Innovation or e-waste? Apple rumored to ditch headphone jack

[Dopedangel]

They will be selling $50 converter for people that want to use old headphones.

[Shane R]

Originally Posted by Dopedangel

They will be selling $50 converter for people that want to use old headphones.

Link?

[Dopedangel]

Originally Posted by Shane R

Link?

Thats how apple works no need to provide link they did the same with macbook air.

http://www.apple.com/shop/product/MJ...tiport-adapter

[Shane R]

Originally Posted by Dopedangel

Thats how apple works no need to provide link they did the same with macbook air.

http://www.apple.com/shop/product/MJ...tiport-adapter

I think those are two different things.

[John F]

Unless there are inexpensive adapters (and $50 is not inexpensive to me) that provide excellent audio quality and don't require frequent charging, this will most likely have me switch from my iphone to an android phone on my next upgrade. It doesn't look like a bluetooth adapter would work for me (too frequent charging). I would need at least 2 adapters.

I hope Apple provides at least a couple more generations of iphones with stereo jacks.

[Dopedangel]

Originally Posted by John F

Unless there are inexpensive adapters (and $50 is not inexpensive to me) that provide excellent audio quality and don't require frequent charging, this will most likely have me switch from my iphone to an android phone on my next upgrade. It doesn't look like a bluetooth adapter would work for me (too frequent charging). I would need at least 2 adapters.

I hope Apple provides at least a couple more generations of iphones with stereo jacks.

Apple will be probably selling their own adapter for $40-50.00 but 3rd party adapters would be cheaper $5-10 probably.
Tweaking apple users aside if they are smart they should provide a converter with the a new phone for free.
Btw do you really need to upgrade with no phone contracts being common now and the last generation of phones including iphones are good enough. You could probably save $30 a month from your cellphone bill.

[Shane R]

Originally Posted by Dopedangel

Btw do you really need to upgrade

This.

Cellphones useful life is a lot longer than two years, especially if you aren't a 'power user' who needs the added processing power that silicon upgrades bring.

[cvkemp]

I will keep my IPhone until it can no longer be upgraded, then I will decide if I need the upgrades that a new IPhone will offer me.

[John F]

Originally Posted by Dopedangel

...
Btw do you really need to upgrade with no phone contracts being common now and the last generation of phones including iphones are good enough. You could probably save $30 a month from your cellphone bill.

Define "Really Need".

[Solitaire1]

Originally Posted by rcentros

Me either. It's just an attempt to boost profits by selling more proprietary accessories. And what's the point in making these things ultra-thin when everyone puts a thick case on them anyway? (Not just Apple -- all thin devices.)

I wonder if they've considered what would happen if the manufacturers simply did not support the move away from the 3.5mm connector, one supported by everyone else. I don't know the specific numbers but I doubt that Apple has the majority of devices that use a headphone-type jack considering that it is more than just phones (I made a quick estimate and I think I have at least a dozen items that have a 3.5mm headphone jack).

[ApK]

Originally Posted by Solitaire1

I wonder if they've considered what would happen if the manufacturers simply did not support the move away from the 3.5mm connector, one supported by everyone else.

Wouldn't matter, Apple would be fine if iPhone owners had no choice but Apple accessories, and lots of owner would seem to be fine with that too.

[alanHd]

I wouldn't buy another iPad if they did away with the 3.5mm headphone jack, it would Would be too much of a PITA carrying another adaptor or set of headphones.

[Solitaire1]

Originally Posted by Shane R

1. There are still plenty of iPhone 4's and 5's in use. Some of those came out 4+ years ago.

2. The batteries can be replaced. There are kits you can buy, places you can visit, or Apple themselves can do it for you in one of their stores or via mail-in.

It costs, but it's much less than the price of a new iPhone.

In light of that evidence though, it's just wrong to say a dead battery automatically equals the end of the devices useful life.

About the headphone jack: there would (presumably) be adapters that would allow you to use your old headphones with jack-less iDevices.

When it comes to the life of a device, I think it depends on the device. When it comes to iPods with hard drives, my opinion has been that when the battery wears out its likely that the iPod's hard drive has also reached the end of its useful life.

[Solitaire1]

Originally Posted by QuantumIguana

My solution is not to buy Apple products. I hadn't actively avoided them before, but if I can't plug in headphones, I may have to start actively avoiding them.

The only Apple product I'm currently using is an iPod Classic. The only reason I purchased it is because of its large capacity (160gb), larger than any other player available at the time. However, since then the capacity of some flash players (like my Sony NWZ-A17 Walkman which can reach 192gb of capacity with a memory card) have exceeded the capacity of the iPod Classic.

[Apache]

Originally Posted by cvkemp

I will keep my IPhone until it can no longer be upgraded, then I will decide if I need the upgrades that a new IPhone will offer me.

My wife had here iPhone 3 upgraded to a 6 last Christmas.
Apache