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Apple To Unveil 'AirPods' That Use Custom Bluetooth Chip (macrumors.com)
It's no secret that Apple is planning to remove the headphone jack in its upcoming flagship smartphones. A new report from KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, which confirms rumors that Apple will indeed remove the headphone jack in the iPhone 7 to improve the device's water resistance, suggests that Apple is developing earbuds called "AirPods" that will employ its own Bluetooth-like communication chip. Mac Rumors reports: "First and foremost, as has been rumored, Kuo suggests Apple is working on its own Bluetooth-like communication chip and its own Bluetooth headphones. Previous information suggests the Bluetooth chip will improve battery performance for longer battery life. The chip may be included in the wireless earbuds Apple has in development, which are said to be Bragi Dash-style wireless Bluetooth earbuds that are entirely wire free. The earbuds will be called "AirPods," based on trademark filings that have been discovered, and the product could be unveiled as early as September 7 alongside the iPhone 7. According to Kuo, Apple will sell its Apple-branded Bluetooth headphones alongside its Beats line of headphones, targeting the high-end market with the "AirPods" and the mid-range market with the Beats headphones. Kuo does not believe the company will package Bluetooth headphones with the iPhone 7. Instead, Apple is likely to ship the iPhone 7 with Lightning-based EarPods that feature a Lightning connector instead of a 3.5mm headphone jack."
'improve device's water resistance'
Several phones have already been released (eg: Sony Z5) with exposed headphones sockets without compromising water resistance. Poor justification is poor.
How long will it be until there are compatible headsets available? And how much will they cost? And will they even work or have acceptable battery life?
I have a sinking feeling that I'm going to have very few options for my smartphone headset in the future. Not much choice and stupidly high prices.
Why is this happening? Because the two manufacturers who matter, Apple and Samsung, are having a pissing contest over who's phone is thinner. So Samsung has to recall phones that are catching fire and Apple has phones where the touch interface fails because the case flexes and solder pads disconnect from a chip. Both these engineering failures happen because cramming reliable electronics into such a slim case is nearly impossible.
Given a choice between a phone as thick as the previous generation that was reliable and had a longer battery life, pretty much any human being on the planet would choose a thicker phone. I bet that a phone twice as thick with really long battery life would sell in vastly greater numbers then any of the current crap. But we don't get that choice. Marketeers and designers who are completely out of touch dictate what choices we have, and they don't give a damn about what we want.
Just another case of pretend capitalism. Nothing to see here, move along.
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The water resistance thing is bogus, lots of other manufacturers don't have a problem making waterproof 3.5mm jacks. If they cared about thickness they could use a 2.5mm jack, so that at least simple adapters would work.
This just means more stuff to carry and charge. Presumably the battery will be non-removable too. In a month someone will have reverse engineered the protocol and will sell cheaper accessories, until an Apple software update breaks them deliberately.
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
You know that there is more than just shitty cheap earbuds on the market, right?
I have a pair of Sennheiser headphones that can either be bluetooth or wired. I almost never use them as bluetooth because the quality is measurably less than plugging in, even when using the AptX codec and not the shitty SBC codec that most A2DP devices use.
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If they cared about thickness they could use a 3.5mm jack, so no adapter is needed.
FTFY. The Huawei Ascend P6 has a 3.5mm jack and is 6.18mm thick. The Vivo X3S has a 3.5mm jack and is 6mm thick. Apple could shave a mm off the current phones and keep the 3.5mm jack.
Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!