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Apple Removed Headphone Jack From New iPhones Because It Owns Largest Bluetooth Headphone Company (theverge.com)
Apple's new iPhones -- the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus -- don't have the headphone jack. The company's SVP Phil Schiller said the move signifies "courage" from the company to put a 100-year-old audio standard to bed. But there could be one more reason for this transition to a Bluetooth/Wireless headphones future: it owns the largest Bluetooth headphones company -- Beats. The Verge reports: More likely is that the lack of a headphone jack on the iPhone -- and increasingly, on Android phones as well -- will lead to an uptick in sales of Bluetooth headphones. And it just so happens that Apple owns the number one Bluetooth headphone company, Beats. Beats brings in more revenue from Bluetooth headphones than LG, Bose, or Jaybird, according to NPD figures released in July. In terms of unit sales, it controls over a quarter of the Bluetooth headphone market. Bluetooth headphones are also disproportionately profitable among headphones. NPD has them accounting for 54 percent of all dollars spent in the market, despite representing only 17 percent of units sold in the U.S.. These headphones sell at high prices with high margins, and Apple's company is making the best of it so far. Sales of Bluetooth headphones are already growing, with units up 64 percent year over year according to NPD's US figures. And Apple's removal of the headphone jack is likely to give them another boost.
Well, that is one very cynical view. Of course they might have reasons that benefit users. The fact that they offer an adapter rather dispels this theory. Get good Bluetooth headphones and you won't want to go back. Hint: x.
The iPhone 8 will require special glasses to see the screen. Apple will congratulate itself for its bravery in leading the industry in such a move.
Bruce Perens.
Let us be a bit pragmatic about this by analysing the electronics and the data stream.
I'm a fan of the jack because it allows me to choose the headphones. The only thing I don't have control over is the DAC in the phone.
For general listening Beats are a heavy headphone and after seeing a construction breakdown on /. some time ago found their specs to be average. A good set of senheiser headphones would be a better investment. Bose look and sound good however I had a hard time tracking down specs last time I was shopping. I'm pretty fussy and my headphones have a response range 16Hz - 28kHz and handle 200mw of power. I have to wear them alot for mixing so they have to be leightweight and they also have interesting features like auto muting when I take them off. I found AKGs to be perfect here.
Apple's decision means I can choose higher quality DACs for headphones however it also means the end of the era for lightweight quality headphones as it means these devices will have to carry a battery, receiver, DAC, amplifier *AND* audio membrane. More likely, significantly more functionality.
Considering iTunes accepts music at 96Khz for the masters it is likely this is the next phase of innovation Apple is suggesting where DAC converter in headphone technology improve as consumer grade headphones are able to process higher bitrates with better sound quality and still deliver an enjoyable power delivery and battery life. What it means for people like me is that my high quality gear exposes the limitations of the phone.
It also means all the associated DAC technology on the phone only has to match the bandwidth of the phone's speakers. I can see why this is a plus for manufacturers as I doubt the DAC in many phones now could deliver the dynamic range that my AKGs can handle and the only way to improve that is to have better DACs and amplifiers on the phone. By not having to have that shootout with other phone manufacturers all manufacturers reduce cost, complexity and, power consumption of their phones.
However it also means the end of private analogue connection to the phone as locally eavesdroping on unencrypted bluetooth connections becomes more probable.
This is a new type of market, that apple is creating because now they race is to produce phone headphones that are hyped or actually can deliver quality audio to consumers at a rate more frequent than the delivery of a new phone. Neither bad or good, but a change to the market for headphones.
My ism, it's full of beliefs.
People buy Apple because of the way the software works without making you cough up a hairball just to move around the interface. Few ever buy MS for the software. Android is somewhere in the middle, if you could count on your phone getting updates.
The fact that Apples hardware is a bit behind is merely a product of them making their software work well with it. If they were changing it all the time to be fashion accessories for the techno-crowd, it would work....about as well as MS software.
By the way, I was just at a logic conference, just about everyone had Macs. You couldn't accuse that crowd of being fashion conscious.