Not much need be said about Apple’s elimination of the headphone jack. Yes, wired headphones remain a superior solution for some applications. But because Apple is shipping a Lightning-to-audio adapter in the box with the iPhone, this is a non-issue. After all, you’ve already kept track of 1/4″ to 1/8″ minijack adapters for all your studio headphones for years. (Okay, to be fair, by “keep track of” in my case I generally mean “lose,” but, uh… wait, what were we talking about again?)
There are certainly reasons for Apple to do this. The innards of an iPhone are crammed enough that something as seemingly innocuous as a minijack port take up a lot of space. They also have implications for Apple’s work on reliability and resistance to water and dust; it’s a point of failure. So you can see why they’ve done this (even if in my experience I’ve had more Lightning port issues and no headphone jack issues).
The more relevant issue is whether this impacts the way the device is used for audio – which for some of us is a big reason to buy the iPhone. I did a quick survey of the Lightning audio accessories I use around the CDM office, and all tend to include their own headphone jack for monitoring. That means that blocking the Lightning port with the headphone adapter isn’t an issue, because you won’t.
At the risk of stating the obvious:
Things that aren’t a problem:
Using your iPhone as a MIDI device (since the audio source is external)
Using with audio accessories that contain their own audio jack/headphone monitoring (mics, etc.)
Things that are a problem:
Using an external MIDI trigger with an internal synth. And this is actually a significant one – because the iPhone makes a convenient, tiny sound module. But I think ideally what we’ll see is some third-party solution that provides pass-through power and audio out.
Indeed, the bigger problem with mobile gadgets is still the fact that very few accessories work with external audio. Once the Lightning port is blocked, you can’t simultaneously charge the device. Now, that does mean that you can’t listen to music, for example, while charging the iPhone, which I have done occasionally and might find annoying.
But that shouldn’t be cause to overstate the significance of the issue. In fact, there are more significant issues regarding Apple and the Lightning port about which even journalists like myself can’t really get information. Apple-certified accessories are subject to an arcane process of review by the company. Unlike something like USB-C, that process is also completely non-transparent. While they can’t go on the record, I have heard from accessory makers that they sometimes haven’t been able to do things they know we as serious audio producers might like, because Apple wanted something else. These conversations are protected by legal non-disclosure agreements, though, meaning we can’t even talk about them.
But I still say — move on, nothing to see here. If you think Apple’s headphones are poor for listening and overpriced (and you’re right, I think), you don’t have to buy them. There are some surprisingly good wireless headphones for times when you want to move around, or you can plug in better headphones as before to listen to that new track on the train.
Eliminating headphone jacks is something phones may generally start to do because of radical miniaturization and waterproofing. It doesn’t say much, really, about headphones in general – consumer and studio headphones are already very different categories.
No, what really matters, actually, on any operating system – Windows, Android, iOS, Mac – is generally what you can’t see, in the form of subtle changes to the parts of the OS that keep audio glitch-free. Or not.
Meanwhile, the best parodies of removing the headphone jack.
Because, sorry Apple, you know you did ask for this.
http://appleplugs.com [Product of love right there!]
im done with the future, i dont want it anymore, pol pot was right
Waterproofing is a weird argument. No one will listen over headphones underwater. You simply want any input or output to be waterproofed and not be able to be used underwater.
It is not waterproofed for swimming or diving with it. But it is waterproof enough, so that it won’t break if you happen to be clumsy on your way from the hotel bar to the deck chair at the pool. Or if you want to record your next big hit under the morning shower.
Also, waterproofing a smartphone is a good idea for those who’d like to take it with them on their snorkelling trip. No music involved there – only taking lots of underwater photos or movies.
those lightning connector strips are unprotected. sure they can handle some water but not protecting these… I think this is like crazy design imo.
Maybe it’s more for lint-proofing. So you don’t need to pick a piece of felt out of the headphone jack, (or replace an entire phone when a cheap tip snaps off.)
Watch the keynote and read the specs, before posting uninformed. They made a pretty big deal out of this exactly.
