MacBook Pro: Headphone Jack May Be Missing From Latest Model
Is the MacBook Pro going to be sans headphones like its iPhone 7 sibling? If surveys circulating among MacBook Pro users are any indication, it may be the latest synergy Apple is looking to bring to its product line.
According to Business Insider, several MacBook Pro users have reported receiving a survey from Apple asking about the possibility of removing the headphone jack from the latest models. As you will recall, Apple’s iPhone 7 model removed the headphone jack entirely, and should you want to listen to or speak through headphones on your iPhone 7, you’ll either have to connect via the power cord’s plug-in spot or you will have to connect via Bluetooth.
As far as the headphone survey floating around the inboxes of many MacBook Pro users, some are not expressing pleasure with the possibility of eliminating the feature many use in professional settings, on planes, trains, and other public transportation. Do not forget listening to podcasts, music, or watching movies while laying in bed next to your significant other. Headphones are great for keeping quiet and not disturbing them.
Good god this company. https://t.co/FcVMmBvXvr
— Den (@ohdenny) September 15, 2016
“Apple may kill the headphone jack on the MacBook Pro” there’s no limit to human stupidity
— Broke One (@brokeone) September 15, 2016
The above tweets from committed MacBook Pro users indicate displeasure with the possibility of removing the jack, but as Gotta Be Mobile notes, the headphone jack’s writing may already be on the wall when it comes to the MacBook Pro.
“We often see companies use product surveys to influence the design and features that arrive in new products. Apple didn’t ask similar questions on a wide scale for the iPhone 7. This time it appears they are reaching out to a variety of users.
“Users report that Apple surveys ask, ‘Do you ever use the headphone port on your Macbook Pro with Retina Display?’ Dan Masterson, a singer, songwriter and pianist notes that this is the third way Apple asked this same basic question in a recent email survey.”
As for when the MacBook Pro sans headphones may be released, Gotta Be Mobile has speculated — along with much of the rest of the tech blogosphere – that an October release date is likely. If October 2016 is the announced date for a new MacBook Pro, it would appear to confirm that the headphone jack for the units are a thing of history instead of the future.
What else will we see in the MacBook Pro? The same article from GBM notes that leaked photos show “us a new design with keyboard that uses the newer layout found on the MacBook and the Apple Magic keyboard, but with an opening at the top that will likely include an OLED touch panel to control some functions.
“The touchpad looks bigger than the current model and the photos also show what looks like a thinner body,” it goes on to note.
It also notes a lack of SD card slots, though there will be 4 USB C slots on the new MacBook Pro.
Last but not least is the possibility of a touch screen coming to the MacBook Pro according to GBM, the first of its kind in the MacBook product line. Should this happen, it would be a big change from previous models and it would make the MacBook Pro and iPad Pro more competitive not only on the open market, but among the Apple brand.
Of course, until the final product is released in October or some other time in the near future, it is tough to say what exactly will make its way into — or out of — the MacBook Pro.
What are you looking for in the new MacBook Pro? And will you purchase the new model or look at another brand? Tell us in the comments section.
[Featured image by Sean Gallup/Getty Images]
