My colleague, Gordon Kelly wrote about Apple's possible plans to abandon the standard 3.5mm headphone jack recently. There are some plus points here of course, both for Apple and iPhone owners before I start my dishing out my scathing criticisms. Firstly, as Gordon rightly pointed out, the removal of the jack will mean there's more space for Apple inside the device, assuming it opts for its single proprietary Lighting port as the means to connect your headphones.
For end users this could mean more features such as higher quality audio while the extra space would allow a bigger battery - as you can see in my photo above inside the iPhone 6, that 3.5mm headphone jack takes up quite a bit of space south of the battery. Apple could easily extend the battery into this space, or do as Gordon also mentioned and introduce wireless charging to the iPhone 7 - something I'm very keen to see.
However, there are some big issues here too. My biggest concern is for headphones. The stock Apple headphones aren't worth the materials they're made with - they're absolutely dire and leak sound like an open-air rock concert. At the moment, though, there's a huge range of good aftermarket models from $30 SoundMagic E10's to headphones retailing for hundreds of dollars. If Apple forces manufacturers to use its proprietary headphone connector, this will mean two things: It will cost you more to buy a set of headphones for your iPhone as Apple will undoubtedly charge a fee to headset manufacturers for using its Lightning connector. Secondly, while Apple accessories are very popular, it will mean less choice, especially at the low end of the market.
One way round this is a possible Lightning to 3.5mm jack adaptor; this could work if you just use one set of headphones with your iPhone, but it certainly makes the device less flexible. This is pure speculation too - it may not even be possible. Also, what will it mean for charging? I regularly charge my device at the same time as listening to music using portable batteries or charging cases and while wireless charging is a feature I'd love to see introduced, I can't see how this could be used while on the move to allow simultaneous charging and use of the Lightning port for audio.
One option would be a magnetic wireless charging module that attaches to a powerpack - much like those for other wireless charging-compatible smartphones. Quite what this will mean for case designers, though, is another matter. Battery charging case manufacturers may have to find a way to use the Lightning port simultaneously for charging and audio. At the moment few if any have managed to use a Lighting port on their devices - Apple has locked down its connector so tightly that most use a micro-USB port instead.
Could this all be hyperbole? Absolutely, especially given what I've said above, but also because the exact same was said before the iPhone 6 launch when Apple bought Dr Dre's Beats for $3bn back in 2014. I'm not totally against Apple ditching the 3.5mm headphone jack, so long as the iPhone still remains flexible in terms of charging and that the cost of headphones doesn't skyrocket. Sadly, I fear the latter may be inevitable.
