My problem with Lightning headphones is that there is no way that Lightning ports are going to become as ubiquitous as the current 3.5mm jack. With my current headphones I can listen to them on every audio device I currently own, including my home stereo. With Lightning headphones I could listen to them on only 2 of my current devices (not even on my MacBook). I can understand Apple wanting to ditch an old standard for a new standard, but I do not see Lightning becoming a new standard outside of Apple's ecosystem.
My problem with Lightning headphones is that there is no way that Lightning ports are going to become as ubiquitous as the current 3.5mm jack. With my current headphones I can listen to them on every audio device I currently own, including my home stereo. With Lightning headphones I could listen to them on only 2 of my current devices (not even on my MacBook). I can understand Apple wanting to ditch an old standard for a new standard, but I do not see Lightning becoming a new standard outside of Apple's ecosystem.
Lightning is not intended to be the new standard. Apple was clear in the keynote, wireless is the new standard. If you need wires, you get an adapter. As long as there's an adapter then there's no problem. This is going to get worse when USB-C starts to reach market saturation as well, and it won't change the fact that it will be years until all 3.5mm jacks are replaced. And some form of wireless will likely be the de facto standard long before then. The issue at present is that there are no adapters for Lightning, rendering it useless out of the box for anything other than newer iOS devices.
if Apple did not make the changes people would complain it was old tech.
If Apple didn't remove the headphone jack I doubt anyone would be complaining.
And if you had asked those people what they really wanted they probably would have said a faster horse.
What does that have to do with my comment? The idea that people would have complained if Apple didn't remove the headphone jack is ridiculous. That has nothing to do with whether it was the right decision or not.
You didn't mention charging while listening. That's the biggest drawback to using Lightning headphones. Or wireless ones which need to be charged. You give up the functionality of listening on long trips, in a car, plane, train, etc. That's a step back. At least without third party dongles. Apple should have introduced wireless charging first, so you could listen while staying charged.
The subject of "charging while listening" was discussed in an earlier article linked to in this one, but I added a more prominent link for you:
"Apple wasn't an early pioneer in NFC tap-payments or in wireless home automation but is now a leader in both"
Since when did Apple become the leader in home automation? What metrics are you using for that?
Your questions changes "a leader" to "the leader," which would require some metrics to support. It's pretty obvious that HomeKit is a leader in home automation, although it's not clearly leading everyone else by a huge margin the way Apple Pay is, or iPads, etc.
You didn't mention charging while listening. That's the biggest drawback to using Lightning headphones. Or wireless ones which need to be charged. You give up the functionality of listening on long trips, in a car, plane, train, etc. That's a step back. At least without third party dongles. Apple should have introduced wireless charging first, so you could listen while staying charged.
I agree. This is my only concern re: lightning headphones. I currently use my earpods and only my earpods on my iPhone6 (yes, I'm not an audiophile though I have sensitive enough hearing on a quiet night to hear tungsten step-down energy states on a cooling incandescent - actually I "see" it if I close my eyes).
However, I also listen while driving using my headphones (I have a 12 year old car, and it won't die any time soon) - and I often have a low charge when I get in the car. I fear I'm going to start hating my drive if it forces me to choose between charging vs. listening.
I tried BT headphones, they were really cool, but I kept getting neck aches and headaches, so I stopped.
Apple, for gawdsakes, PLEASE fix this. The belkin "solution" is not at all elegant and it's frustrating I have to shell out another $40.
there's nothing to fix. you have an outlier use case. i don't need a second port added just so you can avoid using an adapter. apple made the right choice, all the whining in the world won't change it now.
Yeah, that's a monster deal breaker, for like about 1:1,000,000 people. Seriously, how often are you walking around, listening to youriPhone while its plugged into a charger?
As someone who doesn't read or watch 'mainstream' news, my question is: why do so many *American* journalists hate Apple so much? And they hate Apple so much that they would promote a Korean conglomerate (supposedly financially and politically sponsored by their country's government) that shamelessly copies Apple's products ?? I can understand American journalists picking sides with Google or Microsoft or non-Americans wanting us to all go to hell. But why do these presumably informed and educated Americans so publicly rail against an American company that doesn't mistreat its customers or steal from others, one that's almost like an angel among large corporations? Why??
