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Apple Cites 'Courage' As Reason To Remove 3.5mm Headphone Jack (arstechnica.com)
It didn't come as much of a surprise when Apple Senior VP Phil Schiller revealed that the iPhone 7 doesn't feature a headphone jack, since rumors have mentioned this possibility months before the announcement. In fact, what some may find more surprising is Apple's justification. The company cited three reasons why they decided to eighty-six the port, as well as one word: "courage." Ars Technica reports: "[Schiller said] the company can't justify the continued use of an 'ancient' single-use port. He described the amount of technology packed into the iPhone, saying each element in Apple's phones is fighting for space, and it's at a premium. Schiller explained that no company has tried to deliver a wireless experience between your devices and your headphones that fixes the things that are currently difficult to do -- and since there's only one major industry-wide wireless-audio standard, it's easy to assume that he's talking about Bluetooth there (though he didn't say the B-word out loud). To promote Apple's wireless-audio push, Schiller announced the new AirPods, which look mostly identical to the last official Apple earbud model, only with a small piece of plastic replacing the full cord. While Schiller and Apple designer Jonny Ive talked a lot about wireless being 'the future' of audio devices -- and thus being the reason for Apple's 'courage' to move on from the 3.5mm standard -- Apple is curiously not packing those AirPods into new iPhone 7 and 7 Plus boxes. Instead, those devices will ship with the updated Lightning EarPods by default. AirPods will begin shipping in late October and will cost $159."
We can't justify an ancient single use port... Not unlike our proprietary power connectors
"Courage" would be to stop making the phone thinner with less battery life and forcing owners to purchase overpriced items. Of course, Apple gets paid by any company that licenses their "Lightning Port" design. Courage? NO, more like GREED.
Courage is what others can judge you to have shown.
Ego is when you call your own decision "courage".
If they had a good reason they should have said it. Self-claiming courage is a coward move.
E
Subject says it all. Pure, unadulterated greed with the chutzpah to convince the fanbois that it's worth it...
Per a Buzzfeed interview, summarized by MacRumors:
The idea for the removal of the headphone jack was raised during the development of the iPhone 7. In a nutshell, the "driver ledge" for the display and backlight, traditionally placed near the camera, was interfering with the new camera systems in the iPhone 7 and the iPhone 7 Plus, leading Apple to explore other placement options. It was moved near the audio jack, but it also caused interference with various components, including the audio jack itself, so Apple engineers toyed with the elimination of the jack altogether.
When the headphone jack was removed, Apple realized it was easier to install the new Taptic Engine for the pressure-sensitive Home button, implement a bigger battery, and reach an IP7 water resistance rating, so the elimination of the headphone jack became essential for all of the other features in the iPhone 7.
Apple executives also believe the headphone jack is outdated technology that needed to go to make room for new advancements. According to Dan Riccio, it was holding Apple back "from a number of things" the company wanted to add to the iPhone, taking up space that could be used for camera improvements, battery, and processors.
"The audio connector is more than 100 years old," Joswiak says. "It had its last big innovation about 50 years ago. You know what that was? They made it smaller. It hasn't been touched since then. It's a dinosaur. It's time to move on." [...]
For Dan Riccio, Apple's senior vice president of hardware engineering, the iPhone's 3.5-millimeter audio jack has felt something like the last months of an ill-fated if amicable relationship: familiar and comfortable, but ultimately an impediment to a better life ahead. "We've got this 50-year-old connector -- just a hole filled with air -- and it's just sitting there taking up space, really valuable space," he says.
According to Apple's Phil Schiller, there's no ulterior motive behind the move away from the 3.5mm headphone jack. "We are removing the audio jack because we have developed a better way to deliver audio. It has nothing to do with content management or DRM -- that's pure, paranoid conspiracy theory," he said.
How can I believe you when you tell me what I don't want to hear?
You left out antenna for the FM radio. Oops, the iPhone never had an FM radio, something even cheap flip phones have had pretty much forever. Apple is no longer a leader in innovation, which is why their market share continues to drop. Looks like Tim Cook cooked their goose.
"Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
Yeah, Nexus phones don't support FM either.
