Photos of purported 'iPhone 7' case support rumors of no 3.5mm headphone jack

AppleInsiderAppleInsider
Posted:
in iPhone edited March 2016
Whether or not it's based on an accurate design, at least one third-party case manufacturer is already producing a product assuming Apple's upcoming "iPhone 7" will indeed ditch the legacy 3.5-millimeter headphone jack.


Via OnLeaks.


Images of the case allegedly designed for Apple's next-generation iPhone were first shared by OnLeaks. The bottom of the case features two identically-sized cutouts, presumably for a dual-speaker design, which has been rumored to take the place of the headphone jack.

The design of the rest of the case is largely as expected. The speaker cutouts are to the left and right of another opening presumably for Apple's Lightning port.

The case once again places the ring/silent switch and volume controls on the left side, with the lock button on the right side. And when viewed from the back, the camera cutout is on the upper left side, though it appears to feature a slightly larger opening than is typical, potentially signaling the next iPhone could feature a larger rear lens -- or two lenses.


Via OnLeaks.


If Apple does in fact ditch the headphone jack, it's expected to include a new pair of Lightning-connected EarPods in the box with the "iPhone 7." Apple is also rumored to be working on a new set of wireless earbuds --?truly wireless with separate left and right earpieces -- that would be sold separately from the new iPhone.

The "iPhone 7" is expected to be announced in Apple's usual September timeframe, in time for its annual fall launch. The new design is expected to eliminate the rear camera bump found on the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6s series, as well as the antenna lines on the metal case.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 25
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,577member
    I just hope these 'truly wireless with separate left and right earpieces' doodahs have bult in technology to allow them to be 'found' using very high resolution mapping on your iPhone, iPad or Mac, you know that can distinguish to within 2 inches of where you lost them under the cushions or under the dishwasher or inside the dog!  ;)
    fotoformataaronjmnbob1spliff monkeyargonautcornchip
  • Reply 2 of 25
    mike1mike1 Posts: 3,180member
    Ugh! Get real. They're not producing anything yet. How would they even know how thick it is going to be yet. They will make small runs of a multitude of designs in the hope that one of them is correct and they mass produce that version as soon as the design is confirmed. Worst case is they need to fine tune one of the versions they had in the can.
    6Sgoldfish
  • Reply 3 of 25
    Rayz2016Rayz2016 Posts: 6,957member
    It's a guess, nothing more. 
    nolamacguy
  • Reply 4 of 25
    pmzpmz Posts: 3,433member
    This is an iPhone 6 cases with a wider cutout in one place. It's March. The final dimensions may be known, but are not set in stone yet.
    calicornchip
  • Reply 5 of 25
    lkrupplkrupp Posts: 10,557member
    You should have read all the venom and vitriol in the Apple Discussion Forums when the ATV4 was released without an optical audio output. It was literally the end of the world in some user’s opinion. But guess what? That has died down to nothing. The haters got it out of their system, a few probably bought something else but most accepted it and dealt with it. So it will be with the 3.5mm headphone jack IF it goes away. Yes, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, predictions of Apple’s demise, tech blogs will go ballistic, analysts will prognosticate, and... it will all go away in a few weeks. People and bloggers will tire of the issue, readers will skip over the verbose bloviation of those with an axe to grind. Elegant solutions will arise and dongles will sell.
    mike1netmageaaronjpmznolamacguyargonautcornchip
  • Reply 6 of 25
    rogifan_newrogifan_new Posts: 4,297member
    Silly season starts now.
    cornchip
  • Reply 7 of 25
    aaronjaaronj Posts: 1,595member
    Man, those wireless earpieces would be just beautiful, as long as they don't cost a fortune.  