I see the same thing. Especially Forbes writers. Over the weekend they pushed out a series of negative articles. What is the real motivation of Forbes writers?
My problem with Lightning headphones is that there is no way that Lightning ports are going to become as ubiquitous as the current 3.5mm jack. With my current headphones I can listen to them on every audio device I currently own, including my home stereo. With Lightning headphones I could listen to them on only 2 of my current devices (not even on my MacBook). I can understand Apple wanting to ditch an old standard for a new standard, but I do not see Lightning becoming a new standard outside of Apple's ecosystem.
apple has specifically said what they believe will become the standard and future for consumer device audio. hint: not lightning
tele1234 said: Have you ever travelled? Ever taking a multi-leg flight or a long car journey?
Yep. Washington State to Philippines, China, Japan, London and Frankfurt. On every one of them I spent a great deal of time SLEEPING, just like everyone else around me.
This is such a great big non-issue. The iPhone 7 does not have an analog jack, not does it have vacuum tubes, 50+ buttons, removable batteries and a Popeil pocket Fisherman tool. Get over it
If you are one of the 30 people who have genuinely charged and listened to music at the same time, buy the dongle.
This honestly sounds like you are saying "Well, I don't PERSONALLY do it, therefor NO ONE does"
Have you ever travelled? Ever taking a multi-leg flight or a long car journey? Of course you'll have one end in the charger, one end plugged into headphones. Heck even just driving to work I oftentimes put the charger and the audio jack in. It's a pretty major inconvenience. And wireless headphones, whilst cool and all, are the biggest pain in the butt going. it's just one more thing that needs charged unnecessarily.
Dude, you sound like someone whining about missing a dvd drive in their MacBook. "I have to lug an external drive and use up a usb port. QQ" How long did that argument last until you invited the future of flash storage and streaming? Same applies to the audio thing. You cry for another year until nothing has an audio jack anymore and you've welcomed the future once again. Wireless headphones are not "cool", it's the new standard. I hardly ever actively charge my BT speaker or wireless headphones. Most of the time they just get left charging on a table until I grab them. It's not a chore, it's an afterthought.
As far as traveling and charging and listening. I'm sure in a month you'll see backup battery packs that include an audio jack as well. Because if anyone travels as much as you do, they definitely carry backup juice. Build crappy ports into that thing...don't fill my phone with junk I won't ever use.
I dare you to stream video while on an airplane. You're comparing two different things.
iPhone/iPod users fall into two categories: Commuters, and Travelers
Commuters listen to their phone only while they are in their commute. The size of the battery in the phone supports a one hour commute and an 8 hour work shift. This is fine.
Travelers listen to their phone all day. If they are driving, they need access to the device's charging ability as well as the ability to have it plugged into the car kit. Apple could have easily solved this by actually having a Analog+Digital FM transmitter built into it, because ALL cars can receive FM radio. However newer cars support CarPlay in some way. That solves both possibilities as well as having the A2DP option if it's a reasonably new car. If they are not driving (eg on a train or an airplane) there is no guarantee that that the device can be charged. If I'm taking a train from Seattle to Chicago, I can use the outlet on the train to charge it while listening to it. Most planes still do not have AC charging options. You're also not going to carry several batteries for an entire trip. Then you have people who go camping, whom fully know they are not going to charge the phone.
Removing the headphone jack is of little consequence to the commuter.
