iPhone 7 ** Rumours & Discussion **

According to 9to5 Mac Apple will drop the 3.5mm headphone jack in an effort to create 'the thinnest iPhone ever' for the iPhone 7.

Headphones will either connect via Bluetooth or the Lightning port, requiring 3.5mm headphones to work with a Lightning adapter.

Is this another 'Apple Innovation' akin to dropping the floppy disk drive? Or is it a ridiculous step on the road towards the anorexification of all our devices?

Personally, I don't like the idea that my custom IEMs and noise-cancelling headphones will no longer work with my phone without an adapter. I've not been impressed with the audio quality of BT headphones I've tried and don't really want to fork out for even more tech after dropping £600-odd on a phone.

I'd also be happier with a 1mm thicker phone if it meant better battery life.

Is this really only a problem for audiophiles or could it be one step too far for the Apple masses?

It'll sell to the masses, because they'll see it as an innovation. Personally I see it as another excuse to scalp people for hideously overpriced accessories, and be reliant on charging another device or lugging an adapter around.

I'm with on you the battery life thing, Apple have got it in their head that it's perfectly acceptable to charge a device every day. It's a poor design decision from a company who have a previously strong track record of making some great advances in functionality as well as aesthetics.

I'm by no means an audiophile, but plugging in my budget/mid-range IEMs of which I have a pair at home and work into my device is a bit of a must have feature. Spending £50-100 on a pair of BT headphones which I then have to carry around with me should I want to listen to music is not.

I don't have an iPhone, but I can't say it's something that would bother me. I don't like wired earphones and at least they're offering the functionality via an adapter.

There'll be third party adapters for next to nothing in no time as well, so I can't really see that being an issue.

I don't even think it's about "innovation", I think it's because it's likely to do with convenience. Wireless earphones are more convenient as there's nothing to get tangled up with.

I see where you're coming from with regards to the wires, but I'd take 20 seconds of cable untangling over being stuck on a train with a pair of dead BT headphones.

The other thing that bothers me about needing an apadpter is how big it is / how much it sticks out. Apadpter + headphone jack could potentially put a lot of stress on the Lightning port.

I'll be semi tolerant of this as I only really use headphones at work and have a dock.

As much as I admire the innovation and the design that goes into the iPhone. I'm really not bothered about it being thinner.
By all means ditch the headphone socket as long as the lightening adapter isn't to large, keep the current design but use that extra space to house a larger capacity battery.

randal said:

I see where you're coming from with regards to the wires, but I'd take 20 seconds of cable untangling over being stuck on a train with a pair of dead BT headphones.

Click to expand...

That's why I take a power bank with me if I'm out in such a situation.

From my usage, the convenience of no dangling wires trumps everything else. I nearly always get the cable snagged on something with wired earphones.

I'm more saying that phones not having 3.5mm jacks doesn't bother me, rather than the pursuit of ever thinner phones.

Meh. We all got used to ethernet -> thunderbolt adapters. I'm sure we'll get used to this too.

Buying Apple means buying adapters.

The thing is, I don't think any one REALLY cares about having a thinner phone, most people have there iPhone in a case... increasing its thickness.

I would rather have a more durable thicker phone with a bigger battery than a stupidly thin phone that I can't plug headphones into.

Also if the phone gets much thinner it will be so easy to bend, we are already having issues at this thickness.

As others have said, Bluetooth is great, until they run out. When most decent non bulky pairs last for 12-16 hours, they certainly will!

How do you listen and charge at the same time?

Considering the camera module and 3.5mm jack seem to be holding back the thinness of devices,

I would have thought that Apple would remove them from the device and have them via lightning adapter


Want to take a picture? buy the adapter with the camera module

Want to listen to music? buy the adapter to connect your headphones


EDIT: with every iteration the device decreases in thickness - perhaps we will get to the point where they are selling the Iphone 16s - now 0mm...

panyan said:

Considering the camera module and 3.5mm jack seem to be holding back the thinness of devices,

I would have thought that Apple would remove them from the device and have them via lightning adapter


Want to take a picture? buy the adapter with the camera module

Want to listen to music? buy the adapter to connect your headphones


EDIT: with every iteration the device decreases in thickness - perhaps we will get to the point where they are selling the Iphone 16s - now 0mm...

Click to expand...

Irish_Tom said:

The other thing that bothers me about needing an apadpter is how big it is / how much it sticks out. Apadpter + headphone jack could potentially put a lot of stress on the Lightning port.

Click to expand...

Not just that, what's the point in making a thinner Iphone and losing the jack and then having to add an adapter onto it making it more of a hassle than leaving the headphone jack on in the first place.

Monkeynut said:

How do you listen and charge at the same time?

Click to expand...

This is what I thought.

Honestly I think Apple will just go wireless once a decent % of all headphones are, and the connection/quality is solid across a decent range (Right now you need to spend a lot more £ to get similar sound quality).

Headphone jacks are huge, one of the most standard ports across basically ever single device, needing some extra dongle seems stupid, and replacing it is also stupid unless your dropping the wire all together.

Providing the phone comes with an adapter, it's all good.

Genius from apple, want to listen to music buy an iPod!

Silly decision IMO. I with the few of you that would prefer a thicker phone with a headphone jack and bigger battery.

Monkeynut said:

How do you listen and charge at the same time?

Click to expand...

They'll probably call it a"Lightning Port Splitter". It will no doubt be the most radical splitter ever. An innovation so advanced, it lets you charge your iPhone and listen to music at the same time.

Yours for only $89.99

This is probably just Apple testing the water to see people's reactions.

Zero chance of it happening on the iP7 imo.

Didn't they say this about iPhone 6?

It won't happen.