Apple's 'courage' to remove the headphone jack has created a brave new world
It was barely two years ago when we lamented the loss of the headphone jack on the iPhone. The iPhone 7 had just arrived with a gorgeous jet black color, a solid-state home button, and a dongle in place of the 3.5mm headphone jack. At the iPhone 7 introduction, Apple VP Phil Schiller talked about having the "courage" to make the change, to leave the headphone jack behind.
At the time it was kind of cringe-worthy. Rather than try to convince the audience of the benefits of wireless charging or the annoyances of wired earphones, Schiller basically told the audience that they might not understand now, but one day they will. You could hear the snickers in the auidence when he said that removing the headphone jack required the "courage to move on and do something new that betters all of us." It sounded ridiculous. All we could see was the inconvenience ahead.
But you know what? He was right.
It might have sounded like the reality distortion field on steroids, but Apple's decision to remove the headphone jack from its most popular product wasn't a flippant design whim. It was the start of a new strategy that would bring convenience, simplicity, and downright delight.
The move led to courageous sales of AirPods.
See also: Poll: Looking back now, did Apple exhibit 'courage' in removing the headphone jack from iPhones?
Related: New Moto Z Omits Analog Headphone Jack; Adds Moto Mods
Bring Back the Headphone Jack: Why USB-C Audio Still Doesn't Work
Apple on the Decline
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The new Moto Z phone doesn't have an analog headphone jack built in. This is the second high-end Android phone to be released recently without one; Chinese manufacturer LeEco also released one. According to a video by The Verge, the Moto Z will come with a plug-in adapter to let you use analog headphones with the USB C port on the phone.
http://www.theverge.com/2016/6/10/11900992/moto-z-specs-no-headphone-jack
On the plus side, the Moto Z will support "Moto Mods", backpack modules that attach via strong magnets. Available mods will include battery packs, better speakers, a micro-projector, and "style" mods that are essentially just phone cases. http://www.motorola.com/us/moto-mods
Note: There are rumors that Apple is planning to get rid of the analog headphone jack on the iPhone 7. And the iPad Pro already offers the "Smart Connector Port" so there is speculation that it may show up on the next iPhone.
PC World has an article on why USB-C has not been a viable alternative for the 3.5mm audio jack. Problems with USB-C include variable handling of digital to audio conversion, incompatible SOCs inside the cable, and non-standard analog-passthrough. In short, the cables which contain computers themselves are not standardized in behavior and the author's conclusion is that mobile devices must have 3.5mm jacks until the USB-C cable technology gets sorted out enough that they become usable.
Apple has had an incredible decade. Since the iPhone debuted in 2007, the company's sales have jumped tenfold. The stock has soared over 700%. And up until last November, it was the world's largest publicly traded company. But two weeks ago, Apple issued a rare warning that shocked investors. For the first time since 2002, the company slashed its earnings forecast. The stock plunged 10% for its worst day in six years. This capped off a horrible few months in which Apple stock crashed about 35% from its November peak. That erased $446 billion in shareholder value—the biggest wipeout of wealth in a single stock ever.
[...] Despite the revenue growth, Apple is selling fewer iPhones every year. In fact, iPhone unit sales peaked way back in 2015. Last year, Apple sold 14 million fewer phones than it did three years ago.
[...] In 2010, you could buy a brand-new iPhone 4 for 199 bucks. In 2014, the newly released iPhone 6 cost 299 bucks. Today the cheapest model of the latest iPhone X costs $1,149! It's a 500% hike from what Apple charged eight years ago. [...] In 1984, Motorola sold the first cell phone for $4,000. The average price for a smartphone today is $320, according to research firm IDC. Cell phone prices have come down roughly 92%. And yet, Apple has hiked its smartphone prices by 500%!
[...] Twelve years ago, only 120 million people owned a cell phone. Today over five billion people own a smartphone, according to IDC. [...] now iPhone price hikes have gone about as far as they can go. [...] A publicly traded company that makes most of its money from selling phones is no longer telling investors how many phones it sells!
(Score: 2, Disagree) by aiwarrior on Tuesday April 09 2019, @09:35AM (16 children)
If you really want to have a jack buy a bluetooth-to-jack dongle and you can have a poor man;s version of bluetooth headphones.
Honestly though, a phone is a mobile thing and after buying bluetooth headphones i never cared for wired headphones anymore.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 09 2019, @09:41AM (7 children)
My phone sits on my desk all day charge cable in one end (if needed) and aux cable in the other for my headphones. Okay, sure, I could buy an iPod or something to carry around with me for music and books (but not movies) but given that I already have a computer with a screen and lots of storage in my pocket why would I?