    But digitalclips makes a good point: Very easy to lose, I'm sure.  :)
    edited March 2016
  • Reply 8 of 25
    bbteaguebbteague Posts: 17member
    I gave up the 3.5mm Jack a long time ago and sold my Bose Buds
  • Reply 9 of 25
    razormaidrazormaid Posts: 299member
    They said they were splitting the audio speakers left and right on the next iPhone for true "sound separation" so all the sound doesn't come from only one side when playing movies, TV and games. (It only took them 7 years to figure that out? LOL)  So why does this have them together?  That's more alarming than "no headphone jack", if this is actually a case mock up for iPhone 7. 
  • Reply 10 of 25
    mnbob1mnbob1 Posts: 269member
    It's about time a company might have the guts to get rid of a connector that has roots going back to the late 1700's. Sure they keep adding functionality by breaking the pin into multiple segments but it's the same old audio connection with stereo and high fidelity running through it, never digital. The connector takes up too much space that can be used for extra battery capacity or additional circuitry. Worst of all its design is difficult to make waterproof. Apple took a lot of heat about the Lightning connector but the truth is it was always designed as a multipurpose port. I applaud Apple for getting rid of old tech if that is their plan. It will give Samsung and others the push they need to do the same. Unfortunately the need for companies to support two different interfaces is unfortunate. I doubt Apple will license Lightning or make it an open standard. 
    cornchip
  • Reply 11 of 25
    christopher126christopher126 Posts: 4,366member
    Apple has had more successes than mis-steps....I'll trust Apple on this. 

    P.S. Imagine a world without Apple...we'd all be carrying Blackberry's, small camera's, stand-alone GPS's and 6 pound laptops with 2 hour battery life. Oh, and don't forget all the cables and power bricks! Ugh! :)
    argonautcornchip
  • Reply 12 of 25
    calicali Posts: 3,494member
    lkrupp said:
    You should have read all the venom and vitriol in the Apple Discussion Forums when the ATV4 was released without an optical audio output. It was literally the end of the world in some user’s opinion. But guess what? That has died down to nothing. The haters got it out of their system, a few probably bought something else but most accepted it and dealt with it. So it will be with the 3.5mm headphone jack IF it goes away. Yes, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, predictions of Apple’s demise, tech blogs will go ballistic, analysts will prognosticate, and... it will all go away in a few weeks. People and bloggers will tire of the issue, readers will skip over the verbose bloviation of those with an axe to grind. Elegant solutions will arise and dongles will sell.
    NO WHERE NEAR THE SAME. The optical output is a legacy option like RCA cables or DVD. If you were into home theatre or audio you'd know this. Almost everything today supports HDMI lossless audio, optical was always an unpopular option. I don't know who these people bit**ing about removing optical audio are, they're crazy is what they are.

    Removing the 3.5mm jack in favor of bluetooth and ESPECIALLY lightning is terrible because at this point we only have crap bluetooth headphones and lightning headphones don't even exist. I guess Apple could convert all of their Beats headphones into lightning and bluetooth to speed things up but GOOD headphones are all wired. I only own studio grade headphones and use them for critical listening, there are ZERO studio headphones that support bluetooth/lightning.

    Removing the optical audio option and keeping something better(HDMI) was a good idea. Removing 3.5mm jack for worse headphones with a tiny fraction of support sounds very very bad.
    boltsfan17argonaut
  • Reply 13 of 25
    fh-acefh-ace Posts: 49member
    I use the current 3.5 jack for my car audio. It doesn't support Bluetooth.  On long trips I also use the power connector to keep the iPhone charged. Not sure how this is going to play out but it kind of seems like a dumb move. Perhaps charging will be wireless and you'll have to buy a special Apple car wireless charger. Or maybe Apple just wants me to buy a new car. That will go over real well with the wife. Lol
  • Reply 14 of 25
    boltsfan17boltsfan17 Posts: 2,294member
    cali said:
    lkrupp said:
    You should have read all the venom and vitriol in the Apple Discussion Forums when the ATV4 was released without an optical audio output. It was literally the end of the world in some user’s opinion. But guess what? That has died down to nothing. The haters got it out of their system, a few probably bought something else but most accepted it and dealt with it. So it will be with the 3.5mm headphone jack IF it goes away. Yes, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, predictions of Apple’s demise, tech blogs will go ballistic, analysts will prognosticate, and... it will all go away in a few weeks. People and bloggers will tire of the issue, readers will skip over the verbose bloviation of those with an axe to grind. Elegant solutions will arise and dongles will sell.
    NO WHERE NEAR THE SAME. The optical output is a legacy option like RCA cables or DVD. If you were into home theatre or audio you'd know this. Almost everything today supports HDMI lossless audio, optical was always an unpopular option. I don't know who these people bit**ing about removing optical audio are, they're crazy is what they are.

