Apple stiffs consumers by deleting 3.5mm audio jack from iPhone 7?

So you bought your new iPhone and once you saved up all your hard earned cash (or simply maxed out your credit card) you invested your time in research into a plethora of audio accessories, and once you’ve emotionally committed you  complemented your smartphone (which was incidentally made from cheap slave labour) with all the overpriced docking stations and audio ‘docks’, again made from cheap slave labour.

Enjoying your newly acquired audio accessories, for barely a year, your ‘brand faithful’ mind alerts you to desire the newest smartphone from Apple, but this one comes with the newest (and apparently greatest) ‘lightning’ connector.

Well now you just can’t sit your new iPhone on your previous  audio ‘investments’, you are ‘forced’ to buy new ones, which have not really come out yet, only just a sprinkle from a few suppliers.

That’s the Apple way, you excuse them.

There can and should be no doubt that the purpose of Apple or any other company for that matter is to make ‘profit’, and rightly so.

Apple doesn’t want to make any friends, if it did it would be at the pub waiting for you, therefore any decision Apple makes is to boost profits.

The above ‘connector issue’ scenario illustrates how a company ‘forces’ you to buy new products which you realistically did not have to, in order to use its new generation product.

In the ‘audio’ world it is accepted that the standard ‘consumer’ connector is the 3.5mm audio jack. There are other smartphone manufacturers that used the 2.5mm jack, but that went down like a lead balloon. Some other manufacturers like Motorola had the audio going out through the phone’s USB port.

Apple’s next generation iPhone 7 may not be entirely for YOUR benefit. Maybe a minor upgrade that companies ‘feed’ the people as the next exciting feature, which was realistically was disabled in the software/firmware.

Will you be one of the many millions justifying your purchase being a brand loyal muppet?

How can you really trust a company that was involved in stock market fraud, a company that is dodgy with YOUR personal information?

We do not support or recommend Apple products whatsoever.

Read the smh.com.au article from 1 December 2015 of the headline:

Rumour: Apple's iPhone 7 to ditch 3.5mm headphone jack

Apple is considering dropping the circular 3.5 millimetre jack from its next iPhone, opting instead to integrate headphone functionality into the same port used for power and data transfer, according to Japanese blog Macotakara, which reports Apple rumours.

Without the jack, users would need to buy headphones with a Lightning cable (assuming Lightning is the all-in-one port Apple goes for, not USB-C). Users could also presumably buy a Lightning cable with a digital-to-analog converter and a female 3.5mm plug on the end, so they could use their standard headphones.

As this information comes from a blog of no particular repute, offering no specific sources (though they are "reliable sources", apparently), the rumour shouldn't have you tearing up your standard earbuds in rage just yet, but there are several indications that Apple really could be looking to abolish the 3.5 millimetre jack eventually.

This iPhone mock-up from Federico Ciccarese shows a phone with no 3.5 millimetre headphone jack. Photo: ciccaresedesign.com
 

For starters, Apple loves to be able to say each new iPhone is its "thinnest ever", and as Macotakara points out, the headphone jack is pretty much the full thickness of the iPhone 6s. Of course the current iPod Touch is thinner than the 6s and packs a regular 3.5 millimetre jack, but it will have to disappear if the iPhone is to get more than one millimetre thinner than it is now.

Secondly, Apple has already given headphone manufacturers the ability to connect via the Lightning port instead of the jack. This comes in handy for headphone sets that do noise cancellation, as these would usually require a built-in battery. Plugged into Lightning, they can draw power directly from the phone.

Finally, it would be in line with moves Apple has made elsewhere. The company's latest MacBook, for example, has only a single port (USB-C, in that case) for power, data and video output, although it does feature a 3.5 millimetre jack. The approach allows for a simple, very thin design that can be expanded upon when not on the go with adapters and hubs.

There are already headsets that connect to iPhone via the Lightning port, like these Philips Fidelios. The port allows headphones to get power from and be controlled by the phone. Photo: Philips
 

Stripping the jack from the iPhone would also further cement people into Apple's ecosystem and move customers towards the included earbuds, Beats-branded cans, or official Made-for-iPhone gear if they didn't want to use an extra adaptor, giving Apple greater control over its devices' audio experience.