In an ideal world, Apple would come up with a replacement analog jack that's not as deep (less depth translates to more battery space without necessarily making

In an ideal world, Apple would come up with a replacement analog jack that's not as deep (less depth translates to more battery space without necessarily making the phone thicker or heavier). The jack is ~50 years old, and there are issues with it, so there's space for improvement. Going all digital sounds like a crappy idea, though. The phones have good DACs, and you generally don't get enough crosstalk inside a phone to justify moving the DAC outside the hardware with a dongle/box.