Apple’s crazy headphone plan isn’t crazy at all
There’s a lot of folks trying to come to terms with Apple’s anticipated move to abandon the headphone jack in iPhone 7. Some people even seem to think it’s an outlandish idea that the market isn’t ready for. “Apple must be crazy,” they whine.
Apple is crazy. Like a fox.
In fact over 50 per cent of headphones sold are already wireless, and these pans will become even better with Bluetooth 5.0.
“Promotions and new product introductions have helped spur the growth we are seeing in Bluetooth headphones,” said Ben Arnold, executive director, industry analyst for The NPD Group. “Consumers are already embracing a wireless future and if, as rumored, the headphone jack is removed from the next iPhone, we expect this will continue to drive market share of the Bluetooth category.”
Some people are as upset about Apple dropping the ancient (more than 50 years old) 3.5mm analog headphone jack and replacing it with higher quality digital audio with other digital features, as some other people were upset about Apple dropping the 3.5″ floppy disk and replacing it with a CD-R drive.
There are always some people who are reluctant to give up obsolete technologies, regardless of the many benefits of the newer technologies that replace them.
Yes, the 3.5mm jack is old. No, it has NOT been superseded by new tech. It has lower distortion, better efficiency and lower cost than alternative approaches. Versus Lightning, it means earphones need processing power offboard, processing that already exists in the phones. (Have you noticed: phones need to ring, have speaker-phones, etc. Adding circuitry around your ears will be purely duplicative of such circuits in the phone.)
The floppy etc were replaced when apps and databases needed MORE storage, faster storage and more reliability. Sadly, Lightning—and even more, BlueTooth—are simply worse on equivalent measures. The one real benefit, BlueTooth wirelessness, comes with drawbacks such as needing separate battery chargers, more weight and more expense.
The real issue is that floppies were a small part of the Macs but many of us have headphones that cost as much as an iPhone, and it’s not possible today to get comparable fidelity from the Lightning or Bluetooth headsets, even if we wanted to spend the hundreds of dollars.
I think it’s the focus on the lack and the lack of focus on the benefits that characterises current reporting — the capacity to make the entire display usable, potential for haptic and the potential of true digital audio are quite attractive. In musical terms if I do have a problem it is my continued desire for CD quality music, I want an Apple Lossless Music service as the a la carte iTunes sale option, with lower quality streaming/access as the Apple Music option. I can see why it should happen — lots of musicians want their music to be heard at high quality — but unfortunately it still looks a way from coming through, Tidal or no.