iPhone 7: Can Apple Really Justify Lack Of Headphone Jack?
The iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus are coming out this week, and the controversy over the fact both phones won’t have a headphone jack continues. BGR wonders if Apple did a bad job of justifying the lack of a headphone jack.
“Either way, the burden was decidedly on Apple to convince users that they wouldn’t miss the headphone jack. And now that we’re a few days removed from the event, we can calmly ask: did Apple adequately justify its decision to remove the headphone jack? Unfortunately, the answer to that question is resounding no.”
The article adds that even though Apple said it was encouraging “something better” by removing the headphone jack, most still aren’t sure what exactly that “something better” is. Many in the comments section after the article agree that Apple’s latest move is not a good one.
“The courage to tell the flock we are in charge. Shut up and buy what we say and want what we say you want. Now go buy it sheepies,” says StopWithTheBS.
“I plug my iPhone into my stereo via headphone jack… and keep a charger there so I don’t drain the battery while doing that. You’re telling me that’s a fringe use-case and my head is tethered to the wall? Seems like you have a problem with reality,” states Nikoli.
Mashable also thinks killing the headphone jack doesn’t represent anything groundbreaking.
“And I’ve never heard anything as ridiculous emanate from that stage as I did Wednesday, when marketing chief Phil Schiller explained why the iPhone 7 would not have a standard 3.5mm aux cable input, better known as the headphone jack,” says columnist Chris Taylor.
Taylor believes that Apple has withdrawn the most successful, most widespread, and best audio standard in the world in favor of its own proprietary system. He says that there is no way that losing the audio jack could even compare with losing the CD drive or the 30-pin connector, especially since music doesn’t sound better over Bluetooth or a lightning connector.
The Verge recently claimed that Apple was being downright hostile to its iPhone customers by removing the headphone jack.
“I am surrounded by wireless speaker systems. (I work at The Verge, after all.) And while they mostly work fine, sometimes they crackle out and fail. It sucks to share a wireless speaker among multiple devices. Bluetooth headphones require me to charge yet another battery. You haven’t known pain until you’ve chosen to use Bluetooth audio in a car instead of an aux jack.”
Author Nilay Patel added that getting rid of a deeply established standard will impact accessibility, and that, at worst, nobody is even asking Apple to remove the headphone jack.
However, many on Twitter don’t think the removal of the headphone jack is such an awful thing.
No headphone jack? Who cares. People are already camped out in line for the new iPhone outside the flagship store pic.twitter.com/rNv8IZ5WQC
— Seth Fiegerman (@sfiegerman) September 11, 2016
Why is everyone upset the iPhone 7 won't have a headphone jack? Apple has been developing WIRELESS HEADPHONES. Seriously it's no big deal.
— No (@hotcatgirlfan) July 19, 2016
Even CNET’s David Carnoy says people will forget about the missing headphone jack very soon.
“After being on the fence about the issue these last few months, I’ve come to the conclusion I can live without the headphone jack. And I think you can, too.”
Some of the reasons Carnoy lists are because Bluetooth headphones are more affordable, Bluetooth sound is getting better, the Lighting Port becomes the headphone jack (especially with an adapter), and because Apple’s removal of certain hardware in the past has led to widespread acceptance.
Do you think removing the headphone jack on the latest iPhones is a mistake for Apple? Let us know how you feel about this issue in the comments section.
[Photo by Stephen Lam/Getty Images]