Distance swimmers (including ironman triathletes) do this regularly. There are some specialized devices that use bone conduction instead of the ears, but in-ear phones (waterproof) are more common.
Aha, thanks. I was wrong. Although this iPhone can not be used underwater.
found out that it is normed as IP67 :
– dust-proof
– protected for immerse (means: not 100% waterproof, you can’t swim with it for example 😀 )
“There are certainly reasons for Apple to do this.”
Yeah, like wanting to keep all connections to the outside world in proprietary digital formats that they and their business partners control, rather than in the wild and uncontrollable analog domain. Not a word about that in your profound thinkpiece.
If the Lightning port is too much a “proprietary digital format” for you, I’ve got good news for you: You don’t have to buy an iPhone.
The Lightning port is not a “proprietary digital format”; rather, the switch from an existing, well established analog standard port to a non-established (like, not USB-C) one with secretive specifics regarding standardization, coming from a company that is all too well known for exerting extremely tight control over its entire product line, has to be intrepreted with at least some skepticism regarding their future plans towards more proprietary control and lock-in.
Instead, what we get in this article and some of the comments is heads buried in the sand: “Nothing to see here, move along”. Proprietary lock-in rarely lands from the sky in one piece and politely asks people to change their lives to suit it in one go; it gets built piece by piece and asks for mindshare in small pieces, with as little intrusion as possible. In situations like this, rather than turn a critical eye to the controlling party that deserves skepticism and do some thorough journalism, CDM articles increasingly tend to rush on day one to attack the criticism itself.
That the existing criticism is in large part immature does not mean you have to turn a blind eye to the entire matter. You can point to what part of the skepticism is off the mark and continue to keep your own mature critical perspective on the broader issue. And that I don’t have to buy an iPhone (which I never have, but still, thanks for reminding me of my rights!) doesn’t mean I will not be affected when another line is crossed in the war against general purpose standards and devices, and DRM is rendered subtly acceptable in another part of consumption and production.
So, you’re unaware that the trend towards dropping the jack port started on Android smartphones BEFORE Apple did it with the iPhone 7 ? Apple been using the Lightning port for years now, of course they’re going to go with the digital port they’ve been using already on their iOs devices once they ditch the Jack port..
So yeah, this is really a case of “Nothing to see here, move along”. Or maybe Android manufacturers were all in with Apple into this conspiration..
You don’t need conspiracy theories to explain that which can be sufficiently explained by the motivation for more power and control. In that regard, I’m sure Android manufacturers have interest that are aligned with Apple and they will thus be acting along similar lines. But one place where they do differ is that “Android manufacturers” did not turn the recording industry upside down by establishing the world’s most extensive music distribution platform a decade ago and don’t hold the power that comes with that. Apple happens to, so their decisions regarding the consumption side of that platform will have instant industry-wide effects.
Android manufacturers? You mean hardware manufacturers that use an Android licensed software version on their products. Oh, and by the way, which mobile operating system platform was the one embraced most by developers and users in the first place – not least, because it did not come with all sorts of technical issues that made it practically impossible to use for music applications? But yeah, haters gonna hate.
Henry it’s not a simple matter of haters gonna hate. The issue here (for all the reasons stated above by John Reader and Oranges&Apples) is that Apple is obviously trying to lock people into their proprietary hardware and abandon hardware standards. They are trying to establish a monopoly. Although I’m sure the likes of Samsung will try something similar if given the chance. As far as i’m concerned, for me it’s not an Android vs Apple thing, but a standards vs walled garden thing. If Apple achieves market dominance and with people forced to use wireless headphones, naturally it will force other manufacturers to follow suit. Therefore, the argument of “you have choice” will no longer apply. And this is exactly what people are afraid of.
I will not try to make this into a discussion about who’s right or wrong. Just one thing to think about: How comes so many people (apparently including you) complain so much about Apple trying to keep their customers in that walled garden, i.e. using their hardware products and services? Do you not see or do you just ignore that Google (with Android as OS platform, but mostly with all of their services so tightly integrated into Android) and Microsoft with Windows on all devices are doing exactly the same thing?
