Right now any headphone maker in the world can make any headphones they want for the standard jack. Not so with the Lightning port.
That's supposed to be an argument for this change? I don't care if it's a good move for Apple, it's a bad move for me. My iPhone spends ~10 hours every day with something plugged into the 3.5mm jack between my car's auxiliary cable and my nice headphones at work. A new iPhone is already over $600, now I'm expected to get bluetooth installed in my car and toss my $200 headphones, or constantly carry an adapter cable, or buy 3 adapter cables to keep at home, work, and in my car? That's insane.
Well, it may be insane; but 3.5 mm jacks on phones are already going the way of the Dodo.
But nobody cares if Motorola or LeEco or whoever ELSE does it; but if Apple DARES to even have a RUMOR of ditching the 3.5mm jack (in favor of what? Nobody knows; but everyone speculates), they are the frickin' Antichrist...
Of course, now that I've posted this, the Fandroids will just start accusing Apple of copying Android (facepalm).
Yes, there are waterproof 3.5 mm jacks; but they are all necessarily much bigger (in all dimensions) than the non-waterproof kind (which are already almost too "thick" for current smartphones).
That would be a good reason if it weren't wrong.
Citation? I can provide at least one manufacturer's examples, with dimensional drawings. And no, I didn't cherry-pick. I just picked the first one I found that had dimensional drawings.
Essentially if offers me and I think most users just about everything they could want in an audio jack.
Yeah, I especially L--ve --- Int---mittent beha--r.
I have a 3.5 mm cable I use to pump the audio from my iPhone into my car stereo. Plugged it in the other day to listen to some music. Intermittent as FUCK. Twist, Turn, Insert and Remove, Wipe the Plugs, all the standard gyrations.... Nothing.
Cords suck. They snag, they fray, they tangle, they slack, they break. They take up space in your pocket, your bag, your shelf. Some are too short, some are too long.
Wireless headsets are mediocre at best, it is true. They have a whole bunch of their own problems and many on this thread feel those problems are worse than cord problems. But this is exactly the point. I'm sick of slow advances in wireless and so is Apple. Its time to kick the wireless headset market into high gear and get lots of models from lots of competitors getting iterated multiple times a year and getting cheaper all the time.
How do we do that? Simple. Eliminate the 3.5mm jack.
That, and although not one other person has mentioned it, there is a new Bluetooth standard (Bluetooth 5) that has JUST been announced. It's main features are 4 times the range and twice the bandwidth, for the same power as Bluetooth 4 LE.
So, perhaps the days of the crappy, high-latency, low-bandwidth, highly-compressed Bluetooth headphones are coming to an end, and Apple is about to imminentize that particular New Era.
Boy, for a "Geek" site, some Slashdot readers sure are Luddites!
Except the summary and the comments are a load of bollocks.The floppy drive was being replaced by many people, with efforts on multiple fronts.
Bullshit. Apple was roundly villified for DARING to release a computer without Floppy drives in 1998.
Let's ignore the people who developed and pushed for USB were Microsoft, Intel, IBM, Compaq, and DEC,... there's a name missing from the list.... oh no there isn't Apple didn't have any hand in developing the USB successor. But hey the iMac had the first USB port so it must all be Apple's good work.
Apple didn't have the first USB port; nobody EVER said that (Intel was the main "driver" of USB at first); but they did have the first WORKING USB Port with actual OS-Level support.
Check the history on how long it was before WIndows and Linux had decent USB support. Hint: It was AFTER Apple.
There were PLENTY of Wintel motherboards with USELESS USB connectors connectors on them for a couple of YEARS before the iMac came out. But there wasn't 1 person in a million that had anything that used them, and in fact, they really couldn't; because there was NO DRIVER SUPPORT.
So, although Apple didn't invent USB, NO ONE can deny that they elevated it from a unused curiosity into a game-changing peripheral interconnection standard.
Just as many people are putting black tape over their webcams, I also plug in a dummy plug (cut off a broken pair of earbuds, mic line shorted to ground) on my phone and laptop when discussing things I wouldn't like made public. With no headphone jack, we'll be forced to leave our phones outside of earshot when having private conversations.