I don't miss the days of the old iPod. Great days mind. I have moved on. It will take a lot of courage for me to ditch my wonderful aux headphones.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by aiwarrior on Tuesday April 09 2019, @09:59AM (4 children)
I have the exact same use case and I do not need the 3.5mm Jack. Furthermore if your interest is in the audio quality I think the DACs of phones are not spectacular when compared with the digital transmission in the BT.
In the end in a free world you get your way and I get mine, but it may be that your experience starts to be more expensive or limited.
Cheers
(Score: 4, Touché) by Alfred on Tuesday April 09 2019, @01:49PM (3 children)
(Score: 2) by aiwarrior on Tuesday April 09 2019, @02:52PM (2 children)
More or less. It depends on your audio equipment not on generic, for the masses equipment. So if you have good audio equipment you do not limit it to your generic smartphone, and you can actually extract more value per buck from it.
(Score: 2) by Alfred on Tuesday April 09 2019, @04:34PM
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 09 2019, @09:52PM
Not more or less. There's a DAC in your ear if you have a wireless earbud. It's not the highest quality but that doesn't really matter because it's in an earbud, with all the limits of that enclosed space, and your ear probably can't tell the difference between hifi and AM radio.
Not because there's not a real difference - there is! Huge! But when you're out in traffic with earbuds in (not over-ears!) the environment's noise floor is above the DAC's low quality, unless the DAC's response curve is radically poor (ie. mis-specced).
tldr: there IS a shit DAC post-BT, and your use cases probably can't tell shit from gold in that component.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 09 2019, @12:12PM (1 child)
From what I have seen from people who have these unwired plugs it is best to have several sets and charge them in rotation. One set for home. Office. Travelling. Swap as need be to charge or if a bud is lost.
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Tuesday April 09 2019, @06:50PM
> it is best to have several sets and charge them in rotation
I can't imagine this had anything to do with the Beats owner and AirPods manufacturer's "courageous" decision...
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 09 2019, @09:56AM (1 child)
For listening to music? sure.
However, Bluetooth doesn't allow me to put my phone in a pocket or bag when it's freezing/raining, while taking a call on a headset and have decent quality audio and microphone.
Maybe this is changing, but the BT profiles allowing for high-quality audio did not support microphone, and the BT profiles for microphone had terrible audio quality both for listening and for microphone. See:
https://www.howtogeek.com/354321/why-bluetooth-headsets-are-terrible-on-windows-pcs/ [howtogeek.com]
So if you want to use your phone as a ipod, sure BT is fine other than needing to charge (and replace in the long run) the batteries of yet another piece of equipment.
For actually making calls, BT sucks unless you live in a place where it's always warm and sunny.
(Score: 2) by EvilSS on Tuesday April 09 2019, @03:52PM
Airpods. Seriously. I went through half a dozen wireless BT earbuds before I gave in and tried them. Due to my job I'm on the phone all the damn time. The audio quality of the airpods is better than the average earbuds (won't compete with my Shures, but compared to the default buds with most phones, they are a step up) and the mic quality is great. I hate how stupid they look, but I can't find anything that beats them for listening and making calls.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 09 2019, @10:09AM
I've been using BT headphones for almost a decade. I tried several but settled on the LG HBS line back when the HBS700 came out. When upgrading or installing systems I could put my phone on a filing cabinet and travel 25 - 30 feet and still have music taking my mind off of what I was doing. Nothing to get caught as I was running wires or crawling under desks. They were a life saver.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by bussdriver on Tuesday April 09 2019, @01:48PM
You had and can still have BOTH allowing the user the FREEDOM to CHOOSE and having to pay $$$ is not freedom but they sure would love the suckers to believe it is.
Furthermore, "poor man" is a slander. Aside from it not being relevant, somebody who has such a new smart phone is not poor in the first place, you're doing your part in promoting the envy economy where fashion matters (it never matters but that is an uphill battle I won't go into.)
I never will fall for the marketing of screwing myself like that... being a gullible sucker should be more undesirable than in being in fashion...
