPod connector, CD/DVD SuperDrive in MacBooks, or 3.5-millimeter floppy drives in legacy Macs.

The official Apple Lightning to Headphone Jack Adapter may have leaked online a month ago in photos from a Foxconn factory in Vietnam. The photos showed a short accessory dongle with a male Lightning plug on one end, and a female 3.5-millimeter headphone jack on the other.

As to why Apple would ditch the headphone jack on this year's iPhone, speculation has mounted that the company will also introduce a non-clicking capacitive home button with this year's model. Together, those two changes are believed to not only allow thinner iPhone designs, but also to greatly improve the waterproofing capabilities of the handset.

All is expected to be revealed next Wednesday, when Apple is set to host a keynote presentation for a new product unveiling. It's expected that the "iPhone 7" series, along with a second-generation Apple Watch with GPS, will be revealed.

AppleInsider will be there live in San Francisco at 10 a.m. Pacific, 1 p.m. Eastern, with full coverage.

Nelson1986

Completely fake connector.  Look at how off-centered the Lightning connection is to actual plastic shrouding.

gatorguy

Nelson1986 said:

Completely fake connector.  Look at how off-centered the Lightning connection is to actual plastic shrouding.

That picture of the connector didn't come from the insert leak source. I'm sure you are correct that it is not a picture of the Apple adaptor. No idea where AI got that pic but it may well be a picture of some 3rd party one.

Anyway don't dismiss the insert as fake based on that connector pic. 

blastdoor

This sure does have the stink of plausibility on it. 

It sure does seem that Apple is creating a significant marketing challenge for themselves. 

thewhitefalcon

blastdoor said:

This sure does have the stink of plausibility on it. 

It sure does seem that Apple is creating a significant marketing challenge for themselves. 

Including the adapter would pretty much extinguish the complaints. 

To everyone else, if you look at the adapter you can see the end with the Lightning jack is just a rubber shroud surrounding a normal connector. It's just a mockup. 

podlasek

If Apple does this it will most likely be an adapter that you can plug in both headphone jack AND lightening so that you could charge while listening. retail price between $15 and $25 based on similar adapters.

macapfel

I like the skewed design of the lighting part.

rogifan_new

I'm seeing posts on Twitter pretty much confirming this rumor. Lightning earbuds and an adapter in the box. Boy Apple sure does love it's adapters. I'm surprised they're throwing it in the box and not charging extra for it. They better have a good marketing pitch for why proprietary lightning headphones are better than the current ones. I'm not sure making the phone more water resistant is good enough ( if that's even why they're doing it).

boopthesnoot

Not gonna lie, that adapter is super sexy.  Adapter manufacturers just can't touch Apple's style and grace.

mindwaves

Don't care if Apple does. 100% of my music is listened to on my laptop, not on my iPhone.

TurboPGT

thewhitefalcon said:

blastdoor said:

This sure does have the stink of plausibility on it. 

It sure does seem that Apple is creating a significant marketing challenge for themselves. 

Including the adapter would pretty much extinguish the complaints. 

To everyone else, if you look at the adapter you can see the end with the Lightning jack is just a rubber shroud surrounding a normal connector. It's just a mockup. 

But but...you're forgetting all about what an acknowledgement of guilt it is, instead of a generous offer that solves a problem /s

lkrupp

rogifan_new said:

I'm seeing posts on Twitter pretty much confirming this rumor. Lightning earbuds and an adapter in the box. Boy Apple sure does love it's adapters. I'm surprised they're throwing it in the box and not charging extra for it. They better have a good marketing pitch for why proprietary lightning headphones are better than the current ones. I'm not sure making the phone more water resistant is good enough ( if that's even why they're doing it).

My opinion is that an adapter will not be included. Apple has never, to my knowledge, included any adapter when it switches ports. My iMac 14,2 did not include a Thunderbolt-> Firewire adapter when Apple got rid of Firewire. When the iPod went from Firewire to USB there was no adapter. Including a 3.5mm adapter would defeat the entire purpose of moving to a digital port. The idea is to firmly nudge user to the new port, not enable them to stay put. There will indeed be an adapter but it will not be included free. You will have to buy one separately. Only a few days before we find out who’s right. 

thrang

rogifan_new said:

I'm seeing posts on Twitter pretty much confirming this rumor. Lightning earbuds and an adapter in the box. Boy Apple sure does love it's adapters. I'm surprised they're throwing it in the box and not charging extra for it. They better have a good marketing pitch for why proprietary lightning headphones are better than the current ones. I'm not sure making the phone more water resistant is good enough ( if that's even why they're doing it).

Your posts are like old cheese in a refrigerator...always sitting in the back of the lunchmeat drawer, but nobody's interested in taking a bite.

You don't really need the bullet points as to why dropping the jack makes long-term sense, do you?

You don't really need an explanation that providing lightning headphones and an adapter is making it very easy for people to transition, do you?

SpamSandwich

OMG. Please...no more adapters. I'm drowning in a pile of them now.

jcdinkins

lkrupp said:

rogifan_new said:

I'm seeing posts on Twitter pretty much confirming this rumor. Lightning earbuds and an adapter in the box. Boy Apple sure does love it's adapters. I'm surprised they're throwing it in the box and not charging extra for it. They better have a good marketing pitch for why proprietary lightning headphones are better than the current ones. I'm not sure making the phone more water resistant is good enough ( if that's even why they're doing it).