Maybe I should market a soundproof box to place phones in during private conversations. It would also have an AM/FM radio and recordings of various plausible background noises. Should be less suspicious than putting your phone in a lead lined box or Faraday cage.
Doesn't your phone have a Power-Off (rather than Sleep) functionality? Or are you SO frickin' over-the-top Paranoid that even THAT isn't good enough?
Apple designed neither the USB which replaced serial ports (I miss them) nor the various standards (now HDMI) which replaced VGA (I don't really miss that). Apple tried to force their own proprietary interfaces for ages, and almost none of that translated over to the non-Apple world. The reason VGA and RS-232 disappeared had nothing to do with Apple.
You MISS Serial Ports?!? I guess it's been too long since you did the Pin 2 or Pin 3 Dance, or the is it 4 and 5 or 6, 8 and 20 Headache, eh?
As an embedded Developer, THAT is the only time I need a Serial Port these days, and that's what FDDI is all about.
You Apple Fuckbois deserve every little piece of totalitarian bullshit Apple deals you.
And you Linux/Android Fuckbois deserve every bit of Malware and unpatched exploits that your Carriers won't help with, and every bit of non-support from the mainstream software publishers and lack of marketshare that you have "enjoyed" for over 20 years now.
"enabling, open, and democratizing" have never been high on Apple's list of priorities for external ports.
Since the very beginning. Even their serial port was nonstandard.
Ah well, at least the guy is being honest. Corporate psychopathy no longer needs to be hidden from view. The audience is captivated.
Actually, their RS-422 Serial Port WAS standard (other than the connector, BFD). It was also signal compatible with RS-232 (for RTS/CTS Applications). All you had to do is only use one "phase" of the Output and Input signals, rather than using it as RS-422's far-superior Differential signals.
It also had the distinct advantage to allow low-cost, essentially zero-hardware, ZeroConf Networking (AppleTalk), which was used in MANY schools and even businesses before 10BaseT Ethernet became a thing.
There are many interesting things about the Moto Z devices presented yesterday, ultra-thin handsets that bring modularity to Motorola’s lineup of mobile products. One of them is the lack of a 3.5mm headphone jack, which absolutely nobody noticed during the event.
So what Apple is essentially saying is "hey, even though nobody asked us to delete the headphone jack, we're gonna do it anyway. So we can make the phone thinner, which is also something nobody is asking for. Meanwhile, everyone IS asking for greater battery life in our mobile devices, but we don't give a shit because we're Apple. We tell CUSTOMERS what they want and they LIKE it that way!"
Does this not strike anyone else as ridiculously arrogant? Would we tolerate this kind of behavior out of ANY other OEM on the planet besides Apple?
But you DO tolerate it.
Do you think you have any "input" on how Samsung, LG, HTE, etc. design their devices? If so, you're insane.
This Apple being weird and special again. The reason for ditching floppies was actually quite simple, it outlived its usefulness. It was replaced by CDs, DVDs and at a later time USB-sticks. There is no actual need for floppy disks and therefore FDDs are obsolete.
But, at the time, the "public" excoriated Apple every bit as much as this time, for DARING to release a computer without Floppies and without a Serial Port.
While I disagree with the (apparent) decision to remove the jack, I also don't think the jack is perfect. I can't tell you how many times I have had to fiddle with the jack to "fix" the audio. Haven't you ever had to twist, wiggle, unplug/plug, etc. the jack to get it to work? I've had this happen on tons of different devices. Sometime no audio will come out, sometimes only one channel, sometimes the audio will cut in and out. I can try different headphones, but the headphones and cord aren't the problem, sometimes the jack just gets jacked up. But, I still think the jack shouldn't go away.
Um, you DO realize that is pretty damned illogical thinking, right?
You left out removable hard discs like the SyQuest EZ135 and SyJet models. They had excellent capacity, speed was okay. If I remember correctly, they were awfully expensive for new cartridges, so my practice to just by a few for transfer/archiving and keep them clean, whereas with floppies it was typical to just buy a box of 100+ at a time without blinking.
But the removable HD cartridges like the SyQuest and iOmega Jaz drives, were reportedly INSANELY fragile, to the point that if you dropped one on your desk, it was instantly toast.
