Here's something no one seems to be discussing. The lightning port is far more delicate than the 3.5 jack. The more delicate port will now have to support both charging and headphones. Many people have had issues where the headphones or phone catches on something and breaks the jack etc.
Not only have I brought this up since before this was a rumour—since I saw where this was heading years ago—but I also brought it up In this very thread. Check out '3b':
When that happens you have a fully functional phone except for the earphones. If this happens with lightning headphones you've just broken your ONLY port. No more charging, no more syncing nothing till you can get it fixed. You will now have a very expensive brick until it can be fixe. That's a big negative to me.
You may not have a "fully functional phone except for the earphones" if the wear and tear from the higher rate of plugging/unplugging of the headphones causes the connector for charging connectors to wear out faster. Hopefully we'll get the Smart Connector on iPhones this year, too, but the biggest issue from wear-and-tear seems to be from the male connector with the thin, flat pins, not the female connector in the device with the much thicker and more robust connectors.
It will be interesting to see Phil Schiller's pitch on stage. When the retina MBP was announced the pitch was around wireless. Obviously he won't be making that pitch if the headphones included in the box are wired. So I suppose then the pitch will be around being able to make the phone more water resistant?
This is BS! Why would the EarPods require lightning chip in the connector piece. Earbuds are NOT POWERED. The data ports are identical, no matter which direction you insert the connector. The real connector will be 1/4 the size shown.
This is BS! Why would the EarPods require lightning chip in the connector piece. Earbuds are NOT POWERED. The data ports are identical, no matter which direction you insert the connector. The real connector will be 1/4 the size shown.
Here's something no one seems to be discussing. The lightning port is far more delicate than the 3.5 jack. The more delicate port will now have to support both charging and headphones. Many people have had issues where the headphones or phone catches on something and breaks the jack etc. When that happens you have a fully functional phone except for the earphones. If this happens with lightning headphones you've just broken your ONLY port. No more charging, no more syncing nothing till you can get it fixed. You will now have a very expensive brick until it can be fixe. That's a big negative to me.
Its not the phone connector thats going to brake it's the cable connector.
or, just use what's in the box. I don't own a pair of headphones that use 3.5mm. and soon, neither will a bunch of other people. and the world will keep turning.
those who want to go wireless will. those who don't care won't. most consumers of iPhones aren't techies and aren't going to freak out.
Ah, makes sense now. You don't own headphones that use the jack. It won't impact you therefore it's not a big deal and no one else will care.
Mmm, you're kind of right, but for the wrong reason.
You and nolamacguy are using the same reasons to argue different points of view: Apple should do this because it fits in with my personal needs. The difference is that he is right because his needs happen to align with the vast majority of the Apple customer base.
If I walk around any town centre, I see lots of white cables; lots. In fact, the vast majority of iPhone users use the pods that come with the phone. They will use whatever comes in the box, and since most of Apple customers are out and about, rather than sitting in basements fighting in online forums, then they will not be too concerned with having to charge the phone while they're listening to music.
Secondly, while I think that Apple has been looking for an opportunity to remove the headphone socket for some time, their timing is very interesting, because they waited until they had access to the greatest source of headphone market research on the planet: Beats.
Beats is probably the most popular headphone brand in Apple's target demographic (and make no mistake, you're not in it), which means by analysing Beats sales data, Apple has a pretty good idea where headphones sales are going. I'm pretty sure that they have noticed that wired headphone sales are heading down, and bluetooth cans are on their way up. So in their usual pre=emptive move, they've eliminated another port that their target demographic is already in the process of rejecting. They can use that space for something else.
Apple likes customers who add something to their bottom line; why should they cater for people who sit online all day stating what bit of Apple kit they're not going to buy? Apple's response is the logical one: since we have no plans to make a machine bristling with ports that only a handful of people will use, we suggest you find an alternative product.
And weirdly enough, these people never seem to. Those that do just carry on complaining on Apple forums, as though they need to justify their reasons for leaving to themselves: 'Look at me! I'm on Android now! And I'm really really really HAPPY!'
Most odd.
Anyway, my prediction? If Apple does indeed eliminate the headphone jack then it will be a disaster in the IT press and in online forums, but everyone else (people who actually matter) will just get on with it.
Out of interest, do the wired Beats headphones have detachable cables? (Not the in-ear ones, obvs, the over-ears).
i.e. Could Apple/Beats sell a replacement Lightning cable for the cans already out there?
Yes they do, and yes they probably will.
Their wireless models both both have an optional cable and a USB charging cable that use the 3.5mm headphone jack (similar to the iPod Shuffle). This means that existing Beats wireless cans may be able to go straight digital, whereas their wired models with pass-through 3.5mm jacks will have to have an adapter cable that converts digital to analogue. This is true for any set of headphones that have detachable cables, and the cable can be made by anybody, not just the OEM.