All those vendors only have one goal: get new customers and keep their existing customers. The main difference between them: Apple’s focus is on hardware sales and their services are a means to keep people buying their devices. Google’s main business is advertising, and hence they want to keep people using their services and get better at predicting what people are going to do, so they can sell more ads. And Microsoft, well, they just failed at the whole mobile business, at least compared to the other two. But they still do the same thing with their cloud services, Windows Live and everything else being an integral part of the Windows environment.
So, to me, all this “Apple is evil because they only want to lock us in” talk is a non-issue in this context.
I specifically said: “They are trying to establish a monopoly. Although I’m sure the likes of Samsung will try something similar if given the chance.”
Just like I criticise Google for profiting from privacy invasion and rampant piracy and copyright rights destruction, or Microsoft for its incompetence in mobile devices, I also reserve the right to criticise Apple for their attempt to erode hardware standards and force people to buy new devices each year.
And the fact is that most other devices from other manufacturers (mostly using Android) adhere to simple standards: standard USB cables for charging and data transfer; SD cards for extra storage; applications that allow you to (gasp!) look into your system folders and delete / copy files; an OS that despite being tightly connected to Google is based on open source and allows legal development of applications outside their store; and finally, headphone jacks that you can use in practically anything from mobile phones from 2010s smartphones to gameboys from the 1990’s to stereo systems from the 1970s.
This gives you choices. You can buy peripherals from the smartphone’s company. Or not. You can buy from their app store. Or forego tighter and convenient (and privacy-invading) integration with google and go for independently developed Android software. Own your device and customise it if you want.
Apple has decided not only to take that choice away but also to force many of their clients to buy new peripherals (no more headphones) and new phones – through artificial OS “updates” that slow down your phone and bar you from updating apps.
Now like I said, I have no doubt that Samsung and other manufacturers could attempt something along these lines, but so far, for some reason, they have chosen to pursue less aggressive planned obsolescence policies.
By the way, I’m not an iPhone user. But given Apple’s position in the market, I fear it will influence other manufacturers into following suit. So it does potentially affect me and my choices in the future.
So yeah, all of this to say that this is, most certainly, NOT a “non-issue”. I tend to take consumers’ rights very seriously.
“attempt to erode hardware standards” -> They use bog standard Bluetooth protocol for connecting to wireless headphones.
“force people to buy new devices each year” -> Nobody is forcing anyone to buy anything at all. If your phone still works: just keep it.
“SD cards for extra storage” -> That’s not Apple’s strategy. You’ve missed their point. They want you to use cloud storage and services instead of detachable parts that can break. And yes, not everybody everywhere has internet access all the time. If that’s the case for you, their product is not for you.
“look into your system folders and delete / copy files” -> Probably 1% of the 1,000,000,000 people who purchased an iPhone want to do that kind of stuff. Everyone else is just fine doing the stuff they do. This is a geek argument, not relevant for the big picture. Probably 99% of all Windows and macOS users can’t be bothered understanding the concepts of file systems anyway.
“headphone jacks that you can use in practically anything from mobile phones from 2010s smartphones to gameboys from the 1990’s to stereo systems from the 1970s” -> You can still use your old phones on the new iPhone. It comes with a free adapter.
“You can buy peripherals from the smartphone’s company. Or not.” -> There are hundreds, if not thousands of third party manufacturers building accessories of all kinds for Apple devices. There is A LOT OF choice for EVERYTHING.
“but also to force many of their clients to buy new peripherals (no more headphones) and new phones” -> See above. Nobody is forcing anyone to buy anything.
“artificial OS “updates” that slow down your phone and bar you from updating apps” -> I for sure have never ever experienced anything slowing down on any of my iPhones after any OS upgrade. I know this has been reported, but it does *not* apply to everybody. Keep things as large or small as they are.
“Samsung and other manufacturers could attempt something along these lines, but so far, for some reason, they have chosen to pursue less aggressive planned obsolescence policies” -> Are you sure about that? Should we go and find examples? You’re just making a convenient statement there.
