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Wireless Headphone Sales Soared After Apple Dropped Headphone Jack (fortune.com)
Apple's decision to remove the headphone jack from new iPhones last year prompted lots of consumers to switch to wireless headphones, according to a new report on holiday shopping. From a report: Three-quarters of all headphones sold online in December were wireless models, up from 50% a year earlier, according to shopping tracker Slice Intelligence. Apple was the biggest beneficiary of the shift, as both its new AirPods earphones and models from its Beats subsidiary led the sales charts. The $159 AirPods, Apple's first wireless model sold under its own brand, didn't go on sale until Dec. 13, but the product quickly dominated the wireless headphone market, Slice found. In the year prior to the debut, the Beats brand topped online sales of wireless models with a 24% market share, trailed by Bose with an 11% share and Jaybird at 8%. But after AirPods went on sale, they grabbed 26% of online wireless sales, Slice found. Bose was second at 16% and Beats dropped to third with 15% of the market during the period considered.
Why is this a story?
If there is no headphone jack, buying traditional headphones would be pretty dumb. Any outcome other than an increase in wireless headphone sales would have been very unusual.
No thanks. The wire on wired headphones has never been a problem, and adding one more thing to my kit that needs recharging is undesirable. As is a dongle. As are earphones that aren't plug-compatible with airline entertainment and other phone-jack systems.
My iPhone 7 came with *both* wired EarPods and an adapter for legacy headsets.
Only an Apple fan would use the term "legacy" in reference to a 3.5mm headphone jack.
I want peace on earth and goodwill toward man.
We are the United States Government! We don't do that sort of thing.
In case no one noticed Apple bought Beats audio, who controls pretty much the entire wireless headphone market. Fast forward a year or so and now Apple ONLY sells devices that can use wireless headphones in their most popular product.
Do any of you Apple fanatics NOT see that Apple screwed you by removing a port and FORCING you into the wireless headphone market they own most of? Personally t's this kind of CRAP from Apple that made me completely abandon that entire eco-system years ago.
Be it as it may, outside the sheltered walled garden of Apple the 3.5 jack is anything but outdated.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
On the iPhone the 3.5mm headphone jack has been fully superseded by lightning and wireless. As such, legacy is the appropriate term to use in a discussion about iPhones and analog headphone jacks.
The 3.5mm jack is actually a great connector.
It's round so no orientation issues and you can rotate the plug. It's robust. It's waterproof. It's universal. You can send data and analogue audio over it at the same time, supporting everything from the most basic analogue systems to high end digital and everything in between. There are millions of accessories for it. It's easy to fix. It just works. It's extremely cheap.
If it has any weakness, it's that it doesn't offer an easy way to supply power. But then again neither does wireless, and it doesn't need power for headphones and small speakers.
There is a reason the 3.5mm jack remains so popular.
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SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
Legacy means there is an adequate replacement today, that does the same thing or better for cheaper.
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