TR Forums

End User wrote:

Apple may have been the first to eliminate the 3.5mm jack but USB Type-C will kill it:

Device manufacturers can eliminate the need for multiple ports and efficiently deliver data, power and video over a single connector with USB Type-C and USB Power Delivery.

http://www.usb.org/press/USB-IF_Press_R ... _FINAL.pdf

LostCat wrote:

Replacing a single purpose jack that a lot of people don't use with a multipurpose connector that everyone does.

jihadjoe wrote:

LostCat wrote:

Replacing a single purpose jack that a lot of people don't use with a multipurpose connector that everyone does.

That's utterly false, and this small chart will show you exactly why they are doing it:


See, wired headphones still account for the vast majority of headphone sales, but wireless is obviously much more profitable, with their 17% share making more money than the 83% that wired does.. Apple, owning a headphone company stands to make big profit by killing off the 3.5mm jack and forcing people to buy lightning or wireless.

So rather than "replacing a single purpose jack that a lot of people don't use", it's "replacing a standard jack that a lot of people use with your own proprietary/more profitable connector". (Proprietary being lightning, more profitable being lightning and/or bluetooth).

Source

The Verge wrote:

As pictured above, you can see a piece of plastic sits behind the ingress protection (waterproofing!), right where the headphone jack would have been. And ([size=120][font=Helvetica, sans-serif]update!) according to Apple it's a "barometric vent." Apparently adding all the waterproofing to the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus meant that it was more of a sealed box, and so to be able to have an accurate and working barometer, Apple used that space. The barometer is the thing that allows a phone to measure altitude, and Apple points out that on the iPhone 7 it can measure even minor changes like climbing a flight of stairs.[/font][/size]

Apple has also been pretty consistent in arguing that the removal of the headphone jack isn't just about the precise physical space that's right there on the bottom-left of the phone. As [color=#fa4b2a][size=120][font=Helvetica, sans-serif]BuzzFeed reported, Apple says it's more about the entire thing — the Taptic engine, the larger battery, easier waterproofing, the top speaker, the antennas, etc.[/font][/size][/color]

just brew it! wrote:

Do you REALLY believe they had no choice but to put the barometric vent where the headphone jack was because they couldn't figure out any other way? I call BS on that.

techguy wrote:

just brew it! wrote:

Do you REALLY believe they had no choice but to put the barometric vent where the headphone jack was because they couldn't figure out any other way? I call BS on that.

Are you an engineer?  Do you *know* that?

techguy wrote:

Are you an engineer?  Do you *know* that?  

just brew it! wrote:

End User wrote:

Apple may have been the first to eliminate the 3.5mm jack but USB Type-C will kill it:

Device manufacturers can eliminate the need for multiple ports and efficiently deliver data, power and video over a single connector with USB Type-C and USB Power Delivery.

http://www.usb.org/press/USB-IF_Press_R ... _FINAL.pdf

Delivering audio and power over USB has been a standard for years already, and video over USB is a niche use case. I don't see how this materially changes things unless you're dealing with a VR headset.

The 3.5mm jack will be around for a long time yet, because it "just works".

End User wrote:

just brew it! wrote:

End User wrote:

Apple may have been the first to eliminate the 3.5mm jack but USB Type-C will kill it:


http://www.usb.org/press/USB-IF_Press_R ... _FINAL.pdf

Delivering audio and power over USB has been a standard for years already, and video over USB is a niche use case. I don't see how this materially changes things unless you're dealing with a VR headset.

The 3.5mm jack will be around for a long time yet, because it "just works".

Nope:

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Lenovo-Mot ... 587.0.html

Type-C marks the end of the 3.5mm jack.

whm1974 wrote:

End User wrote:

just brew it! wrote:

Delivering audio and power over USB has been a standard for years already, and video over USB is a niche use case. I don't see how this materially changes things unless you're dealing with a VR headset.

The 3.5mm jack will be around for a long time yet, because it "just works".

Nope:

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Lenovo-Mot ... 587.0.html

Type-C marks the end of the 3.5mm jack.