My opinion is that an adapter will not be included. Apple has never, to my knowledge, included any adapter when it switches ports. My iMac 14,2 did not include a Thunderbolt-> Firewire adapter when Apple got rid of Firewire. When the iPod went from Firewire to USB there was no adapter. Including a 3.5mm adapter would defeat the entire purpose of moving to a digital port. The idea is to firmly nudge user to the new port, not enable them to stay put. There will indeed be an adapter but it will not be included free. You will have to buy one separately. Only a few days before we find out who’s right. 

I say Apple does include it from a theoretical necessity and user experience standpoint.  It would be the equivalent of batteries not included if they didn't.  Like you said though we'll see soon enough.

mac_128

lkrupp said:

rogifan_new said:

I'm seeing posts on Twitter pretty much confirming this rumor. Lightning earbuds and an adapter in the box. Boy Apple sure does love it's adapters. I'm surprised they're throwing it in the box and not charging extra for it. They better have a good marketing pitch for why proprietary lightning headphones are better than the current ones. I'm not sure making the phone more water resistant is good enough ( if that's even why they're doing it).

My opinion is that an adapter will not be included. Apple has never, to my knowledge, included any adapter when it switches ports. My iMac 14,2 did not include a Thunderbolt-> Firewire adapter when Apple got rid of Firewire. When the iPod went from Firewire to USB there was no adapter. Including a 3.5mm adapter would defeat the entire purpose of moving to a digital port. The idea is to firmly nudge user to the new port, not enable them to stay put. There will indeed be an adapter but it will not be included free. You will have to buy one separately. Only a few days before we find out who’s right. 

I entirely agree.

including the adapter is not only an acknowledgement they made a mistake removing the headphone jack, but also encouraging customers to continue using their old cheaper 3.5mm equipment, possibly without ever even trying the new Lightning earbuds also included in the box.

if there's an adapter in the box, my bet is that it will be a 3.5mm (source) to Lightning headphone adapter, which many customers will need to use their new Lightning headphones with their old legacy Macs, iPods, and iPads without Lightning jacks. This adapter could be extremely cheap in that it merely passes through an analogue signal to the headphones, which through a smart chip, instruct the Lightning circuitry to bypass the DAC and send directly to the headphones. It just doesn't make any sense that they would convert an analogue signal to digital just to get it into the headphones and then convert it back to analogue.

thrang

lkrupp said:

rogifan_new said:

I'm seeing posts on Twitter pretty much confirming this rumor. Lightning earbuds and an adapter in the box. Boy Apple sure does love it's adapters. I'm surprised they're throwing it in the box and not charging extra for it. They better have a good marketing pitch for why proprietary lightning headphones are better than the current ones. I'm not sure making the phone more water resistant is good enough ( if that's even why they're doing it).

My opinion is that an adapter will not be included. Apple has never, to my knowledge, included any adapter when it switches ports. My iMac 14,2 did not include a Thunderbolt-> Firewire adapter when Apple got rid of Firewire. When the iPod went from Firewire to USB there was no adapter. Including a 3.5mm adapter would defeat the entire purpose of moving to a digital port. The idea is to firmly nudge user to the new port, not enable them to stay put. There will indeed be an adapter but it will not be included free. You will have to buy one separately. Only a few days before we find out who’s right. 

The huge difference is the percentage of people using Firewire devices at the time was likely incredibly small. The percentage of people with 3.5 mm headphones is, like, all.

larrya

thewhitefalcon said:

blastdoor said:

This sure does have the stink of plausibility on it. 

It sure does seem that Apple is creating a significant marketing challenge for themselves. 

Including the adapter would pretty much extinguish the complaints. 

Wrong!  The cost of the dongle is almost irrelevant. It's the fact that you will never have it with you when you need it, and it's overall inelegance that offends me.  It seems acceptable on paper, but in the real world it sucks. I had a win CE phone that required one and the end result was I could not use it to listen to music. 

dasanman69

Nelson1986 said:

Completely fake connector.  Look at how off-centered the Lightning connection is to actual plastic shrouding.

Look again. Looks like the shrouding just moved a bit. Which is entirely possible if the shrouding isn't tight. 

thrang

larrya said:

thewhitefalcon said:

blastdoor said:

This sure does have the stink of plausibility on it. 

It sure does seem that Apple is creating a significant marketing challenge for themselves. 

Including the adapter would pretty much extinguish the complaints. 

Wrong!  The cost of the dongle is almost irrelevant. It's the fact that you will never have it with you when you need it, and it's overall inelegance that offends me.  It seems acceptable on paper, but in the real world it sucks. I had a win CE phone that required one and the end result was I could not use it to listen to music. 

Once you connect the dongle, it becomes an extension of the existing headphone cable. There's no reason to separate it and leave it behind. I do that now with a 3.5 extension. Its not some complicated problem...

80s_Apple_Guy

I think this is going to bomb big time. Non techies don't care about processor specs etc they care about ease of use. With no new design ( doesn't bother me but will many ) and no major new features the talk for the vast majority of users will be around the major inconvenience of their headphones not working with this and/or having to remember, carry and possibly buy dongles to carry around. The main feature of this new iPhone, if what we know is true will be a removal if something the vast majority of people use.  Not a good talking point. 

I wonder if Apple needs to get rid of it for next year's major redesign and has decided to take the heat and lower sales this year so it doesn't detract from next year's phone.