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I just re-watched the "courage" part of the iPhone 7 keynote where Apple gave their reasons for removing the headphone jack. There were three: 1) Lightning is

I just re-watched the "courage" part of the iPhone 7 keynote where Apple gave their reasons for removing the headphone jack. There were three: 1) Lightning is a great connector for audio. 2) The headphone jack takes a lot of space and they want to use that space for other stuff. 3) Apple has a "vision of how audio should work" on phones and they want to "get there as soon as possible." That was a lead-in to talking about Airpods Note that they underscored that #3 was the "most important" reason they made the move. #2 always made sense to me and I gave Apple a bit of a pass on removing the jack for that reason, but this thread's article shows that it was bogus, at least for the iphone 7. That leaves #1 and #3, both of which involve Apple taking a a bigger cut of headphone sales. While #1 is true, it's not where the rest of the audio market is. And #3 (remember their "most important" reason) basically can be translated to "We want to sell you Airpods." So it seems it really could have been all about Apple making more money, not about their users. Possible exception being long-term benefits created by moving the market in a particular direction. (disclaimer: Android user, who prefers using bluetooth headphones anyway, but at least that means I don't have a horse in this particular race... :) )

epmaybe 9y ago
#2 really isn't bogus, at least in the way you described it. In the video, he mentions that he broke the screen two or three times in trying to get everything to fit. Now that everything fits, what happens if he drops it? Could Apple engineer up a way to prevent a high failure rate on the LCD display? Maybe, but there's no way to know. On top of this, the author had to remove the "barometric vent". I don't find a lot of use in having an altimeter or barometer in my smartphone, but I do know that some apps take advantage of it (Dark Sky). Apple probably wants it to push some activity tracking feature, like the number of steps you've taken.
- torgoguys 9y ago
  Sure, those objections are fair, but we are talking about someone who had to work with what Apple gave him as a starting point. Apple itself would have had a lot more latitude in design since they specify the layout, and because of that, I think it is also fair to say that the article still provides strong evidence that if Apple were doing it, they probably could have included a headphone jack without compromises.
  - epmaybe 9y ago
    True, if Apple wanted to they could have changed the design. But, if we're going to talk about what Apple could have done with the design, I'm sure that we have many more grievances than the headphone jack. Thicker body for more battery is the classic complaint that comes to mind. That being said, the iPhone 6/6s are the same size as the 7 from what I can see. The only obvious changes are waterproofing, headphone jack, taptic engine, and lack of physical home button.
- retSava 9y ago
  Well, it's not strange that he can't fit anything more in the device without taking something out. That's not evidence that there couldn't have been made room for something in the design stage though.
tcdent 9y ago
They've done #3 before. see: floppy drives and ADB -> USB. "What about my legacy media/peripherals?"
- flukus 9y ago
  With floppy drives most people agreed it was a natural progression. Sure many argued it was premature, but most of us thought it was an eventuality that the floppy drive would disappear. That's not the case with wired headphones, I expect to be using them until the day I die.

epmaybe 9y ago

#2 really isn't bogus, at least in the way you described it. In the video, he mentions that he broke the screen two or three times in trying to get everything to fit. Now that everything fits, what happens if he drops it? Could Apple engineer up a way to prevent a high failure rate on the LCD display? Maybe, but there's no way to know. On top of this, the author had to remove the "barometric vent". I don't find a lot of use in having an altimeter or barometer in my smartphone, but I do know that some apps take advantage of it (Dark Sky). Apple probably wants it to push some activity tracking feature, like the number of steps you've taken.

torgoguys 9y ago
Sure, those objections are fair, but we are talking about someone who had to work with what Apple gave him as a starting point. Apple itself would have had a lot more latitude in design since they specify the layout, and because of that, I think it is also fair to say that the article still provides strong evidence that if Apple were doing it, they probably could have included a headphone jack without compromises.
- epmaybe 9y ago
  True, if Apple wanted to they could have changed the design. But, if we're going to talk about what Apple could have done with the design, I'm sure that we have many more grievances than the headphone jack. Thicker body for more battery is the classic complaint that comes to mind. That being said, the iPhone 6/6s are the same size as the 7 from what I can see. The only obvious changes are waterproofing, headphone jack, taptic engine, and lack of physical home button.
retSava 9y ago
Well, it's not strange that he can't fit anything more in the device without taking something out. That's not evidence that there couldn't have been made room for something in the design stage though.

tcdent 9y ago

They've done #3 before. see: floppy drives and ADB -> USB. "What about my legacy media/peripherals?"

flukus 9y ago
With floppy drives most people agreed it was a natural progression. Sure many argued it was premature, but most of us thought it was an eventuality that the floppy drive would disappear. That's not the case with wired headphones, I expect to be using them until the day I die.