    Removing the 3.5mm jack in favor of bluetooth and ESPECIALLY lightning is terrible because at this point we only have crap bluetooth headphones and lightning headphones don't even exist. I guess Apple could convert all of their Beats headphones into lightning and bluetooth to speed things up but GOOD headphones are all wired. I only own studio grade headphones and use them for critical listening, there are ZERO studio headphones that support bluetooth/lightning.

    Removing the optical audio option and keeping something better(HDMI) was a good idea. Removing 3.5mm jack for worse headphones with a tiny fraction of support sounds very very bad.
    I completely agree. Removing the 3.5mm jack doesn't make sense at all. I only use studio grade headphones as well. Besides the headphones, I use the 3.5mm jack to listen to music on my Marshall Stanmore. I never use Bluetooth because the sound is really degraded compared to using a 3.5mm jack. The 3.5mm jack is not becoming obsolete at this stage like optical output has. 
  • Reply 15 of 25
    patchythepiratepatchythepirate Posts: 1,254member
    Looks like a case of attention seeking. (Please, hold the applause.)

    I wonder if we'll see a surprise, and Apple will have speakers at both ends, as they did with the iPad Pro, and as they're rumored to do with the 9.7" iPad Pro. Although, space on the iPhone is pretty limited..
  • Reply 16 of 25
    robshamesrobshames Posts: 4member
    I am going to assume Apple will release a lightning to 3.5mm adapter like they did whenever they changed connections on new devices. Stop complaining until there is something to complain about.

    A quick search found one already available
    http://amazingsouk.com/index.php/audio/lightning-to-35mm-aux-jack
    edited March 2016 cornchip
  • Reply 17 of 25
    mcdavemcdave Posts: 1,925member
    I'm sure I've already seen these in an outlet mall. Beware factory seconds.
  • Reply 18 of 25
    JamesBBJamesBB Posts: 50member
    I think Jony Ive understands what Stereo means... i.e. speakers at both ends when you hold the phone horizontally!
  • Reply 19 of 25
    tmaytmay Posts: 5,934member
    boltsfan17 said:
    cali said:
    NO WHERE NEAR THE SAME. The optical output is a legacy option like RCA cables or DVD. If you were into home theatre or audio you'd know this. Almost everything today supports HDMI lossless audio, optical was always an unpopular option. I don't know who these people bit**ing about removing optical audio are, they're crazy is what they are.

    Removing the 3.5mm jack in favor of bluetooth and ESPECIALLY lightning is terrible because at this point we only have crap bluetooth headphones and lightning headphones don't even exist. I guess Apple could convert all of their Beats headphones into lightning and bluetooth to speed things up but GOOD headphones are all wired. I only own studio grade headphones and use them for critical listening, there are ZERO studio headphones that support bluetooth/lightning.

    Removing the optical audio option and keeping something better(HDMI) was a good idea. Removing 3.5mm jack for worse headphones with a tiny fraction of support sounds very very bad.
    I completely agree. Removing the 3.5mm jack doesn't make sense at all. I only use studio grade headphones as well. Besides the headphones, I use the 3.5mm jack to listen to music on my Marshall Stanmore. I never use Bluetooth because the sound is really degraded compared to using a 3.5mm jack. The 3.5mm jack is not becoming obsolete at this stage like optical output has. 
    I sense a massive increase in demand for studio headphones with lightning interface. Wanna bet that major audiophile providers do as well and create new products?
  • Reply 20 of 25
    volcanvolcan Posts: 1,799member
    fh-ace said:
    Perhaps charging will be wireless and you'll have to buy a special Apple car wireless charger....
    In typical Apple style, for $29.99 you will be able to purchase a dual Lightning port dongle so you can pass through charging while listening with your new Beats Lightning headphones and ear buds. For another $29.99 you can purchase a dual port dongle which features a 3.5mm audio jack along with a Lightning pass through charging port.

     BTW I wonder how well wireless charging would work when you have a thick protective case.
    edited March 2016
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