Aren't you the guy who told everybody two threads up that this is idle, click-baity speculation? If so, why are you suddenly all about defending the branded adapters?
A couple stories ago, I read one of your posts saying that you don't only post on Apple stories, but somehow it's only the Apple ones where I notice.
I admit I first got sucked-into the speculation; but later thought that this was really all just FUD.
Also, not "defending" branded adaptors; just speculating on them.
Like most Slashdotters, I DO post most frequently on the topics that interest me personally; but I also occasionally post (or moderate) on other articles as well.
They've managed to find a way to force you into buying all new audio equipment, or at the very least, an expensive dongle.
It's genius, it really is. You thought it was bad when Apple made hardware companies pay for the right to put that ipod port on there, to provide a better "experience" well... kiss your non apple branded EVERYTHING goodbye.
God I hate these guys sometimes. We don't need to replace every piece of technology we own every 2 years you assholes
Here's the problem with ALL of this FUD Clickbait:
NO ONE outside of 1 Infinite Loop that ISN'T under heavy NDA really knows what, if anything, Apple is doing with the 3.5 mm jack. We will all know in September, when the new iPhones traditionally come out.
But that doesn't generate "Clicks" for Slashdot; so, here we are...
Apple solution is expensive and complex and proprietary. Shock.
Actually, NO ONE that isn't under heavy NDA knows even if ANY of this FUD is even CLOSE to being true; so it all falls under the heading of "HFM" (Hardly Fucking Matters) until the new iPhones are launched, likely in September.
The Sony Z4 Tablet, which is waterproof (IP 65/68), has a waterproof jack and micro-USB connector, and is 6,1mm thin. Is that still too much for you?
So which is it; IP65 or IP68? They are VERY different standards when it comes to "water resistance".
6.1 mm, let's see: That's.240 inches (roughly a quarter-inch). The iPhone 6s Plus is 7.3mm TOTAL; so yes, it is a full 1.2mm thinner than the current iPhone.
HOWEVER, I challenge that "IP65/68" rating. I was looking-up the dimensions, and just randomly picked a site in my search. But as I went down through the specs, looking for the "IP" rating, I came across a comment by "Phillip" that read:
Don't try to submerse into water even for 5 minutes. It is not water proof or even resistance. if you look at the warranty card. There is a disclaimer. The water proof is not even better than Z3 tablet. I tried it.
So, I seriously doubt that IP68 rating, and maybe it doesn't even make the IP65 cut.
Plus, it looks like Sony has (no surprise) been piling on the Asterisks around their "Waterproof" claims (and some would say, outright lying) for its mobile devices in general, and apparently has been forced to pull ads and backpedal regarding those claims.
BTW, someone who is a diver once told me that a "3-meter" rating on a watch does NOT mean you can take something diving to 12 feet. Because everytime you wave your arm around, you temporarily increase the pressure to several times what you would experience in a "static" depth test (hence the "carefully lowered into a container of water condition in Sony's test). So, a "3-Meter" rating basically means you can have it splashed with water.
But notice that Sony also stipulated "non-operating". I would bet that means "with no battery". Of course, that changes a LOT. Plus I would bet that Sony uses DISTILLED water (which is non-ionic) for their testing.
The Apple Ax CPUs are just ARM implementations, made because they can, not because another SoC wouldn't do.
They are NOT "just ARM implementations".
Apple is one of just a handful of ARM licensees on the planet that has an "Architecture"-class License. That means that they can (and do) actually "roll-their-own" ARM CPU cores. IOW, it is MUCH more than the typical "silicon compiler" cutpasta "Engineering" that most ARM Licensees can do.
And considering that their CPUs are regularly at the top of the food-chain, performance-wise, no, not just any ol' ARM SoC will do. Why else would someone like Apple expend the tens-of-millions of dollars to design and qualify a new SoC, rather than just reaching onto the shelf and purchasing an existing one?
absolutely NO ONE outside of 1 Infinite Loop REALLY knows
Assuming Apple is sticking with it's regular September release cycle, there will be workers in a Chinese factory making the phones right now who will have a strong suspicion. Also people in the supply chain who may or may not have received their annual order of 3.5mm components.