However there are also jobs that you may want to use the phone for the entire commute and work time, I've had such a job before. I didn't buy the iPhone at the time (it was new then) because the iPhone didn't have feature parity with dumbphones of the time. I used a PDA at first, but the batteries were often dead before I got to work. I switched to the Nintendo DS with a play-yan and used that until management kept thinking I was playing games instead of switching tracks on it. So I then switched to the Nokia 95 (which was also new at the time too) and used that up until last year as music player when I finally got the iPhone6S. Every year I considered what Apple was offering and each year there was yet a good enough reason to give up the N95 despite it being 7 years old. I finally decided that it was worth switching because
- LTE support (Introduced with the iPhone 5) - 8MPix+ camera (iPhone 6) - Apple Pay (iPhone 6) - No physical issues (iPhone 6S, the iPhone 6 had bendgate, the iPhone 4 had antennagate)
Importantly, buying a phone that is simply feature parity with what I have is not an incentive to switch, and if it has less features, it's a disincentive. So the N95 has a 5Mpix camera, UMTS, and no NFC payments (because it predates NFC payments because it's from 2008, we just got the chip cards and none of them had NFC at the time.)
But remove the headphone jack, and now I can't even use extra batteries and listen to the phone. Extra batteries add extra weight and is yet another thing to shove in the same pocket. Why would I want the iPhone 7 when the previous iPhone 6S is clearly more suitable for my commute. I likely would have bought the 5c had I knew it was coming, but the 6S was fine.
So what I hope is that Apple's next "c" model keeps the headphone jack, but I'm not upgrading, no I'm probably going to hang onto the 6S until 2020 until there is a reason to upgrade again. Right now the bar hasn't been set other than longer battery life.
Yeah, that's a monster deal breaker, for like about 1:1,000,000 people. Seriously, how often are you walking around, listening to youriPhone while its plugged into a charger?
Not walking around. I use my iPhone 6plus as a work phone. Work calls are directed to it, so I have it on a charging stand with a headset plugged in all day. Bluetooth not yet ideal for me, and batteries not lasting enough. The phone can't go without the charge that long and be ready when I need it late day. Some workdays last 8am to 8pm and longer. So for now I stick with what I have, and specifically that missing jack is why I can't even consider it. There will be cases and stands with headphone jacks I am sure, and the measly iPhone dock works but is not sturdy enough for me. So long term, no, but too many of you are judging from your angle, your own use patterns. Me, I don't see that the phones need to be quite so slim, but I know beefing it up to have the jack and a larger battery, that getting larger or thicker is never an option for any phone maker. Anyway, when enough options to use an iPhone 7 are out so I can use it as I do today, well, I will be considering it.
Yeah, that's a monster deal breaker, for like about 1:1,000,000 people. Seriously, how often are you walking around, listening to youriPhone while its plugged into a charger?
Work calls are directed to it, so I have it on a charging stand with a headset plugged in all day.
OK. Then use a charging stand. Problem solved.
Bluetooth not yet ideal for me, and batteries not lasting enough. The phone can't go without the charge that long and be ready when I need it late day. Some workdays last 8am to 8pm and longer.
And? AirPods literally can get 24 hours on a single charge, as well as charge the case (while it's plugged in and sitting next to your iPhone 7 series dock that has Lightning for charging/syncing and a 3.5mm audio jack for olde timey headphones), and you can charge any BT headphone for hours on just the occasional bathroom break.
So for now I stick with what I have, and specifically that missing jack is why I can't even consider it.
The only thing you've failed to consider are your options.
Me, I don't see that the phones need to be quite so slim, but I know beefing it up to have the jack and a larger battery, that getting larger or thicker is never an option for any phone maker.
You should be aware that 1) the iPhone 7 series didn't slim down with the removal of the 3.5mm jack, and that Apple has released many devices that have gotten thicker, larger (volume), and heavier in YoY updates, including the iPhone. Most recently Watch Series 2 got thicker and thickness was already one of the major complaints by talking heads on the internet (although not common amongst actual users).
Anyway, when enough options to use an iPhone 7 are out so I can use it as I do today, well, I will be considering it.
I can't imagine how many more options you wish to exist than there already are. 900 million Lightning accessories have been sold, BT headphones already accounted for 50% of headphone revenue and 15% of headphone unit sales earlier this year. If you're waiting for someone uniquely specific (great), but based on your comments everything you have demanded for your job already exists.
if Apple did not make the changes people would complain it was old tech.