Nope, we will see phones with both the 3.5mm jack and USB Type-C ports.

just brew it! wrote:

Oh, great... so Apple and Lenovo have both opted to ditch the 3.5mm, but have gone with DIFFERENT standards for their digital audio jack?

Looks like the Lenovo also suffers from the "can't use the headphone jack and charge the phone at the same time" issue.

Idiotic.

whm1974 wrote:

Nope, we will see phones with both the 3.5mm jack and USB Type-C ports.

Captain Ned wrote:

whm1974 wrote:

Nope, we will see phones with both the 3.5mm jack and USB Type-C ports.

It's called a Nexus 6P.

just brew it! wrote:

and the fact that wireless headphones/earbuds have built-in planned obsolescence since the batteries will eventually stop holding a charge. More expensive *and* I have to replace them (or have them serviced) in 3 years? No thanks!

End User wrote:

Captain Ned wrote:

whm1974 wrote:

Nope, we will see phones with both the 3.5mm jack and USB Type-C ports.

It's called a Nexus 6P.

Or a Google Pixel/Pixel XL.

The shift to USB Type-C as the only port will happen over the next few years. iPhone 7 sales alone show that consumers are not put off by the lack the 3.5mm jack. Apple will take the heat for the switchover. Other manufactures will quietly kill the 3.5mm jack a year or two from now.

End User wrote:

The shift to USB Type-C as the only port will happen over the next few years. iPhone 7 sales alone show that consumers are not put off by the lack the 3.5mm jack. Apple will take the heat for the switchover. Other manufactures will quietly kill the 3.5mm jack a year or two from now.

End User wrote:

just brew it! wrote:

and the fact that wireless headphones/earbuds have built-in planned obsolescence since the batteries will eventually stop holding a charge. More expensive *and* I have to replace them (or have them serviced) in 3 years? No thanks!

So true yet I will never go back to wired headphones as far as my mobile needs are concerned. Bluetooth all the way.

whm1974 wrote:

I think it will take longer then that, and that a few manufacturers at least will produce phones with both features for a long time.

Notable, neither the Le Max2 or S3 offer headphone jacks, but the international Le Max2 and Le2 both included USB to 3.5mm adapters in the box.

K-L-Waster wrote:

End User wrote:

just brew it! wrote:

and the fact that wireless headphones/earbuds have built-in planned obsolescence since the batteries will eventually stop holding a charge. More expensive *and* I have to replace them (or have them serviced) in 3 years? No thanks!

So true yet I will never go back to wired headphones as far as my mobile needs are concerned. Bluetooth all the way.

I still fail to understand how your (perfectly reasonable) decision to switch to wireless means that every device in the world needs to ditch 3.5mm and it can't happen soon enough? Why this overwhelming need to remove options?

Ikepuska wrote:

At the end of the day the question is simply will the 3.5mm jack exist on cellphones or not. I think it will, but whether it is internally or through an adapter, I don't know.

End User wrote:

Ikepuska wrote:

At the end of the day the question is simply will the 3.5mm jack exist on cellphones or not. I think it will, but whether it is internally or through an adapter, I don't know.

The mobile phone industry will quickly abandon the on device 3.5mm port. The USB Audio Device Class 3.0 specification, which standardizes audio over USB Type-C interface, was the final nail in coffin for the 3.5 mm jack in the smartphone market. The change has already begun.

End User wrote:

Ikepuska wrote:

At the end of the day the question is simply will the 3.5mm jack exist on cellphones or not. I think it will, but whether it is internally or through an adapter, I don't know.

The mobile phone industry will quickly abandon the on device 3.5mm port. 

End User wrote:

As far as cabled headphones go both USB and Lightning have us covered. Time to move on.

just brew it! wrote:

End User wrote:

As far as cabled headphones go both USB and Lightning have us covered. Time to move on.

It adds cost, limits consumer choice, and given there are two different standards, it ties the headphones to being used with only a subset of the devices out there. What if I have one device that uses Lightning and one that uses USB? Do I need two sets of headphones? Extra adapters? Yuck.