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Deutsche Bank analysts expect no headphone jack + include dongle for iPhone 7

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This has been a really shitty year all around but smart phones without headphone jacks for the sake of "the slimness" is still easily in the Top 20 Worst Things of 2016.
 
It's not just charging, though. It's all these cons:

- worse audio quality
- latency
- low battery life
- it drains more battery from your phone, too
- having to pair and unpair to switch devices
- forced to use the headphone's built-in DAC

All for one pro:

- no wire.

- audio quality is the same to me
- i don't notice any latency issues (mouths sync up with movies etc..)
- low battery life is a concern but i have 3 pairs
- battery drain doesn't matter to me. I'd have to charge my phone during the day with or without bluetooh
- pair and unpair isn't that difficult but could use some improvement
- I don't know much about DAC but if it's in the headphones, wouldn't the consumer then have the ability to purchase headphones with a better DAC?

Bluetooth or alternative needs improvement and hopefully we'll get it when forced to.
 

OnPoint

Member
- audio quality is the same to me
- i don't notice any latency issues (mouths sync up with movies etc..)
- low battery life is a concern but i have 3 pairs
- battery drain doesn't matter to me. I'd have to charge my phone during the day with or without bluetooh
- pair and unpair isn't that difficult but could use some improvement
- I don't know much about DAC but if it's in the headphones, wouldn't the consumer then have the ability to purchase headphones with a better DAC?

Bluetooth or alternative needs improvement and hopefully we'll get it when forced to.
Speaking as someone on the pro-jack side:

- I'd like to see actual numbers on the audio quality before judging that aspect.
- Latency isn't a concern for me, i don't watch movies on my phone.
- Having 3 pairs is an absolutely unacceptable situation, especially if you're on a long plane/train ride.
- Battery drain is an issue -- I already only have to charge my phone once a day, any more is not OK
- Pair unpair is fine, I have bluetooth speakers I use
- DAC is not something i'm aware of or upset about

None of this resolves the other concerns though

1. The inconvenience of an extra accessory with the dongle
2. The dongle being of questionable quality (based on previous quality builds) and potentially needing frequent replacement
3. The port itself taking lots of extra wear due to constant switching
4. Losing the ubiquity of a port just about anyone can support if you want to put music on. Not all cars/systems support bluetooth today -- most support Aux
 
I love the haptic click on my gf's macbook trackpad, it's so real it freaks me out. I actually want the homebutton to have this, it's like magic.

The degree of the waterproofing interests me too.
 

Jeffrey

Member
The thing is, your smartphone today already supports bluetooth headphones just fine AND still has a headphone jack.

Unless removing the headphone jack drastically improves bluetooth somehow, I'm not sure what people are arguing about?
 

SuperPac

Member
Just the last weekend, I was mowing the lawn and my bluetooth headphones died from empty battery. I stopped, went back to my house, got a pair of wired headphones, continued on with my day.

Unless apple has solved the issue of requiring to charge wireless headphones with alien tech, its always good to have a headphone jack even if you mostly use wireless stuff, but I'm reasonable, give me a good reason.

You take a core feature out making life more inconvenient, you better give me something new that makes life more convenient in a different way or something.

Some have speculated that if Apple made bluetooth AirPods they would use the lightning port on your device to pair and charge, similar to how the Apple Pencil. So in that case, you'd take your phone out, plug the headphone into the lightning port, wait a few seconds (Apple Pencil gives 30 minutes of use for 15 seconds of charging) and be on your way. Seems like that'd be shorter than going back in the house and finding a pair of wired headphones.
 

Purkake4

Banned
The thing is, your smartphone today already supports bluetooth headphones just fine AND still has a headphone jack.

Unless removing the headphone jack drastically improves bluetooth somehow, I'm not sure what people are arguing about?
Because there's so much money in pushing your proprietary bullshit connectors. It's a story as old as time itself.
 

Jeffrey

Member
Some have speculated that if Apple made bluetooth AirPods they would use the lightning port on your device to pair and charge, similar to how the Apple Pencil. So in that case, you'd take your phone out, plug the headphone into the lightning port, wait a few seconds (Apple Pencil gives 30 minutes of use for 15 seconds of charging) and be on your way. Seems like that'd be shorter than going back in the house and finding a pair of wired headphones.

headphones definitely need more juice than the pencil lol. And then there will be no way to charge the headsets outside of a female lighting to usb cable which I'm not sure they sell?