If Apple didn't remove the headphone jack I doubt anyone would be complaining.
And if you had asked those people what they really wanted they probably would have said a faster horse.
What does that have to do with my comment? The idea that people would have complained if Apple didn't remove the headphone jack is ridiculous. That has nothing to do with whether it was the right decision or not.
What in your comment mentioned or inferred whether removing the jack was the right choice or not? I am not sure why you can't see the relevance of my comment. I'll explain - Your comment reminded me of Steve Jobs' comment that people never know what they want until they see it. He quoted Henry Ford's famous quote "“If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses". Apple has a history of introducing new tech and be hammered for it on launch. It is what the whole post is about. The idea that if Apple hadn't changed the jack no-one would have complained can be applied to many design changes - square edges, new aspect ratio, ditching of 30 pin plug, position of buttons, smaller bezel, flat look, and many other software changes, etc. I never heard anybody complain about the inclusion of floppy discs or cd/dvd drives but I sure heard people complain about having them removed.
As far as removing the jack I could not care less. The iPhone headphones will not be compatible with other devices going forward, but what other devices do people use their headphones for these days? I do occasionally use headphones while watching movies on my Mac or iPad but I have many headsets lying around. Usually I share the screen with my wife so we need two headsets and yet there is only one jack. So I use a splitter. Not a problem. My guess is that people will rapidly turn to wireless headphones. For the ones among us that want the wires there are still about a million options. For people like me who want more than one headset to be connected to the same device there is another interesting question - will Apple facilitate multiple headset link-up over Bluetooth?
Apple Pencil on iPhone? Absolutely! You say it wouldn't work on a small screen? I used a pen for years on a Newton and Palm Pilot. Great for text input and bet the shit out of a finger for drawing. The technology has already been perfected for the iPad Pro and would be cheaper to implement for a smaller screen there are really no technical constraints for producing and marketing this now. Plus there's the added incentive that Apple gets to sell a $100 pencil add on. There is also no reason that a smaller thinner and could not be created if the current one is too big for your tastes. In any case, I'm going to buy the first one that comes out because it something I can use every single day. I would have jumped to Samsung just for this feature if I wasn't tied into the iOS universe. Please Apple, listen to me and not Appleinsider.
Comments
"http://appleinsider.com/articles/16/09/16/black-jet-black-unboxing-the-new-iphone-7-iphone-7-plus-with-lightning-headphones"
Your questions changes "a leader" to "the leader," which would require some metrics to support. It's pretty obvious that HomeKit is a leader in home automation, although it's not clearly leading everyone else by a huge margin the way Apple Pay is, or iPads, etc.
Yeah, that's a monster deal breaker, for like about 1:1,000,000 people. Seriously, how often are you walking around, listening to youriPhone while its plugged into a charger?
Yep. Washington State to Philippines, China, Japan, London and Frankfurt. On every one of them I spent a great deal of time SLEEPING, just like everyone else around me.
This is such a great big non-issue. The iPhone 7 does not have an analog jack, not does it have vacuum tubes, 50+ buttons, removable batteries and a Popeil pocket Fisherman tool. Get over it
iPhone/iPod users fall into two categories: Commuters, and Travelers
Commuters listen to their phone only while they are in their commute. The size of the battery in the phone supports a one hour commute and an 8 hour work shift. This is fine.
Travelers listen to their phone all day. If they are driving, they need access to the device's charging ability as well as the ability to have it plugged into the car kit. Apple could have easily solved this by actually having a Analog+Digital FM transmitter built into it, because ALL cars can receive FM radio. However newer cars support CarPlay in some way. That solves both possibilities as well as having the A2DP option if it's a reasonably new car. If they are not driving (eg on a train or an airplane) there is no guarantee that that the device can be charged. If I'm taking a train from Seattle to Chicago, I can use the outlet on the train to charge it while listening to it. Most planes still do not have AC charging options. You're also not going to carry several batteries for an entire trip. Then you have people who go camping, whom fully know they are not going to charge the phone.