I guess Californian hipsters designing these things don't have any decent radio stations or have enormous data plans. FM is built into every Qualcomm SoC, iirc.
LG recently released a phone with DAB+ digital radio; maybe that will catch on instead.
Not that I care, as I do not own any apple stuff, but I have not seen a bluetooth headset that was not absolute shit.
I had a phone earpeice thing from plantronics that was worse than simply using the speakerphone in the car. When the thing would actually stay connected the speaker was inaudible. When I could hear the other side, my mic would not pick up.
Bought some LG headphones, failed within 2 months. And in those 2 months it was nearly impossible to get the things to stay connected. Press the connect button, beeps loudly, searches for phone, gives up. Bought earbuds, returned the next day. Worthless.
Bluetooth audio is complete garbage.
I'm a good cook. I'm a fantastic eater. - Steven Brust
Also they did that with Thunderbolt, and look at the plethora of peripherals available toda.. oh, wait..
Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
Another problem is that there is only ONE single use port. I usually listen to music while my phone is plugged in, and to my knowledge there is no way to both listen with the headphone dongle and have the device plugged in.
Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
This is different than merely changing a connector or protocol. Now headphones have gone from a passive device to an active device that needs its own power source. How long does the battery last on these earpods? Can it easily be changed?
Only the State obtains its revenue by coercion. - Murray Rothbard
As long as they close the analog hole - Riaa will be happy!
_ _ _ Go for the eyes Boo! GO FOR THE EYES!
This is a site specifically for mac compatible stuff, and even they only have 4 categories under 'Thunderbolt'. There is only one hub to choose from, and it is $218.
Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
>The dongle comes with the phone.
So what?
You will never have it when you need it unexpectedly.
The thing is going to stick out, interfering with carrying the phone, making it bulky and unruly.
It is likely to break or get lost.
It is just plain irritating.
It is a good thing I have no interest in "iphones", I just hope the other phone makers reject this stupid idea.
To a lot of people the main point of radio isn't music, it's reliability. I know I can tune in to the radio during natural disasters and get up to date information about what's going on. In many of those situations phone, data, and cable will all be knocked out. Radio's very robust.
You do realize how completely unalike those two examples are, right?
Removing the floppy drive wasn't a big deal because USB floppy drives provided a viable alternative, and internal floppy drives were still available for portable devices for three or four years after Apple removed them from the desktop (all the way through the Pismo).
Adapters for portable devices suck. Adapters for ultraportable devices like phones suck absolutely.
Check out my sci-fi/humor trilogy at PatriotsBooks.
You'll wait quite a while for that adapter. Per the Apple Accessory Interface Specifcation (R25) you cannot make splitter cables. Ever. One connection on each end of the cable, and only certain combinations at that. IF you find such a cable, it's using grey-market chips from some random Chinese vendor - and who knows how well or how long it will work. But as it exists today (and at least for the next 2 months), splitter cables are forbidden. So it's going to be cables and hub, not just a cable.
Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
Because unlike Apple Music, Spotify, Pandora and other online streaming services... FM does not require the use of an internet connection. A lot of cellphone service providers charge for the service based on data transferred (unlike wired internet connections where you usually pay for the connection bandwidth (like 300mbps or whatever), but then can use it 100% and will not need to pay more).
Also, FM radio receiver can use very little power, compared to the cellphone transmitter which needs to be active to use the internet connection.
All my family's iPhone earbuds are still unopened as well, even going back to the older ones wrapped in a plastic band instead of a case. Never used, not once.
The reason for that is the quality is so crappy they're unusable. You can get some pretty amazing quality wired headphones for under $100 on black friday. Last year I got an amazing deal on some SoundSports at $50 each. Compared to cheap headphones, you can actually hear so much more detail in the music it's like a whole different song.
Besides using my phone with multiple different sets of headphones, there's 2 cars I regularly listen in. I am not carrying an adapter every where with me and I am not buying 6 more adapters to leave them on every 3.5" pin I use often.
On the bright side, this got me to try a Note 7. Wow is Apple ever living in the stone age. Just have the "courage" to spend a few days seriously giving it a go. I will never go back to Apple. The edge panels alone are worth the courage to switch. And the display on the Note is simply amazing.