Of course Apple might test the waters by having only one new model without the 3.5mm jack. Regardless, when it comes to the iphone7, the decision would have been made months if not years ago,
I do agree that the decision to drop the 3.5mm jack on the iPhone 7 would have been made months ago (likely not years, though); but they also have a lot of experience making suppliers and Contract Manufacturers quiet about such changes. And if nothing else, Tim Cook is by all accounts a logistics and supply-chain wizard; so I would imagine his regime has continued the sealed-lips policy for their "partners".
I'd actually sooner believe that Apple had purposely "leaked" the story, to test public reaction for the NEXT-NEXT iPhone iteration (7s, or 8?), BEFORE they had to do a design-freeze for those designs.
Well of course you'd say that. I think that's pretty unlikely.
It is much more likely that there are execs at Apple who are observing iPhones being used with all sorts of weird and wonderful sets of headphones/earbuds that Apple is not getting their fucking cut on.
Now, you won't be able to just use any old headphones. You use your fucking $75 Apple headphones.
But hey that's alright because they're bound to be LOADS better.
Aside from all this IDLE SPECULATION (which generates clicks), absolutely NO ONE outside of 1 Infinite Loop REALLY knows what Apple is, or is NOT, planning to do with the 3.5 mm Jack.
This is apple we are talking about, they are use to buying additional dongles.. After all most already own the 19.95 USB to lightning dongle, what is another dongle hanging off their phones?
By the way, ALL of this is FUD. No one outside of 1 Infinite Loop REALLY knows what, if anything, Apple is planning to do with the 3.5 mm jack.
Slashdot Mirror
Right now any headphone maker in the world can make any headphones they want for the standard jack. Not so with the Lightning port.
That's supposed to be an argument for this change? I don't care if it's a good move for Apple, it's a bad move for me. My iPhone spends ~10 hours every day with something plugged into the 3.5mm jack between my car's auxiliary cable and my nice headphones at work. A new iPhone is already over $600, now I'm expected to get bluetooth installed in my car and toss my $200 headphones, or constantly carry an adapter cable, or buy 3 adapter cables to keep at home, work, and in my car? That's insane.
Well, it may be insane; but 3.5 mm jacks on phones are already going the way of the Dodo.
But nobody cares if Motorola or LeEco or whoever ELSE does it; but if Apple DARES to even have a RUMOR of ditching the 3.5mm jack (in favor of what? Nobody knows; but everyone speculates), they are the frickin' Antichrist...
Of course, now that I've posted this, the Fandroids will just start accusing Apple of copying Android (facepalm).
Yes, there are waterproof 3.5 mm jacks; but they are all necessarily much bigger (in all dimensions) than the non-waterproof kind (which are already almost too "thick" for current smartphones).
That would be a good reason if it weren't wrong.
Citation? I can provide at least one manufacturer's examples, with dimensional drawings. And no, I didn't cherry-pick. I just picked the first one I found that had dimensional drawings.
Let's see you do the same.
Essentially if offers me and I think most users just about everything they could want in an audio jack.
Yeah, I especially L--ve --- Int---mittent beha--r.
I have a 3.5 mm cable I use to pump the audio from my iPhone into my car stereo. Plugged it in the other day to listen to some music. Intermittent as FUCK. Twist, Turn, Insert and Remove, Wipe the Plugs, all the standard gyrations.... Nothing.
Finally gave up and listened to a CD.
Yeah, 3.5 mm phone plugs are TEH BESTEST!!!
Cords suck. They snag, they fray, they tangle, they slack, they break. They take up space in your pocket, your bag, your shelf. Some are too short, some are too long. Wireless headsets are mediocre at best, it is true. They have a whole bunch of their own problems and many on this thread feel those problems are worse than cord problems. But this is exactly the point. I'm sick of slow advances in wireless and so is Apple. Its time to kick the wireless headset market into high gear and get lots of models from lots of competitors getting iterated multiple times a year and getting cheaper all the time. How do we do that? Simple. Eliminate the 3.5mm jack.
That, and although not one other person has mentioned it, there is a new Bluetooth standard (Bluetooth 5) that has JUST been announced. It's main features are 4 times the range and twice the bandwidth, for the same power as Bluetooth 4 LE.