I do not want complex WASTEFUL devices where I have to recharge them constantly, they are designed to be a subscription. If corded devices required as more effort they would be bashed heavily for that but because they are simple and reliable (and in the past, worked better too) all the problems of the newer technology are conveniently ignored by the early adopters who are emotionally biased; then try to spread that onto the mainstream while the bugs are worked out. Even refined and accepted, doesn't mean that it is best. What happens is that there is momentum to brand loyalty and if habituation can result you can boil a lot of frogs.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by ledow on Tuesday April 09 2019, @03:05PM
Replacing one $1 cable that sits in a hole with a $20 fragile, electronic, non-water-resistant device that requires constant charging, changing of the batteries every few years, syncing and resyncing whenever you move them between devices, broadcasts over the air and thus becomes susceptible to security flaws, and also has to be carried around separately - uncoupled to anything physical.
Great solution.
Bluetooth etc. have their places. They are certainly very useful technologies. Nobody's staying "Hey, those who wish to live entirely by Bluetooth shouldn't be able to!". It's great.
But for many use cases, such things are beaten by a $1 cable that we've had for... what? 40 years?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 09 2019, @03:34PM
keep the spending without thinking sheeple mr loyal customer
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 09 2019, @05:06PM
I think it is good as well. It has caused several people I know to summon the courage to drop iPhone for new purchases and move to Android.
(Score: 2) by urza9814 on Wednesday April 10 2019, @04:33PM
My car doesn't have bluetooth. My home theater doesn't have bluetooth. The speakers in my closet don't have bluetooth. EVERYTHING has a jack.
Also, most bluetooth headphones SUCK. The battery life is awful, and only gets worse as you use them. I read an article recently that most of the initial wave of Airpods are currently being thrown out because the battery life is down to an hour or two for many users. These things aren't that old. I've got headphones that are more than 10 years old that are still in use every single day. A bluetooth headset won't even last half as long.
I do have one bluetooth adapter. I despise it, and usually just plug in anyway, because the signal quality is garbage and constantly dropping out.
Frankly, if a phone doesn't have a headphone jack, I'm not going to buy it. I don't see that changing any time soon.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 09 2019, @09:41AM (1 child)
"No brave new world, No brave new world, Lost in this place, and leave no trace"
(Score: 2) by sgleysti on Tuesday April 09 2019, @01:28PM
Oh man, if it's retarted, it's gotta be good. I love tarts.
https://www.aprettylifeinthesuburbs.com/raspberry-vanilla-bean-cream-tarts-2/ [aprettylifeinthesuburbs.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 09 2019, @09:44AM
Kogan phones are "good enough" now. Pity the battery is not replaceable.
I do like the security offered by iPhone devices but not over losing the audio port.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 09 2019, @09:48AM
It was retarded then, it is retarded now.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 09 2019, @10:01AM (3 children)
Convenience? What convenience is it to have to pair your headphones instead of simply plugging them in? What convenience is there to have yet another battery that may run low and has to be recharged all the time?
Simplicity? How is a complicated wireless protocol simpler than just putting a plug into a jack?
Downright delight? Well, you could say it adds to the delight of not owning an Apple device. ;-)
(Score: 5, Insightful) by AthanasiusKircher on Tuesday April 09 2019, @10:56AM (1 child)
I think you read the sentence wrong. It was CONVENIENT to take more dollars from customers for more costly wireless headphones. It was SIMPLICITY itself to raise revenue. It was DOWNRIGHT DELIGHT for Apple executives to walk home with more money in their pockets, yet again figuring out a way to remove a standard port/device from an Apple product in order to suck money out of customers to pay for a dongle or a new item to connect.
This is not a new strategy for Apple. I really truly wish someone would dig up that old Mac vs. PC commercial and do a parody in line with modern times -- remember the one where the Mac was the cool guy who supposedly could talk to or connect to anyone (implicitly always work with devices) while the PC guy was the awkward guy who couldn't even speak the same language and needed loads of configuration.
Because basically since that commercial (and even before) Apple has done its best to remove standard ports and sell people $20 dongles just to use standard accessories or else Apple's own much more pricey accessories. They don't want you to ever use anyone else's stuff -- always pay the Mac premium to talk only to Mac users in the Mac ecosystem.
Disgusting, and an affront to freedom. Oh yeah, before anyone says I'm overreacting and they are a company that can do what it wants -- sure. But just like the many here who complain about free-speech restrictions of private companies, etc., I will not stand by and cheer for "courageous" companies who couch their money making schemes in "but it's better for the customer!" I call BS.
(Score: 2) by bzipitidoo on Tuesday April 09 2019, @02:29PM
> I think you read the sentence wrong.
Apple sure said it badly, especially with that word "remove". They could have at least stuck to "replace" or "upgrade". Their choice of words says a lot of things along the lines of what you said. Apple is big and powerful, and can fire customers who don't want to change, and, yeah, pay more money for the latest gadgets.