Removing the headphone jack is of little consequence to the commuter.
However there are also jobs that you may want to use the phone for the entire commute and work time, I've had such a job before. I didn't buy the iPhone at the time (it was new then) because the iPhone didn't have feature parity with dumbphones of the time. I used a PDA at first, but the batteries were often dead before I got to work. I switched to the Nintendo DS with a play-yan and used that until management kept thinking I was playing games instead of switching tracks on it. So I then switched to the Nokia 95 (which was also new at the time too) and used that up until last year as music player when I finally got the iPhone6S. Every year I considered what Apple was offering and each year there was yet a good enough reason to give up the N95 despite it being 7 years old. I finally decided that it was worth switching because
- LTE support (Introduced with the iPhone 5)
- 8MPix+ camera (iPhone 6)
- Apple Pay (iPhone 6)
- No physical issues (iPhone 6S, the iPhone 6 had bendgate, the iPhone 4 had antennagate)
Importantly, buying a phone that is simply feature parity with what I have is not an incentive to switch, and if it has less features, it's a disincentive. So the N95 has a 5Mpix camera, UMTS, and no NFC payments (because it predates NFC payments because it's from 2008, we just got the chip cards and none of them had NFC at the time.)
But remove the headphone jack, and now I can't even use extra batteries and listen to the phone. Extra batteries add extra weight and is yet another thing to shove in the same pocket. Why would I want the iPhone 7 when the previous iPhone 6S is clearly more suitable for my commute. I likely would have bought the 5c had I knew it was coming, but the 6S was fine.
So what I hope is that Apple's next "c" model keeps the headphone jack, but I'm not upgrading, no I'm probably going to hang onto the 6S until 2020 until there is a reason to upgrade again. Right now the bar hasn't been set other than longer battery life.
And? AirPods literally can get 24 hours on a single charge, as well as charge the case (while it's plugged in and sitting next to your iPhone 7 series dock that has Lightning for charging/syncing and a 3.5mm audio jack for olde timey headphones), and you can charge any BT headphone for hours on just the occasional bathroom break.
The only thing you've failed to consider are your options.
You should be aware that 1) the iPhone 7 series didn't slim down with the removal of the 3.5mm jack, and that Apple has released many devices that have gotten thicker, larger (volume), and heavier in YoY updates, including the iPhone. Most recently Watch Series 2 got thicker and thickness was already one of the major complaints by talking heads on the internet (although not common amongst actual users).
I can't imagine how many more options you wish to exist than there already are. 900 million Lightning accessories have been sold, BT headphones already accounted for 50% of headphone revenue and 15% of headphone unit sales earlier this year. If you're waiting for someone uniquely specific (great), but based on your comments everything you have demanded for your job already exists.
What in your comment mentioned or inferred whether removing the jack was the right choice or not? I am not sure why you can't see the relevance of my comment. I'll explain - Your comment reminded me of Steve Jobs' comment that people never know what they want until they see it. He quoted Henry Ford's famous quote "“If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses". Apple has a history of introducing new tech and be hammered for it on launch. It is what the whole post is about. The idea that if Apple hadn't changed the jack no-one would have complained can be applied to many design changes - square edges, new aspect ratio, ditching of 30 pin plug, position of buttons, smaller bezel, flat look, and many other software changes, etc. I never heard anybody complain about the inclusion of floppy discs or cd/dvd drives but I sure heard people complain about having them removed.
As far as removing the jack I could not care less. The iPhone headphones will not be compatible with other devices going forward, but what other devices do people use their headphones for these days? I do occasionally use headphones while watching movies on my Mac or iPad but I have many headsets lying around. Usually I share the screen with my wife so we need two headsets and yet there is only one jack. So I use a splitter. Not a problem. My guess is that people will rapidly turn to wireless headphones. For the ones among us that want the wires there are still about a million options. For people like me who want more than one headset to be connected to the same device there is another interesting question - will Apple facilitate multiple headset link-up over Bluetooth?