So, perhaps the days of the crappy, high-latency, low-bandwidth, highly-compressed Bluetooth headphones are coming to an end, and Apple is about to imminentize that particular New Era.
Boy, for a "Geek" site, some Slashdot readers sure are Luddites!
Except the summary and the comments are a load of bollocks.The floppy drive was being replaced by many people, with efforts on multiple fronts.
Bullshit. Apple was roundly villified for DARING to release a computer without Floppy drives in 1998.
Let's ignore the people who developed and pushed for USB were Microsoft, Intel, IBM, Compaq, and DEC, ... there's a name missing from the list .... oh no there isn't Apple didn't have any hand in developing the USB successor. But hey the iMac had the first USB port so it must all be Apple's good work.
Apple didn't have the first USB port; nobody EVER said that (Intel was the main "driver" of USB at first); but they did have the first WORKING USB Port with actual OS-Level support.
Check the history on how long it was before WIndows and Linux had decent USB support. Hint: It was AFTER Apple.
There were PLENTY of Wintel motherboards with USELESS USB connectors connectors on them for a couple of YEARS before the iMac came out. But there wasn't 1 person in a million that had anything that used them, and in fact, they really couldn't; because there was NO DRIVER SUPPORT.
So, although Apple didn't invent USB, NO ONE can deny that they elevated it from a unused curiosity into a game-changing peripheral interconnection standard.
What's stopping a third party from making a Lightening to audio jack cable? Thus (again) allowing any headphone to work with the device.
Nothing. But you wouldn't guess that by reading the whiners' comments.
Just as many people are putting black tape over their webcams, I also plug in a dummy plug (cut off a broken pair of earbuds, mic line shorted to ground) on my phone and laptop when discussing things I wouldn't like made public. With no headphone jack, we'll be forced to leave our phones outside of earshot when having private conversations.
Maybe I should market a soundproof box to place phones in during private conversations. It would also have an AM/FM radio and recordings of various plausible background noises. Should be less suspicious than putting your phone in a lead lined box or Faraday cage.
Doesn't your phone have a Power-Off (rather than Sleep) functionality? Or are you SO frickin' over-the-top Paranoid that even THAT isn't good enough?
Apple designed neither the USB which replaced serial ports (I miss them) nor the various standards (now HDMI) which replaced VGA (I don't really miss that). Apple tried to force their own proprietary interfaces for ages, and almost none of that translated over to the non-Apple world. The reason VGA and RS-232 disappeared had nothing to do with Apple.
You MISS Serial Ports?!? I guess it's been too long since you did the Pin 2 or Pin 3 Dance, or the is it 4 and 5 or 6, 8 and 20 Headache, eh?
As an embedded Developer, THAT is the only time I need a Serial Port these days, and that's what FDDI is all about.
The rest of your rant is just that. A rant.
You Apple Fuckbois deserve every little piece of totalitarian bullshit Apple deals you.
And you Linux/Android Fuckbois deserve every bit of Malware and unpatched exploits that your Carriers won't help with, and every bit of non-support from the mainstream software publishers and lack of marketshare that you have "enjoyed" for over 20 years now.
So now what?
"enabling, open, and democratizing" have never been high on Apple's list of priorities for external ports.
Since the very beginning. Even their serial port was nonstandard.
Ah well, at least the guy is being honest. Corporate psychopathy no longer needs to be hidden from view. The audience is captivated.
Actually, their RS-422 Serial Port WAS standard (other than the connector, BFD). It was also signal compatible with RS-232 (for RTS/CTS Applications). All you had to do is only use one "phase" of the Output and Input signals, rather than using it as RS-422's far-superior Differential signals.
It also had the distinct advantage to allow low-cost, essentially zero-hardware, ZeroConf Networking (AppleTalk), which was used in MANY schools and even businesses before 10BaseT Ethernet became a thing.
All I have been hearing is Apple, Apple, Apple. Yet from Motorola killed the headphone jack and nobody noticed 10 days ago
There are many interesting things about the Moto Z devices presented yesterday, ultra-thin handsets that bring modularity to Motorola’s lineup of mobile products. One of them is the lack of a 3.5mm headphone jack, which absolutely nobody noticed during the event.
Good point!