Because there's so much money in pushing your proprietary bullshit connectors. It's a story as old as time itself.

The issue is that these ports are already on existing phones, so lighting/type-c headphones won't make people open up their wallet for a new phone (unless there is some fancy features that requires them). And with the amount of shitty knockoff apple earbuds I see on my commute, I can't imagine there is a huge audience of people that give a damn about 'better audio' to begin with compare to a higher definition/bigger screen.

I'm sure this will all iron out eventually, like when lightning cable was first introduced, but this could be a rough year or so for iphone unless their marketing spin is pitch perfect.

And people been trying to move away from proprietary stuff for years.
 

Two Words

Member
- audio quality is the same to me
- i don't notice any latency issues (mouths sync up with movies etc..)
- low battery life is a concern but i have 3 pairs
- battery drain doesn't matter to me. I'd have to charge my phone during the day with or without bluetooh
- pair and unpair isn't that difficult but could use some improvement
- I don't know much about DAC but if it's in the headphones, wouldn't the consumer then have the ability to purchase headphones with a better DAC?

Bluetooth or alternative needs improvement and hopefully we'll get it when forced to.
So the solution is to:
- Ignore the clear and empirical quality difference in wired audio and compressed wireless audio.
- Ignore the clear and empirical difference in latency.
-Buy and carry around 3 charged headphones at all times.
- Stop caring that you have to charge our phones more often.
- Deal with pairing.
-- Make sure those 3 headphones we bought are all high quality so that it doesn't have a crappy DAC.


Do all that and we can get back to enjoying our headphones but now wirelessly. All that even though all of this can be done exactly like this on the iPhone 6s along with wired headphones support.
 

mjontrix

Member
Somewhat off topic, but are rumors indicating the new Macbook Pro is removing the headphone jack as well? I'm thinking about making the switch to Apple when that launches, but no headphone jack would be a deal breaker.

Keeping headphone jack but no USB 3.0 ports only USB-C apparently.
 

Deku Tree

Member
What an un-apple thing to do. IDK Jony. Smh at this rumor. If you gotta include an adaptor and you don't include lightening headphones then IDK.
 

P44

Member
Deutsche Bank is going down the pan anyway.

Sorry I'm just upset that the iPhone 7 doesn't have a 3.5mm jack.
 
I seriously don't understand why anyone needs the phone to be thinner. Anyway I'm totally getting the S7 Edge of true

Phones are thin and light enough. I feel like my 6 plus is going to slip out of my hands every time use it without the medium sized case I bought for it.
 
I've been planning to buy an iPhone 7 for over a year now. If there's no jack, no sale. Might wait to see if Apple comes to their senses next year or just switch to Android.

This. I'll just keep my 6+.
No headphone jack is a deal breaker

And those is the thread saying "move on its time for the future", the problem is that I have multiple pairs of high-end headphones. They work with everything, and will continue to. I'm not replacing them, nor listening to some compressed bullshit because someone else decided the phone needed to fit in their skinny jeans.
 

AHA-Lambda

Member
i want a thinner phone. i support apple with getting rid of the headphone jack. we're living in the future mate. time to get rid of the past.

Makes no sense, wtf does that mean?

"Let's get rid of dependable technology for something worse cos it's old!"
 

Purkake4

Banned
The issue is that these ports are already on existing phones, so lighting/type-c headphones won't make people open up their wallet for a new phone (unless there is some fancy features that requires them). And with the amount of shitty knockoff apple earbuds I see on my commute, I can't imagine there is a huge audience of people that give a damn about 'better audio' to begin with compare to a higher definition/bigger screen.

I'm sure this will all iron out eventually, like when lightning cable was first introduced, but this could be a rough year or so for iphone unless their marketing spin is pitch perfect.

And people been trying to move away from proprietary stuff for years.
You slowly phase out the analog jack, charge headphone makers for licence fees to use your proprietary connector and charge people for using your notoriously crappy dongle. Take a little backlash in the beginning for locking people in and guaranteeing profits in the long term.

Bonus for people only being able to use their stuff with your devices.
 
So the solution is to:
- Ignore the clear and empirical quality difference in wired audio and compressed wireless audio.
- Ignore the clear and empirical difference in latency.
-Buy and carry around 3 charged headphones at all times.
- Stop caring that you have to charge our phones more often.
- Deal with pairing.
-- Make sure those 3 headphones we bought are all high quality so that it doesn't have a crappy DAC.


