Apple To Abandon Headphone Jack? New Leak Reveals Massive Gamble
17 months ago, I called it. Apple AAPL -0.85% opened up its MFi (Made For) licensing program to include headphones which use its proprietary Lightning port and I predicted this would lead to it replacing the standard 3.5mm headphone jack “in a few years”. Now this move looks to be underway…Picked up by the ever reliable 9to5Mac, it reports that “Apple plans to remove the 3.5mm headphone port from the upcoming iPhone 7, helping to achieve a ‘more than 1mm’ reduction in thickness compared to the iPhone 6S.” This would create the thinnest iPhone ever made.
It also states that Apple will bundle EarPods which use the Lightning connector with the next iPhone and that they will incorporate a small digital to analog converter into the connector. From that point onwards Apple would also require third-party wired headphone makers to bundle Lightning adaptors with its 3.5mm headphones or make them Lightning port only to gain Apple MFi certification.
The Arguments For
So why would Apple do this? For starters it is important to stress than until the words come directly from Apple’s mouth, there is no 100% guarantee that it will happen. Furthermore, despite the building evidence, it feels premature for me and I would have thought such a bold move wouldn’t happen until the next major redesign after the iPhone 7, which would be the iPhone 8 in 2018.
That said, from Apple’s perspective, the move makes a lot of sense. It can gain control over the last industry standard port on the iPhone for increased revenue and licensing potential. It can potentially create ‘smart earphones/headphones’ thanks to the direct digital connection to the phone which could tie into apps, notifications and more creating another differentiator from the competition. And last, but not least, sales of dedicated Lightning headphones would prove another powerful way to lock users into its ecosystem.
0 comments:
Post a Comment