So what Apple is essentially saying is "hey, even though nobody asked us to delete the headphone jack, we're gonna do it anyway. So we can make the phone thinner, which is also something nobody is asking for. Meanwhile, everyone IS asking for greater battery life in our mobile devices, but we don't give a shit because we're Apple. We tell CUSTOMERS what they want and they LIKE it that way!"
Does this not strike anyone else as ridiculously arrogant? Would we tolerate this kind of behavior out of ANY other OEM on the planet besides Apple?
But you DO tolerate it.
Do you think you have any "input" on how Samsung, LG, HTE, etc. design their devices? If so, you're insane.
If this is a change that we really need, Apple is perhaps the best company to set the tone for it.
No. Other companies need to be involved.
Yeah, so it can be 2025 before this problem is solved, and then there WILL be licensing...
This Apple being weird and special again. The reason for ditching floppies was actually quite simple, it outlived its usefulness. It was replaced by CDs, DVDs and at a later time USB-sticks. There is no actual need for floppy disks and therefore FDDs are obsolete.
But, at the time, the "public" excoriated Apple every bit as much as this time, for DARING to release a computer without Floppies and without a Serial Port.
While I disagree with the (apparent) decision to remove the jack, I also don't think the jack is perfect. I can't tell you how many times I have had to fiddle with the jack to "fix" the audio. Haven't you ever had to twist, wiggle, unplug/plug, etc. the jack to get it to work? I've had this happen on tons of different devices. Sometime no audio will come out, sometimes only one channel, sometimes the audio will cut in and out. I can try different headphones, but the headphones and cord aren't the problem, sometimes the jack just gets jacked up. But, I still think the jack shouldn't go away.
Um, you DO realize that is pretty damned illogical thinking, right?
You left out removable hard discs like the SyQuest EZ135 and SyJet models. They had excellent capacity, speed was okay. If I remember correctly, they were awfully expensive for new cartridges, so my practice to just by a few for transfer/archiving and keep them clean, whereas with floppies it was typical to just buy a box of 100+ at a time without blinking.
But the removable HD cartridges like the SyQuest and iOmega Jaz drives, were reportedly INSANELY fragile, to the point that if you dropped one on your desk, it was instantly toast.
Aren't you the guy who told everybody two threads up that this is idle, click-baity speculation? If so, why are you suddenly all about defending the branded adapters?
A couple stories ago, I read one of your posts saying that you don't only post on Apple stories, but somehow it's only the Apple ones where I notice.
I admit I first got sucked-into the speculation; but later thought that this was really all just FUD.
Also, not "defending" branded adaptors; just speculating on them.
Like most Slashdotters, I DO post most frequently on the topics that interest me personally; but I also occasionally post (or moderate) on other articles as well.
They've managed to find a way to force you into buying all new audio equipment, or at the very least, an expensive dongle. It's genius, it really is. You thought it was bad when Apple made hardware companies pay for the right to put that ipod port on there, to provide a better "experience" well... kiss your non apple branded EVERYTHING goodbye. God I hate these guys sometimes. We don't need to replace every piece of technology we own every 2 years you assholes
Here's the problem with ALL of this FUD Clickbait:
NO ONE outside of 1 Infinite Loop that ISN'T under heavy NDA really knows what, if anything, Apple is doing with the 3.5 mm jack. We will all know in September, when the new iPhones traditionally come out.
But that doesn't generate "Clicks" for Slashdot; so, here we are...
No, any adaptor is regrettable.
An expensive complex one is worst.
Apple solution is expensive and complex and proprietary. Shock.
Actually, NO ONE that isn't under heavy NDA knows even if ANY of this FUD is even CLOSE to being true; so it all falls under the heading of "HFM" (Hardly Fucking Matters) until the new iPhones are launched, likely in September.
The Sony Z4 Tablet, which is waterproof (IP 65/68), has a waterproof jack and micro-USB connector, and is 6,1mm thin. Is that still too much for you?
So which is it; IP65 or IP68? They are VERY different standards when it comes to "water resistance".
.240 inches (roughly a quarter-inch). The iPhone 6s Plus is 7.3mm TOTAL; so yes, it is a full 1.2mm thinner than the current iPhone.
