I'm going to market some cheap $12 adapter, call it something like "Earsmooth," market it as an audiophile product, and charge $250 for it. It'll have the same specs as darn near anything else and people will buy thousands of them and say they sound so much better than an ordinary DAC.
And audiophiles will rave about it. They're like the spec monkeys. The more it costs the better it must be. You'll be a multi-millionaire in a week. Need an investor?
I still think it was a foolish idea to remove the 3.5mm jack from the phone. It either should have been a second lightning connector...
Install a second lightning connecter just for charging while using the other one, slight overkill wouldn't you agree? Not only that but the extra space it would use was the reason the analog jack (no relation) was removed.
Apple is probably not making a single cent of profit on these adapters.
Crazy these only cost $9
Apple is making at least a few cents profit on each adapter.
From the component teardown appraisal:
The accessories included in the iPhone 7 box, including a Lightning-to-USB cable, Lightning-to-3.5mm audio adapter, EarPods with a Lightning connector, and 5W USB power adapter cost an estimated $11.80 combined.
Apple's smart approach to moving D-to-A from iphone into lightening Jack/connector. Now 3rd party can create their own cable with enhanced DA electronics replacement for better sounding earpods, headphones. You are not bound with what audio quality comes out of 3.5mm jack like in older iphones.
They could already do that wither the 3.5mm port is there or not!!! It changes nothing in that area. There's still a DAC in the iPhone for the Speakers in the phone. Not that I care about the 3.5mm port as I've never used it on my iPhone 6 and only very early on when I had my iPhone 4. I've been using Bluetooth for YEARS. It's how I connect to everything around me.
The question is Will the headphone jack be dropped from future iPads?
I think it's obvious that it will. However, the iPad is similar to the Mac in that there isn't a pressing issue for space, like in the iPhone, and the iPad's slow sales cycle and high use among the less technically savvy as their main computing device could mean that Apple may keep it around for a generation or two until Lighting headphones get more ubiquitous—which means that iPad users have finally updated their aging iPhone to an iPhone 7 or later. I think it has the potential for staying in the iPad longer than in some Macs.
Of course, this assumes Apple will continue to not include headphones with the iPad. If they want to push their courage along faster, they could include free Lightning EarPods with the iPad.
Apple needs to go all in on lightning based audio now that they took the HeadPhone Jack out of the phone. Every Computer should switch to the lightning port based audio and the iPads too. maybe they should put two lightning ports on the iPad so one could charge and one could have a headphone in them. And of course include lightning headphones and the adapter. They need to really convince people that the audio is better through the lightning port so that companies like Bose make their QC35's with a lightning option.
The question is Will the headphone jack be dropped from future iPads?
I think it's obvious that it will. However, the iPad is similar to the Mac in that there isn't a pressing issue for space, like in the iPhone, and the iPad's slow sales cycle and high use among the less technically savvy as their main computing device could mean that Apple may keep it around for a generation or two until Lighting headphones get more ubiquitous—which means that iPad users have finally updated their aging iPhone to an iPhone 7 or later. I think it has the potential for staying in the iPad longer than in some Macs.
Of course, this assumes Apple will continue to not include headphones with the iPad. If they want to push their courage along faster, they could include free Lightning EarPods with the iPad.
Apple needs to go all in on lightning based audio now that they took the HeadPhone Jack out of the phone. Every Computer should switch to the lightning port based audio and the iPads too. maybe they should put two lightning ports on the iPad so one could charge and one could have a headphone in them. And of course include lightning headphones and the adapter. They need to really convince people that the audio is better through the lightning port so that companies like Bose make their QC35's with a lightning option.
Except Apple's goal is wireless. Lightning is a stop gap. I've decide that unless Apple really didn't think this launch through, that they have intentionally crippled Lightning EarPods from being used as widely as they need to be, in order to push the customer toward a wireless option. Since the Lightning EarPods can't be used with anything but the iPhone 7 and newer iOS devices running iOS 10, people won't make them their main driver if they jack into anything else during the course of the day, inlacing their Macs. But a BT wireless headphone will work with almost all modern PCs, Macs, phones, mp3 players, stereo amps, etc., and for those devices that don't, there's an inexpensive BT dongle.
There may well be adapters for Lightning headphones, particularly to USB, and maybe Thunderbolt, but the 3.5mm adapter is going to be a bit cumbersome and redundant unless Apple revises MFi specs to address Lightning headphones, and adapting analogue signals. But right now there's nothing.
Lightning just does not seem to be Apple's end game, and as such, I doubt they will invest much effort into trying to make it a standard. iPads and Macs are embraced by a large cross-platform culture that may use other platforms like Android. Removing the headphone jack from them too soon, might really have an adverse affect on sales. Once Android starts dropping it too, then the Macs will be ready to go with USB-C (and I predict Lightning), and iPads will likely stick with the one port and Apple's push toward wireless.
Apple is probably not making a single cent of profit on these adapters.
Crazy these only cost $9
The cost of the phone covers the cost of this cheap adapter with no problem. That's like saying Starbucks is probably not making money off of 2¢ worth of whip cream on a $5 crappuccino.
Comments
Install a second lightning connecter just for charging while using the other one, slight overkill wouldn't you agree? Not only that but the extra space it would use was the reason the analog jack (no relation) was removed.
I'd say they're making more than a few cents!
http://chordelectronics.co.uk/mojo/
http://www.audioquest.com/dragonfly-series/
http://www.centrance.com/products/hifi-skyn/
There may well be adapters for Lightning headphones, particularly to USB, and maybe Thunderbolt, but the 3.5mm adapter is going to be a bit cumbersome and redundant unless Apple revises MFi specs to address Lightning headphones, and adapting analogue signals. But right now there's nothing.
Lightning just does not seem to be Apple's end game, and as such, I doubt they will invest much effort into trying to make it a standard. iPads and Macs are embraced by a large cross-platform culture that may use other platforms like Android. Removing the headphone jack from them too soon, might really have an adverse affect on sales. Once Android starts dropping it too, then the Macs will be ready to go with USB-C (and I predict Lightning), and iPads will likely stick with the one port and Apple's push toward wireless.