“By the way, I’m not an iPhone user. But given Apple’s position in the market, I fear it will influence other manufacturers into following suit. So it does potentially affect me and my choices in the future.” -> What are you talking about? Do you have any idea? Apple is so much smaller in smartphone sales than the entire Google/Android market altogether, it is ridiculous to even start this discussion. It’s like 85% Android, 14% iOS and the rest is Windows and stuff. Talk about “choices” there… And no, it does not affect you or your choices at all what Apple does. It only might make you think “is there product something I want or not?” And that’s got nothing to do with “consumers’ rights” at all.
Late reply here, business / work travelling does that for you.
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”attempt to erode hardware standards” -> They use bog standard Bluetooth protocol for connecting to wireless headphones.
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yes. but they are still getting rid of the other bog standard protocol (headphones).
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“force people to buy new devices each year” -> Nobody is forcing anyone to buy anything at all. If your phone still works: just keep it.
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Of course, just keep your smartphone that no longer receives security and stability updates and can no longer connect or receive any sort of app updates because of artificial App Store lockdowns on any phones that are over 2 or 3 years old.
But you are right, there is a choice: buy a simpler mobile phone or avoid the Apple mobile ecosystem altogether. That’s what I’ve done so far.
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“SD cards for extra storage” -> That’s not Apple’s strategy. You’ve missed their point. They want you to use cloud storage and services instead of detachable parts that can break. And yes, not everybody everywhere has internet access all the time. If that’s the case for you, their product is not for you.
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Agreed, although I have not missed their point, rather I disagree with their point. I think putting all your data on the cloud is a really bad idea, although that leads us to another discussion.
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“look into your system folders and delete / copy files” -> Probably 1% of the 1,000,000,000 people who purchased an iPhone want to do that kind of stuff. Everyone else is just fine doing the stuff they do. This is a geek argument, not relevant for the big picture. Probably 99% of all Windows and macOS users can’t be bothered understanding the concepts of file systems anyway.
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My apologies, ignore the “system” bit, I meant files and folders in general.
Practically everyone I know moves files and folders between storage devices to keep their documents, photos, music files, etc. archived.
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“headphone jacks that you can use in practically anything from mobile phones from 2010s smartphones to gameboys from the 1990’s to stereo systems from the 1970s” -> You can still use your old phones on the new iPhone. It comes with a free adapter.
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Hooray. Now iPhone users will need yeat another adapter for their favourite world-standard listening peripheral.
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“You can buy peripherals from the smartphone’s company. Or not.” -> There are hundreds, if not thousands of third party manufacturers building accessories of all kinds for Apple devices. There is A LOT OF choice for EVERYTHING.
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Erm, yes, that’s what I’ve said. For the time being there is choice.
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“but also to force many of their clients to buy new peripherals (no more headphones) and new phones” -> See above. Nobody is forcing anyone to buy anything.
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For the time being. Are we sure that future iPhones will keep offering the adapter?
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“artificial OS “updates” that slow down your phone and bar you from updating apps” -> I for sure have never ever experienced anything slowing down on any of my iPhones after any OS upgrade. I know this has been reported, but it does *not* apply to everybody. Keep things as large or small as they are.
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Most iPhone users I know have experienced this. It is a reality.
Sure, there are no statistics for this, but then again there are also no statistics for how many people want access to their file folders or system folders.
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“Samsung and other manufacturers could attempt something along these lines, but so far, for some reason, they have chosen to pursue less aggressive planned obsolescence policies” -> Are you sure about that? Should we go and find examples? You’re just making a convenient statement there.
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At least on the software side of things they seem to have done so. Also AFAIK, Sony, Samsung, HTC, etc. still haven’t abandoned standards such as headphones and regular USB cables that you can use with any kind of device (except Apple devices, of course). Like I said, this doesn’t mean that they will not adopt the same practices in the future.
*edit* From what I gathered in the meantime through other comments, yes, there are already Android “jack-less” models.