Do all that and we can get back to enjoying our headphones but now wirelessly. All that even though all of this can be done exactly like this on the iPhone 6s along with wired headphones support.

I'm optimistic that innovation, because of this move, will supersede the benefits of the 3.5 mm.
 

Two Words

Member
I'm optimistic that innovation, because of this move, will supersede the benefits of the 3.5 mm.
What innovation? Wireless technology is applicable in so many fields. There are so many areas where the need for better wireless technology serves as a catalyst for innovation. It's not like a bunch of engineers are going to suddenly get their shit together because suddenly the 3.5mm port is gone on the iPhone.
 

border

Member
Including the dongle with the phone solves the problem for most people.

Not including Lightning headphones would be kind of an embarrassment though. You can't take away the audio port and then pack in a set of headphones that won't even work with the phone natively.
 

knicks

Member
dongle.jpg
 

Duxxy3

Member
Good luck with that.

While Apple is at it, why don't they change the wall charger so that it requires a special apple wall socket. Because that makes just as much sense.
 

bman94

Member
The Floppy drives/DVD drives argument is so stupid to me. They were phased out cause there were clearly better products on the market for those mediums. Taking out the standard headphone jack is a much bigger issue than changing optical media.

Bluetooth isn't at the quality yet to beat wired connections, it takes up your battery way faster than standard headphones and everything isn't compatible with them yet. Yeah I got Bluetooth headphones and their great for working out and not having a cord for certain tasks but proprietary bullshit just means I can't use the headphones for my computer, my 3DS, my SUV, my Wii U etc. There's a reason why it's "standard", it works for everything.
 

The Real Abed

Perma-Junior
So the solution is to:
-Buy and carry around 3 charged headphones at all times.
I have faith that they already solved this given their most recent history with battery enhancements in other products.

They created a process to layer batteries so they can make any shape they need.
They came up with a way to charge the batteries in their smaller devices in a super fast amount of time like their new mouse, trackpad, keyboard and Pencil. They all take like 15 seconds for 30 minutes on the Pencil. I could see the headphones taking a minute of charge time to give you a days worth of listening. Either way I'm sure they figured something out.

We'll see come September, but I'm sure they've thought this through if they're making a decision like this.

Not to say it's the right decision. It's a polarizing one at the very least.

Either way come September, I'll either have a brand new iPhone 7+ or a cheaper leftover 6S+. (I'll make my decision based on what "must have" feature the 7 has. The 3D Touch feature in the 6S is enough for me to not go even further down and just get a 6+. But if the 7+ doesn't have something worth it, I'll gladly go down to a 6S+.)
 

Jeffrey

Member
I have faith that they already solved this given their most recent history with battery enhancements in other products.

They created a process to layer batteries so they can make any shape they need.
They came up with a way to charge the batteries in their smaller devices in a super fast amount of time like their new mouse, trackpad, keyboard and Pencil. They all take like 15 seconds for 30 minutes on the Pencil. I could see the headphones taking a minute of charge time to give you a days worth of listening. Either way I'm sure they figured something out.

We'll see come September, but I'm sure they've thought this through if they're making a decision like this.

Not to say it's the right decision. It's a polarizing one at the very least.

Either way come September, I'll either have a brand new iPhone 7+ or a cheaper leftover 6S+. (I'll make my decision based on what "must have" feature the 7 has. The 3D Touch feature in the 6S is enough for me to not go even further down and just get a 6+. But if the 7+ doesn't have something worth it, I'll gladly go down to a 6S+.)


Never get a 6+. The 1gb ram is a huge limitation for iOS 8 and 9 especially at 1080p.

Probably the worst performing ios device I've owned and all of them besides 6s.
 
It uses the charging port? What the fuck? Why not at least have 2 lightning ports? What an awful, awful design. Didn't one of the recent macbooks do this where it only had a single port and people hated it?
 

Polari

Member
I seriously don't understand why anyone needs the phone to be thinner. Anyway I'm totally getting the S7 Edge of true

I would take a 4000+ mah battery and an extra mm of thickness in heartbeat, although I assume they've done research that shows I'm in the minority.
 

The Real Abed

Perma-Junior
Never get a 6+. The 1gb ram is a huge limitation for iOS 8 and 9 especially at 1080p.

Probably the worst performing ios device I've owned and all of them besides 6s.
Exactly why I wouldn't go lower than a 6S+. 3D Touch and more RAM make it a no-brainer...