Everyone is crazy for WiFi and portability, but the fact is, wired is more reliable and lots faster, and there's hardly any interference, no contention for channels, and batteries are still a lot of bother.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by isostatic on Tuesday April 09 2019, @12:32PM
I can see why some would prefer bluetooth. Certainly I like the fact my phone connects to my car without me thinking about it, so if I get a call it pops up on the speakers.
My phone as a 3.5mm jack though, so conflating "using bluetooth" with "removing 3.5mm" seems rather odd.
(Score: 3, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 09 2019, @10:43AM
Seriously, can someone unearth a one button mouse and whip this retard off the damn internet? Maybe stone them with a few iPods? Honestly, what would it take? Where is boy-rape-story-anon-bot and Ethanol-Fueled when you need them to add the right texture to this kind of story?
God damn Apple... Honestly what would it take?
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Rich on Tuesday April 09 2019, @11:41AM (2 children)
I would lose those in no time. Heck, I once lost my wired EarPods, and after a traumatizing experience of searching for a certain USB stick, I have attached widely visible lanyards to those which contain remotely important data (*). So, from my purely personal perspective, no thanks to that stuff.
From an audio perspective, having read TI's analog audio selection guide just before coming here... It pains to think how one of those lovely op amps with Burr Brown heritage would go to waste there, ... so REALLY no thanks to that stuff.
I've been writing before how software has gone downhill since about 2010 just for the sake of breaking things to be able to sell new ones, or to force the customers into some rental position, but that seems to apply to all areas of technology.
(*) Writing this post gave me the good idea to buy an SD card case, but looking at the case's size, I think it needs a lanyard, too...
(Score: 2) by EvilSS on Tuesday April 09 2019, @03:59PM (1 child)
(Score: 2) by Rich on Tuesday April 09 2019, @05:19PM
I had to look up these RFID tiles. 20 bucks per sticker is a bit on the dear side, but, China to the rescue, there seem to be batches of 100 reprogrammable RFID keyfobs for 40 bucks. More like it. Might be an option.
Also, from cold war lore, there has been this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Thing_(listening_device) [wikipedia.org]
Something between that and how a Wacom tablet works might be a fine passive option.
I just read that Apple offers finding services for the AirPods, but for whatever reason banned the "Finder for AirPods" app. Bizarre.
By the way, I found my EarPods again after I bought two more (the third, because I suspected the second to be counterfeit; but apparently only the case, and not the content was), and I'm now sorted with a good amount of mobile earphones, in addition to my cable-bound BeyerDynamic monitor headphones. I'll pass on the newfangled stuff for the time being.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 09 2019, @12:23PM (2 children)
I have a good use case for wireless earphones, it's for running or any other exercises, and even then they might get lost or get screwed up in the rain, if the batteries don't short circuit in one's ears and explode. Otherwise, just fuck off. I listen to stuff ALL THE TIME on mp3 player with a 100 hour battery life. White noise, books, podcasts, music. Last thing I need is crappy BT earphones that need charging every couple of hours. Drop dead on that one.
(Score: 3, Funny) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday April 09 2019, @01:56PM (1 child)
Nonsense. Agent Smith kicked Neo's ass while wearing an earbud. If it's good enough for Smith, it's good enough for me!
“Take me to the Brig. I want to see the “real Marines”. – Major General Chesty Puller, USMC
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 11 2019, @08:04PM
An earbud that was clearly wired. Check and mate.
(Score: 4, Funny) by fustakrakich on Tuesday April 09 2019, @12:40PM (3 children)
Okay, who stole the sarcasm tag?
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 3, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 09 2019, @02:36PM (1 child)
yeah i thought it was satire, then I realized it was just puffery from someone getting paid to promote the products.
it shouldnt be on soylent
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Tuesday April 09 2019, @07:03PM
it shouldnt be on soylent
Yeah, maybe not, but I believe everybody here knows how to scroll past a story they find uninteresting. And what the hell? It's a good place for us to fire off some cheap shots about Apple and whoever is nearby.
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Tuesday April 09 2019, @06:59PM
People who read MacWorld's opinion pieces about Apple's design decisions have no use for a sarcasm tag.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by RandomFactor on Tuesday April 09 2019, @12:52PM
I will buy the last phone that has a jack in it years from now and keep it going forever if need be.
