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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?
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Apple on the Decline
(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.