“By the way, I’m not an iPhone user. But given Apple’s position in the market, I fear it will influence other manufacturers into following suit. So it does potentially affect me and my choices in the future.” -> What are you talking about? Do you have any idea? Apple is so much smaller in smartphone sales than the entire Google/Android market altogether, it is ridiculous to even start this discussion. It’s like 85% Android, 14% iOS and the rest is Windows and stuff. Talk about “choices” there… And no, it does not affect you or your choices at all what Apple does. It only might make you think “is there product something I want or not?” And that’s got nothing to do with “consumers’ rights” at all.
Yes. I have an idea.
Worldwide, you are correct about the 14% global share.
However, one must account for the fact that in key countries such as the USA, Apple has a 40% market share,
https://9to5mac.com/2016/02/10/apple-market-share/
plus, Apple is still regarded as the holy grail of smartphone design which other companies attempt to mimic. Hence, my fear that soon other companies will start dropping standard peripherals in an attempt to lock-in consumers (particularly given the fact that their market share is getting bigger than Apple’s).
So, yeah, I still don’t think this is a “non-issue”, and I believe “consumer rights” might come into play if you get to a (very possible, in my view) situation where large manufacturers try force the market to move away from standard chargers, headphones, USB connections, etc, therefore reducing choice. Apple’s move to jack-less smartphones is a step in that direction.
Sorry, but you introduced the term “proprietary digital format” to this discussion. If all that bothers you so much, why don’t you just go and purchase an oh-so-free Android mobile phone then? Lightning does a lot more things than USB, so I guess the decision not to use USB (which is documented and can be licensed, but it is not “open”) is not only, because evil Apple wants your money. It’s because they create products that give you (the user, the customer) an experience. And this experience is to a significant part that “it just works”.
I used the term “proprietary digital formats” in reference to those formats that I predict Apple will be willing to (and under pressure from the industry to) use in the near future the infrastructure that they are putting in place now. I did not mean that “Lightning” is a “proprietary format”; I know enough computer essentials to tell a connector standard from a data transport protocol/format. And just to set your mind to peace about my personal choices, let me state that I don’t use smartphones or any other “mobile devices” as they are known today, for making music or any other purpose. I use a 9 year old Ericsson phone, for talking to people and writing them messages, and a laptop computer for pretty much everything else.
But, see, my entire point is that this isn’t about me or those like me, that negligible demographic that fits to the above. It’s about where entire industries are heading, and your insistence on steering this towards Apple vs. Android, you vs. me etc. is missing that completely. If you have any arguments that actually address mine, I would like to hear them.
I am sorry, but I would rather like to talk about what Apple is doing *right now* – and not so much speculate about what they *might* (or might not) be doing at some point in the future.
Actually, Apple is not the first to remove the jack on their smartphones : Lenovo Moto Z did it first. You’re supposed to use usb-c headphones only with it.
Apple’s unhealthy obsession for thinness is among the real reasons. Expect next year’s iPhone to be the “Thinnest iPhone we ever made”. Also, Apple probably doesn’t seem to have found a way to make the iphone waterproof without removing the jack, unlike Samsung and Sony, wich are both waterproof AND have audio jacks…
And now, you can’t use your Lightning earpods on your Macbooks either ! How funny is that ?
I think it’s mistake. What they’ve done is very premature, it’s not comparable to the removal of floppy disks, etc..
I’m upgrading to an iPhone 6S, and will hold on to it for as long as i can.
“And now, you can’t use your Lightning earpods on your Macbooks either”
Just wait until the next generation of MacBooks comes. Apple will have a solution for you.
Or the generation after, when Thunderbolt tries to bridge Lightning and USB-C.
I’m still annoyed that they stopped supporting the ADB bus, not to mention when they gave up on SCSI for IDE. So really this is nothing new.
Ever since I purchased my very first mobile phone almost 20 years ago, I have never lost a single headphone, earbud, cable, adapter, jack, USB dongle or whatever. And frankly, I think this argument is heavily overstated in this discussion.
Also, I agree with you, Peter, that most of the complaining is obsolete. For many applications, the lack of a phone jack is not an issue.
As a “serious” musician, you would use an external audio interface connected to the Lightning port of your phone, for superiour audio quality and D/A conversion. Niftily, those audio interfaces come with multiple audio outputs, including phone jacks and charge your iDevice while connected. Smart, eh?
