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Apple To Extend iPhone's Product Cycle; Shift To 32GB Internal Storage On Base Model: Reports (nikkei.com)
According to Japanese outlet Nikkei, which has a good track record, Apple is planning to extend its iPhone's product cycle. The Cupertino, California-based company, which currently utilizes the same design language for two years, now plans to make major refreshes to its iconic smartphone every three years. The report claims that Apple is changing the refresh cycle as it struggles to innovate and provide new features and substantial improvements to its iPhone. For those planning to purchase the next iPhone, don't expect any design changes, the report adds. From the report: The new version slated for this autumn will look almost identical to the current iPhone 6. Functions such as the camera, water resistance and battery capacity will likely be improved, and the headphone jack will be removed. Also, a high-end version of the model will give users better-quality photo capabilities via correction functions. On the sidelines, the media is abuzz with reports that the next iPhone will have 32GB internal storage in its base model.
On the other hand, I'm old enough to remember when Macs dropped the serial port in favor of USB, and all the squalling about "b-b-but my cheap modems!" Heck, I remember the complaints about non-standard (i.e. not DB9 or DB25) serial connectors.
Maybe it'll look boneheaded five years from now, maybe it won't. I'm going with "will", but I've been wrong before betting against Apple.
"and the headphone jack will be removed"
Is this what people want? I mean, I know a lot of people like their wireless ones... but I prefer wired. I hate charging the stupid things. I hate pairing the stupid things. I like just being able plug them in and go. I like that by being plugged in the headphones stay with the phone; and don't get left behind. I like that they are cheap and easy to replace.
Plus I still occasionally connect it to aux inputs and such in cars. My daughter uses headphones with her iphone all the time. Everyone i know has wired headsets and headphones... only a handful prefer wireless/bluetooth solutions.
why purchase $5.00 headphones to listen to highly compressed lossy music, when I can purchase the same headphones, at 10-20X the price, because of a proprietary connector.
No one is forcing you to use a proprietary connector at 10-20X the price. Bluetooth headphones start at about $11 shipped these days. Granted, they likely won't be decent, but neither will the $5 set you're worried you can't use. Alternatively, there are third-party Lightning -> 3.5mm audio jack adapters available for relatively cheap, allowing you to still use your $5 crappy headphones if you're dead-set on them.
But let's be honest: none of this is actually something that'll ever affect you since you have no interest in this product. You just wanted to complain about a product from a company other than the one you support so that you could feel better about your purchasing decisions, which explains why you conveniently chose to ignore the obvious. That's not something unique to one side or the other. Apple fanboys do it. Android fanboys do it. But none of that makes it right. You're doing a disservice to yourself when you exaggerate the situation unnecessarily.
Problem is that it's not only the headphones that will be missed. for some, is also the ability to use the headphone jack connected credit card readers.
Onda Technology Institute
No, let's be honest: you don't want to hear it. I agree with him, and I've purchased the iphone 5, 5s, 6, and 6se (not all for myself, mind you).
I use a 6 and a 6se. I prefer the 6se. And it's going to take serious feature improvement to get me to move to a headphone jack-less successor to the 6se.
Specify what you'll take as proof, because removing the headphone jack is one of the more idiotic decisions that I think Apple can make, and by God it does affect me.
It is only the Square magstripe reader that connect via the headphone jack. The chip reader and contactless Apple/Google pay reader connects wirelessly. Unless you have been living under a very large rock, you should be aware that magstripe is now legacy tech. If you continue to accept it at point of sale as a vendor, you now eat any and all fraudulent charges instead of the bank or card issuer. You can always keep an iPhone 5, 5s, 6, or 6s around for pint of sale use, and it is possible that Square will come up with a lightning connector model. I am also sure there will be an Apple headphone to lightning adapter.
Some mornings it's hardly worth chewing through the restraints to get out of bed.
You're (quite understandably) assuming something I didn't say. I asserted that he was grossly overstating the situation, which he was. I never said I was a fan of them dropping the headphone jack, which you seem to have incorrectly inferred.
I'm actually on the fence about it. In the long-term, I do want this stuff to go wireless, since it opens up new form factors, provides more freedom in how we use our devices, and makes it easier to move around (I can't count how many times I've pushed back from my desk at work and had my headphones yank off my head/out of my ears). I actually just purchased my first set of Bluetooth headphones this week (admittedly, a rather cheap set) to see how they work for me in practical use. That said, the idea of needing to replace batteries or charge on a regular basis, introducing room for additional latency, dealing with signal interference, adding cost (even if it's marginal), or facing the idea that they might stop working at the least convenient time is utterly and completely unappealing. That's why I went cheap; I get to see how much those disadvantages hurt and whether they matter to me in practice before I commit more fully.
More or less, I'm uncomfortable with the idea of them dropping the headphone jack, since there are clear advantages to it, but my misgivings feel very similar to the ones I had when floppies went away or as we've started to see optical media disappear. It's a bit painful at the time, and there are things that are lost in the process, but by and large, the changes are for the better in the end. We can argue about whether the time to do this change is now or not, but I think most of us have a sense that the world should be going this direction eventually.