В «Правде» нет известий, в «Известиях» нет правды
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 09 2019, @01:54PM (2 children)
got a NUC and sometimes the TV speakers are just not good enough (getting old) so the NUC-KODI box
sends the audio via bluettooth to wireless headphones.
the strange thing in programable techno gizmo word was that i already had a bluetooth receiver (my asus zen phone w/ audio jack) and headphones that plug into it, but it was/is impossible to tell/program the kodi-nuc to send the audio to my phone and the phone to my (wired) headphones ... strange strange and one could, without having to break a sweet, conjur up some conspiracy that wants you to buy ... more ... battery powered ... decay?
(Score: 2) by takyon on Tuesday April 09 2019, @04:37PM (1 child)
I like Bluetooth wireless headphones (not earbuds). You can walk around the house with them, even sleep with them on. I got a cheapo $18 pair that lasted about 2 years before the band cleaved in half a few months ago. Wrapped it up with some duct tape and it still works. But I'll be looking to replace it with a Bluetooth 5 [wikipedia.org] or 5.1 version for the longer range. BT 5 can transmit at 125 Kb/s at the longest range [electronicdesign.com], which should be more than good enough for radio and podcasts, especially if Opus [wikipedia.org] compression is used.
Rechargeable batteries are everywhere now and even slight improvements could greatly impact our entire civilization. If you can't easily replace a battery and it doesn't last several years, you've got a problem. Maybe in 10-20 years we'll have batteries that routinely outlast the usefulness of a device.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 11 2019, @08:43PM
Be aware many devices post BT2.1 (or 2.1 and 1.0 previously) do not support the older standard, so you may very well find your bluetooth headset comes with a bluetooth transmitter upgrade required as well. If it is soldered in, you may be replacing your stereo recieved, phone, etc in order to connect to them.
I ran into this problem with a bluetooth controller, keyboard, and one or two other devices over the past few years. Turns out a microusb to usb adapter plus a wireless dongle works anywhere your device has usb or otg much more often than random bluetooth host and random bluetooth peripheral work together.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 09 2019, @01:59PM
It's another phanboy discussion! How cuuuute!
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 09 2019, @02:02PM
It is really simple. If the headphones need their own batteries, you have to deal with even more charging of components (your phone, laptop, and now headphones too). When the headphones run out of power, you either need to use the phone directly (not an option in many cases, nor a preferred method for many people), or you need to wait for the headphones to recharge.
The reality is that the wire connecting your headphones to your phone is not a big deal as it will run from your pocket (purse, bag, or backpack) to your head.
I agree having bluetooth headphones as an option is good. Having them as the only option is bad.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Farkus888 on Tuesday April 09 2019, @03:05PM (2 children)
How do I mod an article down?
(Score: 2) by takyon on Tuesday April 09 2019, @04:37PM (1 child)
Mod article Funny.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by Farkus888 on Wednesday April 10 2019, @06:15AM
I guess, but I'm reminded of that thing about how it is impossible to make an internet comment so stupid people can be sure you aren't earnest.
(Score: 2) by Bot on Tuesday April 09 2019, @03:05PM
Remove analog I/O from devices, see where it takes you....
Account abandoned.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Tuesday April 09 2019, @03:38PM
Oh, the irony.
Actually Apple can now start feeling the bite now and figure out in a couple of years how much courage they can stand. Last renewal, 2 years ago, I could still get another 6S. So I did. I am assured that this time I cannot. I survived the Newton Keyboard Dongle with my MessagePad. But I won't bite in to such a transparent ploy for money on their part and I'll be damned if I'm keeping track of their dongle when adding the headphone jack would not have added $5 to the cost of the phone.
I feel like I'm in Soviet Russia because this time around Apple can Bite Me.
(By the way, alternative phone suggestions that work with Verizon with a headphone jack greatly appreciated).
This sig for rent.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 09 2019, @08:13PM
No thanks. I'd rather have my tonsils extracted through my ears.
(Score: 2) by ElizabethGreene on Tuesday April 09 2019, @09:19PM
This brave new world is forcing my spouse to move to Android.
Good riddance too. Calling iTunes shit is an insult to shit.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by mobydisk on Tuesday April 09 2019, @09:35PM
The real issue is that this is a step toward eliminating the analog hole. [wikipedia.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 10 2019, @06:00PM
There are still too many problems with BT including reception dropouts, having to constantly recharge yet another battery, and additional cost.
If Apple wanted to be REALLY courageous, they would stop making stupidly thinner and bendier iPhones and just used a IP67 3.5mm waterproof jack.