In the latest magazine issue of Macworld, Michael Simon writes about Apple’s courage to remove the headphone jack.
At the iPhone 7 introduction, Apple VP Phil Schiller talked about having the “courage” to make the change, to leave the headphone jack behind. At the time it was kind of cringe-worthy…But you know what? He was right. It might have sounded like the reality distortion field on steroids, but Apple’s decision to remove the headphone jack from its most popular product wasn’t a flippant design whim. It was the start of a new strategy that would bring convenience, simplicity, and downright delight.
This is part of Andrew’s News+ series, where he shares a magazine every Friday to help people discover good content in Apple News+.
Check It Out: News+: Apple’s Courage to Remove the Headphone Jack
Apple has put the headphone jack back into the 13” MacBook Pro. Sanity has bubbled to the surface.
Dumb decision.
– It forces you to buy adapters in order to use your non-Bluetooth expensive wired headphones.
– prices of Bluetooth headphones of equal sound quality to wired ones are higher
– at the volume Apple was buying the headphone jacks for their products, the cost savings was infinitesimally small
– the decision was made only to allow a thinner phone
1. No, Apple ships a free audiophile-quality adapter in the box.
2. Apple didn’t do this for “cost savings”, so that’s not relevant.
3. You obviously have no clue why the decision was made, have done zero reading on the benefits of it, and should avoid commenting in public about it until you get more clue.
Let me give you a hint: more room in the case for other components, better water resistance and resistance vs. dust, the case is tougher with fewer weak points in it from holes, etc., etc., etc.
Good points Baritone.
As to a thinner iPhone. Out of the box they are bit too thin, and slick surfaced, for my taste. but when I put the iPhone in a case then it feels well and more secure in my hand.
Here’s some clues
– no adapter ships with phones now. It’s only $9, but apparently it’s not very good. Of 839 reviews of it in the Apple store, the avg star rating is 1.5. Other brands are available.
– It certainly helps with the waterproofness and dust resistance
– If you have multiple devices, some with and some without the 3.5 mm phone jack, it’s not very convenient.
– I didn’t claim they did it for a cost reduction
– it does save some volume in the phone case – about 0.25 cu in.
As for your statement “You obviously have no clue why the decision was made, have done zero reading on the benefits of it, and should avoid commenting in public about it until you get more clue.”: you should avoid making comments in public’s with claims like this, as you have no clue what I’ve read on the subject.
More like arrogance than courage. They forever eliminate things that are a convenience to users, forcing you to buy extra peripherals to keep your Mac from being in perpetual obsolescence. I still can’t forgive a mouse that’s unusable while it’s charging. No way was I going to buy a second Magic Mouse 2 to reward them for THAT, so I went with another brand.
Courage my ass. Doesn’t Apple know they are the laughing stock of the Web with their incessant removal of jacks in favor of ugly proprietary dongles? Now you can’t plug in regular cans on the iOS toys?? No wonder Apple continues to lose market share.
Explain why every other major phone manufacturer has done exactly what Apple did.
“This is part of Andrew’s News+ series, where he shares a magazine every Friday to help people discover good content in Apple News+.”
Last month I signed up for the free trial of News+ and have decided to keep the subscription. I am looking forward to seeing more publications added, but I am enjoying the history, science, and cooking magazines, some other subjects as well.
Not all of us live where Apple News can be accessed you know?
I understand, and that’s why this is limited to one link per week.
Perhaps also include the link to the normal web page if you’re going to insist on highlighting News+ articles that aren’t freely available?