And when you’re on the go and inspiration strikes you, your phone’s battery will be just fine running those audio recording or virtual synth apps for those 15-60 minutes you might be making music in the bus, metro or while waiting for the doctor. So, go ahead and connect those new earbuds to the Lightning port. You won’t need to charge your phone at the same time.
Oh, and if you really need to charge your phone, you can still listen to music with wireless phones or earbuds – or through the phone’s own speakers.
I have purchased these wonderful headphones recently (https://en-us.sennheiser.com/momentum-wireless-headphones-with-mic) – and I have never looked back to wires. Except for one single use case – and that is still a real existing issue for music making through wireless phones: The audio latency over Bluetooth is making it pretty much impossible to play and record beats or melodies. So, for that you would still need a wired connection – phone jack or Lightning port.
“As a “serious” musician, you would use an external audio interface connected to the Lightning port of your phone, for superiour audio quality and D/A conversion. ”
I have used iPhone synths for years with headphone out. It’s fine for me as if i would have bought interface for my previous phones it would have become obsolete when i bought lightning phone. That is how it goes with Apple.
I’m sorry, I don’t understand your second paragraph. What is your point? That an audio interface that you would have connected via Lightning is now obsolete, because the new iPhone hasn’t got a headphone jack, but only a Lightning jack?
Or that an audio interface with 30-pin connector needed another Lightning adapter, when you purchased your iPhone 5?
you may want to look up the quality issues re bluetooth audio
No, I don’t. Because I know which applications – well – apply to which scenario. I am aware that I don’t get top hi-fi sound out of my cell phone, when I listen to music on the go. And you know what? I don’t care. Because I’m fine listening to compressed AAC files streaming via 4G on wireless cans connected with Bluetooth. When I want to get full high fidelity, I don’t use my cell phone, but head to my stereo at home. Easy.
And I’m sure the same applies to about 99% of the current 1,000,000,000 iPhone owners.
This is the result of the arbitrary quest for thinness, at the expense of function, just like the removal of ethernet ports on a macbook ‘pro?’ Most people would prefer to retain the headphone jack and have the option of bluetooth/lightning, plus a larger/longer battery. Lightning is a proprietary connector, there is no way on earth that the kind of people who’d buy Sennheiser HD650s will buy into a lightning equipped model they cannot use with anything else. The fact is, they haven’t actually removed the headphone jack socket, they have externalised it, in effect a cheat to make the phone thinner still. People will still carry around the lightning to jack dongle (till they lose it), so the question has to be, is next years externalised new-feature removal going to be the removal of the camera bump (caused by thinness) by putting the camera on a lightning dongle to free up space in the phone. Where do you stop? Steve Jobs would be spinning in his grave, while getting tangled up in sillhouetted white headphone cables against primary color backgrounds.
p.s. Courage wasn’t removing the headphone jack socket, courage would have been switching the lightning port for USB-C to match the ‘standards’ that all other mobile devices are using. But then it would open up the luxury iphone market to cheap accessories which is not where the board of Apple want to be.
Sort of – you are not forcing the adoption of anything by losing the headphone jack – at least not as much as you would be forcing the adoption of a crippled USB-C connection that could potentially do a lot more, and would have to be replaced *again* once the next thing (Thunderbolt) is touted by Apple. Can you imagine the confusion? Oh, you have USB-C, but not the *new* USB-C, so…. you can’t do “X”. Sounds familiar, huh?
USB-C is still the long-game as Apple gradually moves to Thunderbolt (see Thunderbolt 3 and USB-C compatibility), it’s just not there yet. So in the meantime we get USB-C on a line of their laptops as a sort of proof of concept, then somewhere down the road we will be at a place where USB-C is more widely adopted, Thunderbolt 3 is ready, and… surprise! Your “old” iPhone 7 will still work, but the latest and greatest will be using USB-C/Thunderbolt for speed/audio/etc.
You know that they just dropped Thunderbolt for monitors, yes?