...If the 7 is underwhelming that is. Of course knowing Apple they'll add some feature I just won't want to live without and will just put up with not having a headphone jack. (Which is fine for me anyway since lately I just listen to my music in my car over Bluetooth. So no headphone jack isn't a deal breaker. However if there isn't some brand new must have feature on the lowest end 7+ I'll gladly just get a 6S+. Unless the 7 has like 4GB RAM and starts with 64GB at the base line.... Hahahaha... right. We'll be lucky to have that by 2020.)
 

collige

Banned
I have faith that they already solved this given their most recent history with battery enhancements in other products.

They created a process to layer batteries so they can make any shape they need.
They came up with a way to charge the batteries in their smaller devices in a super fast amount of time like their new mouse, trackpad, keyboard and Pencil. They all take like 15 seconds for 30 minutes on the Pencil. I could see the headphones taking a minute of charge time to give you a days worth of listening. Either way I'm sure they figured something out.

So what you're really saying is that in the best case scenario, the only good headphones you can use native on your new iPhone will be made by Apple.
 

Polari

Member
It uses the charging port? What the fuck? Why not at least have 2 lightning ports? What an awful, awful design. Didn't one of the recent macbooks do this where it only had a single port and people hated it?

The Macbook only has a single Lightning port.
 

The Real Abed

Perma-Junior
So what you're really saying is that in the best case scenario, the only good headphones you can use native on your new iPhone will be made by Apple.
Probably.

Unless other third parties step up their game.

Of course we haven't even seen Apple's yet. IF they even made bluetooth headphones. For all we know they might literally just be putting out Lightning headphones. I'm just saying IF they do do Bluetooth ones, they'll have pretty good batteries and quick charging if their newest battery powered peripherals are anything to go by.

Hypothetically of course.

I don't really care since as I mentioned above, all my music consumption lately has been through my car speakers anyway. I haven't worn headphones in a couple months now.
 
Including the dongle with the phone solves the problem for most people.

Such a clunky way to solve a (non-)problem.

"Oh here, we took out a headphone jack for reasons, but here, have a headphone jack dongle that makes what we did completely irrelevant! Not to mention, it adds MORE space that we tried to eliminate in the first place!"

And I say this as someone who exclusively uses bluetooth because headphones don't work very well with cochlear implants.
 

Cipherr

Member
Getting rid of the audio jack is absolutely stupid. I want to make that clear.

But holy hell.. Including the converter dongle for free is a step forward for Apple. Seriously. Especially if it doesn't fall apart in 2 weeks forcing you to buy another on their site for a ridiculous price.

It's small, but its progress.
 
- audio quality is the same to me
- i don't notice any latency issues (mouths sync up with movies etc..)
- low battery life is a concern but i have 3 pairs
- battery drain doesn't matter to me. I'd have to charge my phone during the day with or without bluetooh
- pair and unpair isn't that difficult but could use some improvement
- I don't know much about DAC but if it's in the headphones, wouldn't the consumer then have the ability to purchase headphones with a better DAC?

Bluetooth or alternative needs improvement and hopefully we'll get it when forced to.

This is such a bizarre defense. You're basically arguing against facts with "Don't care. Doesnt matter. Big deal."
 

mrklaw

MrArseFace
I'm all in. I don't care about the headphone jack, it's time to usher in new tech and someone had to do it. The dongle thing will be forgotten within a week because it'll just work.

I think the positives will outweigh the negatives. It's just a shame that nobody will able to afford the new phones considering the prices in Aus.

What new tech are they introducing? If they are literally moving the 3.5mm to the end of a dongle - even for their pack-in headphones - they aren't adding anything except bulk.

How do you keep your phone charged while using headphones? Eg on a long car trip using GPS.

Or when you inevitably lose/forget the dongle? Right now if you lose your headphones you can grab a £5 pair from almost anywhere. Dongles won't be anywhere near as available
 

SURGEdude

Member
Never get a 6+. The 1gb ram is a huge limitation for iOS 8 and 9 especially at 1080p.

Probably the worst performing ios device I've owned and all of them besides 6s.

Agreed. I usually skip the S year but the difference is night and day. The 6+ is certainly the worst aging iOS device I've ever seen. With the budget 5C being close but far more forgivable.

The Macbook only has a single Lightning port.

Do you mean USB-C?
 
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