Apple Discontinues iPhone X, No Longer Sells iPhones With Headphone Jacks (theverge.com)

Apple just killed the iPhone's headphone jack for good. Not only is the company no longer selling iPhones with headphone jacks, as they've removed the iPhone SE and 6s from their website, but they're no longer including a Lightning to 3.5mm headphone jack adapter with the purchase of a new 2018 iPhone. The Verge also reports that the company is discontinuing the iPhone X with the introduction of its three new iPhones today. From the report: With the iPhone XS starting at a price of $999, and the addition of the cheaper $749 iPhone XR announced today, the iPhone X has become redundant. [...] There's no longer a good reason to shell out for the more expensive iPhone X, except maybe the exclusivity of owning a phone that was ushered in with the 10th anniversary of the original iPhone. It was the first to introduce the now-ubiquitous notch that's influenced the entire mobile industry with a wave of copycat designs, and the first iPhone with Face ID. It introduced intuitive gesture controls and with the phone came wireless charging, plus AirPods.

Comments

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[msauve]

"It was the first to introduce the now-ubiquitous notch that's influenced the entire mobile industry"

No, the first phone with a notch was the Sharp Aquos S2, followed by the Essential phone. Both before Apple.

Not that introducing that butt-ugly "feature" is worth any sort of bragging rights.

Not about headphone jacks

[Excelcia]

Apple's removal of the 1/8" headphone jack isn't about headphone jacks, nor is it about updating to new technology. It's about control and is just one small front in the war to erode the user controlling their own data. Headphone jacks are completely audio, analog, and offer no form of DRM. They are something Apple can't control once the signal is on the jack. You can do anything with it. Re-digitize it (this isn't the 80's where duping a cassette tape lead to rapid quality degradation), or pipe it to any device. The sound was yours once it got to that jack. Apple really doesn't like that, and they are basically tossing an invite to the entire industry to follow along and start down a more restrictive path. Follow us and you can get in on the action too. Erode what you can do with your audio one tiny tenth of a step at a time.

If anyone thinks that it's about device jack real estate, upgrading with the times, or innovation, they are hopelessly naive.

Re:Not about headphone jacks

[Powercntrl]

Apple's removal of the 1/8" headphone jack

...is because they bought a headphone company (Beats) and want to sell wireless headphones. That's it.

The music Apple sells hasn't had DRM for years, and nobody bothers "ripping" ("dubbing" would be the proper term) anything via analog, except for vinyl records. Back in ye olden days when iTunes music did have DRM, people removed the DRM using their computer (remember those things?) - not their phone.

That being said, Apple is no saint when it comes to DRM. I've had paid apps disappear from my purchase history because Apple pulled 'em, paid apps that died in the 32-bit purge, and I've read of people who've lost movies they'd purchased (I only buy Blu-Rays, so I haven't experienced that one).