The iPhone 7 is not thinner than the 6s. For Apple it wasn’t about making the phone thinner. It’s got more and new tech inside and is dust and waterproof. That was he point.
as much as i hate untangling a headphone cable mess i’m also concerned about having more radiation applied to my head by a device that is sitting directly in my ear. i’m sure ‘impartial’ studies will tell us that this is not a health issue and that in the long run we will all be dead..oh and yes, i will misplace or forget that adapter at home as i’m usually not the most awake person in the morning. no this phone is not for me.
I don’t get the quest of making phone thinner. iPhone 6/+ is is HUGE no matter who thin it is. It’s just more prone to bend and oh boy + models are easy to get bent 😉
Good thing: Apple asks for the addapter $9. That is the cheapest adapter they have ever done. I was waiting at least $20.
Of course, that low price probably means the DAC built into the adapter is probably low quality as well.
So your choice is use your current pair of expensive, high-quality headphones with a cheap DAC, buy expensive, proprietary wireless headphones, or buy a premium adapter at a premium price.
The iPhone 7 is not thinner than the 6s. It’s got more and new tech inside and is dust and waterproof. That was he point.
And the good news is, that for 9 euros, you get an Apple branded D/A converter.
Or maybe even D/A-A/D, if it supports the microphone of the original EarPods, or any other iPhone headphones.
This iPhone is not for me – and I’m on my fourth of fifth iPhone.
I travel by car regularly using navigational apps. I need to charge my phone while doing this as GPS quickly drains batteries – not to mention keeping the screen more available than usual.
I also like to listen to music stored on my phone or by streaming. The latter involves using more of my precious battery power. My car does not have Bluetooth – its a 2008, not ancient but definitely not new.
When I arrive, I usually take my phone with me. Do I bring the dongle with me? Do I leave it in the car? I carry my phone in my pocket so I guess I need to carry the dongle too.
I recently spent $200 on a pair of wired headphones that I love – they are comfortable and the sound quality is excellent (plus they block a great amount of external sound). Looks like these are now obsolete.
I’ve never dropped a phone in water or experienced water damage with my iPhones but understand that this is a concern. However, between my wife and I, we’ve had 3 lightening jacks stop charging or suddenly become choosy over the cable. Lightening cables are not passive and can be damaged easily. I’ve never had a problem with my analog audio jacks. Did I mention replacement lightening cables are more expensive?
None of this even touches on how I’d be affected if I relied on an iPhone to make music.
I didn’t need a thinner phone. I didn’t need a waterproof phone. I need a phone that works with what I already have. Won’t be upgrading to an Apple device and will start reading up on how to repair my current one should something happen to it.
For sure, there will be all sorts of car ready solutions soon. Companies make money from these scenarios.
tldr
who cares?
get an iPad 😉
Another thing that is kinda weird is that the thin MacBook Pro has USB-C which is the standard for most mobile devices. BUT on the iPhone and iPads Apple doesn’t use it but uses lightning instead. I can only think that the team working on MacBook Pro is totally different from those working on mobile devices. For compatibility reasons one protocol would be much better and that should be USB-C imo.
i’ve never really had a reason to use an external audio interface with the iphone. it already has a good quality dac. although it looks like u would need one for iphone 7….
They wouldn’t dare kill logic on Windows would they? … We are the creative’s platform out one side of their mouth while stealing existing tools & technologie’s from creative’s. I promise they do not care about you or your music.
I just don’t see all the hubbub about the dropping of the jack. They give you free adaptors ($9 if you lose it), free wired headphones, and a USB charging cable. The only thing you can’t do without buying something more is listen through wired headphones while charging. That really seems like grasping for the one thing to get mad about. People are dissing the new Airbuds without ever hearing them at all. They have a new wireless chip in them that is supposed to address all the “poor bluetooth audio” problems of the past. Give them a chance to even come to market before you trash them. I have seen even people claiming the change was to bolster ApplePay because the PayPal and Square dongles won’t work. They haven tried them with the adaptor and the tech used in them should work just the same through it. Also all those dongles, from the perspective of the phone, are for receiving money, while ApplePay is about spending money. Two opposite concepts.