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.
Weakling!
"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.
I do, and I remember all the freakouts over the lack of SCSI and ADB ports, and on the Windows side of the aisle everyone insisting manufacturers NOT kill the PS/2 ports. Ultimately, the technology advances, and old ports aren't needed any more. You may very well find phones with headphone jacks for many years to come. But more and more, the industry will shift to wireless headphones, and those jacks will get less and less use. Kind of like those PS/2 ports that still ship on a few models of motherboards....
Its not about the jack going away for everyone, but the how apple claimed to be progressive and having much courage to remove it. Which means apple as usual is being a dick about things. What about this is hard to understand?
. If Apple is wrong about their bet that people don't really care about the headphone jack then it will cost them business.
They already know that they're right. They have the sales figures to prove it.
-jcr
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
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.
PCs held on to Dsub parallel and serial ports and PS/2 ports and floppy drives for many years after Apple kicked them to the curb. Blackberry kept making physical keyboards long after the market proved that most buyers don't care about them. Just because everyone else didn't follow Apple one year later doesn't really tell us much. It's going to take a few years for this to really play out. The other handset makers are going to be watching. If Apple sales remain strong you can bet that more of them will follow Apple's lead over time. No one should be surprised that there wasn't a stampede of removing the headphone jack in just one year.
2) Because we don't want extra things to charge, because anything with a battery has a finite usable lifetime, because a wire doesn't get interference, COST, because I think the device with the bigger power source and more advanced circuitry should be the one driving the sound.
Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
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.
"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."
Very good, and I'm glad to hear it. There is NO reason to let Apple set the standard, especially when the standard they set sucks or changes with every new model or just doesn't make any fucking sense. And don't give me that "courage" bullshit- I wasn't buying that line of crap then and I'm not buying it now.
Long live the humble headphone jack- a simple, time-tested bit of tech that still has a lot of life left in it.
Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
Then give me 2 or 3 usb-c jacks. I like to listen to music on my phone while sitting at my desk, and sometimes I plug in the phone to charge it while it is just sitting there playing music. Blue tooth and wifi headphones are a joke because now i just have more bulky items to constantly re-charge.
I think Apple dropping the 3.5 mm jack is a great opportunity for android phones to promote their inclusion of the jack as a value added feature that their phones provide, but Apple phones lack. Poor iPhone users don't even get a headphone jack with their phones.
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.
Just a wild ass guess, but I'll bet ALL ports and sockets will be gone soon.
It's far easier to make a phone waterproof, if you don't have any ports and sockets to seal up.
I suspect the rumors we've been hearing about Lighting being replaced by USB-C aren't accurate. I do think that we will see lightning converted to a mag-safe style flush mount connector.
So my prediction for the next iPhone is no buttons, switches or socket style connectors.
Given two hypothetical smartphones - all features identical, except:
The first phone has no headphone jack, but has a higher water proofing rating.
The second phone doesn't have as good of a water proofing rating, but has a 3mm headphone jack.
Both sell for the same price.
Which would you choose?
Because the point of a mobile device is that it can be far away from a WALL, not far away from you. If I want sound to go from my device to my ears, a wire is the most efficient way of doing so. No fuss, no muss, no batteries, and typical repairs can be performed, if necessary, using century old tech.
This is my signature. There are many like it, but this one is mine.
Exactly. I have a couple of sets of Sennheiser noise-canceling headphones, and one of those sets is a very high-end set (PXC450). If I can't plug them into a phone, I'm not buying that phone. No, I'm not going to use Bluetooth headphones because BT audio sounds like shit. Of course, my headphones do use batteries, but they don't actually require them as they'll pass-through audio with the battery power off, you just don't get any noise-canceling. Try that with BT headphones.
So the iPhone fits seamlessly into the ecosystem.
Right until you buy and iPhone and buy a Macbook, get them home and realise you can't plug the one into the other without an adapter.
Why the fuck do you people need the phone to be waterproof? What do you do, deep sea diving with it? While we're talking about "most people" (which is the only thing phone manufacturers care about), how about this: most people don't have any use for a waterproof phone.
== Jez ==
Do you miss Firefox? Try Pale Moon.