Slashdot Mirror
Sorry, Apple, the Headphone Jack Isn't Going Anywhere (yahoo.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Rob Pegoraro via Yahoo Finance: Two things unite almost every phone on display here at Mobile World Congress 2017: Android and a headphone jack. Apple doesn't exhibit its wares at this trade show, so the domination of Google's operating system is predictable. But the headphone jack's persistence did not look so inevitable when Apple cut it from the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus last September. Lenovo's Motorola subsidiary had already shipped a phone without a headphone hack, the Moto Z, and Apple's influence over the rest of the smartphone industry remains formidable -- indeed, within months, the Chinese firm LeEco had debuted a lineup of Android phones devoid of headphone jacks. As my colleague David Pogue predicted in a post approving Apple's move: "Other brands worldwide will be following suit." The hardware on display here at the world's largest mobile tech conference, though, suggests otherwise. Two days of walking around the show floor showed companies expressing a consistent unwillingness to abandon the humble headphone jack, even on models as thin as, or thinner than, the iPhone 7. The MWC floor revealed only one company willing to do away with the headphone jack: HTC. The Taiwan-based firm, which has struggled financially for years despite shipping such well-reviewed models as the HTC 10, used its exhibit to showcase the U Ultra and the U Play, which rely on their USB-C ports for audio output. Unlike, Apple, though, the company didn't make the move to save space, but rather to incorporate its "USonic" feature, which lets the phones' headphones calibrate themselves to your ears and provide noise cancellation.
And you will be disappointed.
"Unlike, Apple, though, the company didn't make the move to save space, but rather to incorporate its "USonic" feature, which lets the [USB] phones' headphones calibrate themselves to your ears and provide noise cancellation."
Oh, bullshit. There's no reason the headphone jack has to be removed to support that. They're not mutually exclusive.
"National Security is the chief cause of national insecurity." - Celine's First Law
Does anyone honestly think that Apple cares whether other companies drop the headphone jack on their phones?
They want to "close" this analog hole just as much as the last one. No, "smaller phone OMG!?!?!?!" is not a good reason anymore. These days the damn things are so small, that if you want it to survive daily use, you need a clamshell that's typically 2x bigger than the phone itself to put the phone in. I'd argue that most phones are too small already. Waterproofing it, can also be done if the money is shelled out for it, and wasn't one of the selling points of buying an iPhone the whole: "I'm so rich, I can afford to wear this bling! Be jealous." thing? They could up the damn price for that, and then some by saying the extra costs are for protecting the consumer's investment.
This has nothing to do with "better phone" it's all about control.
Except bluetooth has so many drawbacks it isn't really a replacement for a headphone port. In fact in every account I have seen, the bluetooth version of a headphone is inferior to the wired version, especially if you take cost into account.
Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
I don't even know who Apple is designing phones for anymore. Who are these people demanding a thinner phone at all costs? They're already so thin bending them is a legitimate risk. I don't need thin, I need rugged without a case, a headphone port, and a replaceable battery.
You really think that the headphone jack is the culprit in Apple's market loss? It's been 3 times they changed the freakin docking connector on their phone and other iShit. Those who did not understand when they went from 30pin to lightning connector will maybe understand this time, when they once again have to change all the audio / charging docks on which they paid the Apple premium (especially now that Apple has a trick to exclude non-Apple-royalty-paying builders).
You think Apple is switching to USB-C to open to the rest of the World? Think again. They will certainly lock you once again in their fenced garden of Apple-approved stuff.
No, but the death of the Replaceable Battery seems to be in evidence!
I'm not talking about easy replacement like the Galaxy S5 has (although that's nice). I'd settle for being able to open the back and remove the battery on my workbench without a heatgun and surgical tools.
Why do these phones have to be disposable?
To Copy from One is Plagiarism; To Copy from Many is Research.
This is the exact argument that I'm sure someone at Apple made -- and the exact argument that shows that some people just don't get it.
Headphones are not SCSI hard drives. Headphones are not PS/2 mice. One of my favorite pairs of headphones was purchased around the same year I once bought a SCSI card (1996), and I still use them today.
They're an item which is very personal. You don't wear a hard drive. You WEAR headphones. On walks to class or work, riding the subway, on transcontinental flights, lying in bed late at night. They may be pressed up against or even inside your ears for hours each day. When someone who uses headphones a lot finds a pair that they love, it's a bond that is not easily broken. And certainly not for something new that will either 1. easily get lost, 2. require recharging at some inconvenient time or 3. die a slow death as their rechargeable batteries wear out.
Apple was the brand for many musicians and music producers. Taking away the audio jack was another big "fuck you" to that following who were long some of Apple's most ardent supporters.
www.gaiageek.com
Or it could be that: 1) Many Apple customers don't care about a headphone jack
That would be me. I have an iphone because I also have a Mac because I need to use software that does not exist on any other platform. So the iPhone fits seamlessly into the ecosystem.
The headphone situation, such as it is, is that I can plug the supplied headphones directly into the phone, and if I wish to use the legendary 10 dollar headphones we hear about here in Slashdot, I just plug in the adapter. But since I rather enjoy the wireless aspect of wireless, I use Bluetooth.
Maybe the bulk of the people that care enough about a headphone jack that it sways their purchasing decision wouldn't buy an Apple product anyway.
Exactly. It's the old Ford vs Chevy argument, where eventually the antagonists get to arguing about colors and the shape of the accelerator pedal. If you hate Apple, its a dealbreaker so critical, so unconscionable so important that it will keep you from buying a phone you wouldn't ever buy anyway.
If you like Apple, you plug in the earbuds, or the adapter and your 10 dollar headphones or BT and get on with life with no negative effect.
I think it's immature to think that a single minor feature (I suggest that with Apple's continued sales, it is a minor feature) drives the majority of customer purchasing decisions.
I like my iPhone 7. Works a trick. 0 problems so far. I've also spent exactly 0 seconds regretting the lack of a headphone jack.
The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.