6.1 mm, let's see: That's
HOWEVER, I challenge that "IP65/68" rating. I was looking-up the dimensions, and just randomly picked a site in my search. But as I went down through the specs, looking for the "IP" rating, I came across a comment by "Phillip" that read:
Don't try to submerse into water even for 5 minutes. It is not water proof or even resistance. if you look at the warranty card. There is a disclaimer. The water proof is not even better than Z3 tablet. I tried it.
So, I seriously doubt that IP68 rating, and maybe it doesn't even make the IP65 cut.
Plus, it looks like Sony has (no surprise) been piling on the Asterisks around their "Waterproof" claims (and some would say, outright lying) for its mobile devices in general, and apparently has been forced to pull ads and backpedal regarding those claims.
BTW, someone who is a diver once told me that a "3-meter" rating on a watch does NOT mean you can take something diving to 12 feet. Because everytime you wave your arm around, you temporarily increase the pressure to several times what you would experience in a "static" depth test (hence the "carefully lowered into a container of water condition in Sony's test). So, a "3-Meter" rating basically means you can have it splashed with water.
But notice that Sony also stipulated "non-operating". I would bet that means "with no battery". Of course, that changes a LOT. Plus I would bet that Sony uses DISTILLED water (which is non-ionic) for their testing.
Bottom line: NOT IMPRESSED.
The Apple Ax CPUs are just ARM implementations, made because they can, not because another SoC wouldn't do.
They are NOT "just ARM implementations".
Apple is one of just a handful of ARM licensees on the planet that has an "Architecture"-class License. That means that they can (and do) actually "roll-their-own" ARM CPU cores. IOW, it is MUCH more than the typical "silicon compiler" cutpasta "Engineering" that most ARM Licensees can do.
And considering that their CPUs are regularly at the top of the food-chain, performance-wise, no, not just any ol' ARM SoC will do. Why else would someone like Apple expend the tens-of-millions of dollars to design and qualify a new SoC, rather than just reaching onto the shelf and purchasing an existing one?
absolutely NO ONE outside of 1 Infinite Loop REALLY knows
Assuming Apple is sticking with it's regular September release cycle, there will be workers in a Chinese factory making the phones right now who will have a strong suspicion. Also people in the supply chain who may or may not have received their annual order of 3.5mm components.
Of course Apple might test the waters by having only one new model without the 3.5mm jack. Regardless, when it comes to the iphone7, the decision would have been made months if not years ago,
I do agree that the decision to drop the 3.5mm jack on the iPhone 7 would have been made months ago (likely not years, though); but they also have a lot of experience making suppliers and Contract Manufacturers quiet about such changes. And if nothing else, Tim Cook is by all accounts a logistics and supply-chain wizard; so I would imagine his regime has continued the sealed-lips policy for their "partners".
I'd actually sooner believe that Apple had purposely "leaked" the story, to test public reaction for the NEXT-NEXT iPhone iteration (7s, or 8?), BEFORE they had to do a design-freeze for those designs.
It's about waterproofing,pure and simple.
Well of course you'd say that. I think that's pretty unlikely.
It is much more likely that there are execs at Apple who are observing iPhones being used with all sorts of weird and wonderful sets of headphones/earbuds that Apple is not getting their fucking cut on.
Now, you won't be able to just use any old headphones. You use your fucking $75 Apple headphones.
But hey that's alright because they're bound to be LOADS better.
Aside from all this IDLE SPECULATION (which generates clicks), absolutely NO ONE outside of 1 Infinite Loop REALLY knows what Apple is, or is NOT, planning to do with the 3.5 mm Jack.
NO ONE.
This is apple we are talking about, they are use to buying additional dongles.. After all most already own the 19.95 USB to lightning dongle, what is another dongle hanging off their phones?
By the way, ALL of this is FUD. No one outside of 1 Infinite Loop REALLY knows what, if anything, Apple is planning to do with the 3.5 mm jack.
Adapters for 3.5 to 2.5 are cheap and small. It's the same electronics.
Apple's solution is complex and expensive. Shock, horror.
So, one adapter Good, but another adapter Bad.
And has anyone ever seen a FOUR conductor 2.5 mm plug? Because that is needed for headsets with a microphone.