Many future headphones will all have digital interfaces built-in, with detachable cables for plugging into any connector a device has (all but the cheapest). Some cables will even be hybrids containing any connector a person may need, thus eliminating carrying adapters, or swapping cables.
I've met some recent Apple converts and these people will accept Apple's choices and hand them whatever amounts of money they want. They don't question Apple's decisions they just keep saying that Apple stuff just works.
The connector on this one at least looks like the normal Apple Lightning connector, as opposed to that other one that was going around.
Not sure about moving the microphone/remote to the junction, but it does make sense to put any additional electronics beyond the Lightning chip there (the DAC for example). Combining it with the microphone and remote makes some sense, but it would move the microphone further away from the user's mouth.
I'm still waiting for the actual announcement before making any judgments about the whole thing, though. I am a bit worried that if they don't remove the headphone jack at this point, the narrative will be stuck between "Apple bows to public pressure" when they made no announcements either way prior, and "Apple can't innovate" which I guess we'll get anyway, regardless of what happens. Either way I expect the stock will go down.
Comments
You may not have a "fully functional phone except for the earphones" if the wear and tear from the higher rate of plugging/unplugging of the headphones causes the connector for charging connectors to wear out faster. Hopefully we'll get the Smart Connector on iPhones this year, too, but the biggest issue from wear-and-tear seems to be from the male connector with the thin, flat pins, not the female connector in the device with the much thicker and more robust connectors.
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2015/01/06/cell-phone-use-brain-cancer-risk.aspx
You and nolamacguy are using the same reasons to argue different points of view: Apple should do this because it fits in with my personal needs. The difference is that he is right because his needs happen to align with the vast majority of the Apple customer base.
If I walk around any town centre, I see lots of white cables; lots. In fact, the vast majority of iPhone users use the pods that come with the phone. They will use whatever comes in the box, and since most of Apple customers are out and about, rather than sitting in basements fighting in online forums, then they will not be too concerned with having to charge the phone while they're listening to music.
Secondly, while I think that Apple has been looking for an opportunity to remove the headphone socket for some time, their timing is very interesting, because they waited until they had access to the greatest source of headphone market research on the planet: Beats.
Beats is probably the most popular headphone brand in Apple's target demographic (and make no mistake, you're not in it), which means by analysing Beats sales data, Apple has a pretty good idea where headphones sales are going. I'm pretty sure that they have noticed that wired headphone sales are heading down, and bluetooth cans are on their way up. So in their usual pre=emptive move, they've eliminated another port that their target demographic is already in the process of rejecting. They can use that space for something else.
Apple likes customers who add something to their bottom line; why should they cater for people who sit online all day stating what bit of Apple kit they're not going to buy? Apple's response is the logical one: since we have no plans to make a machine bristling with ports that only a handful of people will use, we suggest you find an alternative product.
And weirdly enough, these people never seem to. Those that do just carry on complaining on Apple forums, as though they need to justify their reasons for leaving to themselves: 'Look at me! I'm on Android now! And I'm really really really HAPPY!'
Most odd.
Anyway, my prediction? If Apple does indeed eliminate the headphone jack then it will be a disaster in the IT press and in online forums, but everyone else (people who actually matter) will just get on with it.
i.e. Could Apple/Beats sell a replacement Lightning cable for the cans already out there?
Their wireless models both both have an optional cable and a USB charging cable that use the 3.5mm headphone jack (similar to the iPod Shuffle). This means that existing Beats wireless cans may be able to go straight digital, whereas their wired models with pass-through 3.5mm jacks will have to have an adapter cable that converts digital to analogue. This is true for any set of headphones that have detachable cables, and the cable can be made by anybody, not just the OEM.
Many future headphones will all have digital interfaces built-in, with detachable cables for plugging into any connector a device has (all but the cheapest). Some cables will even be hybrids containing any connector a person may need, thus eliminating carrying adapters, or swapping cables.
The connector on this one at least looks like the normal Apple Lightning connector, as opposed to that other one that was going around.
Not sure about moving the microphone/remote to the junction, but it does make sense to put any additional electronics beyond the Lightning chip there (the DAC for example). Combining it with the microphone and remote makes some sense, but it would move the microphone further away from the user's mouth.
I'm still waiting for the actual announcement before making any judgments about the whole thing, though. I am a bit worried that if they don't remove the headphone jack at this point, the narrative will be stuck between "Apple bows to public pressure" when they made no announcements either way prior, and "Apple can't innovate" which I guess we'll get anyway, regardless of what happens. Either way I expect the stock will go down.