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Apple Replaced the Headphone Jack On the iPhone 7 With a Fake Speaker Grill (businessinsider.com)

Posted by msmash on from the truth-is-out-there dept.

Not long ago, Apple CEO Tim Cook explained why the company felt a need to remove the headphone jack from the new iPhones -- the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus. He said, "that jack takes up a lot of space in the phone, a lot of space. And there's a lot of more important things we can provide for the consumer than that jack." His colleague Phil Schiller cited "courage" for the same. As people learn to live in a world where they have to use a dongle to use their existing pair of headphones, gadget repair community iFixit found today that Apple isn't really using that "extra space" it got after getting rid of the headphone jack. BusinessInsider reports: "In place of the headphone jack, we find a component that seems to channel sound from outside the phone into the microphone... or from the Taptic Engine out," they write. Yep -- in the place where the headphone jack used to be there's a piece of molded plastic. "No fancy electronics here, just some well-designed acoustics and molded plastic," iFixit writes.iFixit adds, "Closer inspection shows a new, second lower speaker grille that leads ... nowhere? Interesting." Update: 09/16 21:21 GMT by M : Apple says it's a "barometric vent." The Verge reports: Apparently adding all the waterproofing to the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus meant that it was more of a sealed box, and so to be able to have an accurate and working barometer, Apple used that space. The barometer is the thing that allows a phone to measure altitude, and Apple points out that on the iPhone 7 it can measure even minor changes like climbing a flight of stairs.

15 of 248 comments (clear)

  1. So in other words it's used and is useful by SuperKendall · · Score: 5, Funny

    Having a barometer built into a phone is more useful than you would think, especially when measuring elevation changes.

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
    1. Re:So in other words it's used and is useful by Grim+Beefer · · Score: 5, Funny

      Guess how much more useful that bullshit is than a 3.5mm headphone jack? That's called a downgrade.

    2. Re:So in other words it's used and is useful by The-Ixian · · Score: 3, Insightful

      It's almost as useful as a headphone jack...

      --
      My eyes reflect the stars and a smile lights up my face.
    3. Re:So in other words it's used and is useful by sexconker · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Unless you're in a lab kept at 1 STP. Of course it is.

      Using a barometer to measure altitude is retarded to the point of it being a cliche physics exam question (measuring the height of a building with a barometer).
      Are you rapidly climbing stairs or is there a storm a comin'?

    4. Re:So in other words it's used and is useful by Joce640k · · Score: 5, Funny

      Wouldn't it have been better to keep the headphone jack and sell a bluetooth barometer?

      --
      No sig today...
    5. Re: So in other words it's used and is useful by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

      A barometer is definitely useful. However there are two problems:

      1.) It's not a useful as a standard headphone jack
      2.) It's not an either/or proposition. No reason you can't have both, except Apple wants to sell you overpriced dongles and wireless headphones.

    6. Re:So in other words it's used and is useful by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      You can't know if its a downgrade or an upgrade unless you have a barometer!

    7. Re:So in other words it's used and is useful by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      In this case, it probably was 3.5mm jack, or sealed case for waterproofness. I'm guessing waterproofness won out.

      Nope. There are other waterproof smartphones that have a higher rating (IP68) than the iPhone 7, yet they all have a headphone jack. What won out was a way to push customers into either buying headphones that use the lightning port or bluetooth headphones that use Apple's W1 chip. Either way, Apple gets paid when others make accessories with their proprietary crap. "Oh, but there's a dongle", you say. Indeed there is. Apple knew there would be an even bigger shit-storm if not for some way for people to still use non-Apple headphones, but genius lies in the inconvenience of using the dongle. Which is exactly what will make iPhone users more likely to purchase Apple taxed headphones in the future.

    8. Re:So in other words it's used and is useful by AmiMoJo · · Score: 3, Insightful

      It has a headphone jack or a charging port, but not both. For that two need a chain of two dongles.

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      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
  2. And this was needed because? by H3lldr0p · · Score: 4, Insightful

    A more perfect barometer was needed to accomplish what exactly? The device can now tell that I've ascended stairs more accurately. This will lead to what? And this change was as valuable as the headphone jack, how? Sure, more waterproof will probably help some people but overall? It just seems like a dick move.

  3. Android phones manage this without sacking the jac by kimvette · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Somehow Android phone manufacturers have managed this for years (with even more sensors) with LARGER batteries, and maintaining water resistance all while not eliminating the headphone jack.

    This is all about generating new earbud+headphone sales.

    --
    The Christian Right is Neither (Christian nor right). See: Matthew 23, Matthew 25, Ezekiel 16:48-50
  4. "Barometric vent" by Opportunist · · Score: 4, Funny

    Is that Apple-speak for "hot air"?

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    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  5. Re:Android phones manage this without sacking the by ZipK · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Except the phone still COMES with headphones that work just fine.

    Until you try to plug them into an airplane's entertainment system. Or the headphone jack on the side of your desktop computer speakers. Or a transistor radio. Or anything else outside of the newest Appleverse. Then they don't work just fine.

  6. Wrong Headline... by friedmud · · Score: 3, Informative

    Should read: Apple Replaced the Headphone Jack On the iPhone 7 With a Huge Taptic Engine

    Just look at the pictures:

    https://www.ifixit.com/Teardow...

    (Look at Step 6)

    It's obvious that the huge Taptic Engine is right in the line of fire for where the plug would go.

    That said: I do this it's a bit BS to put a "speaker grill" there. It might be aesthetically pleasing (balance) but it's a bit underhanded. I'm not really buying their "it's for the barometer!" schtick either...

  7. Re:Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes by sexconker · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Even a slight breeze will throw altitude, as inferred through a barometer, off by a huge amount.