Sound crazy? Consider this:
● phone manufacturers are obsessed with making their devices thinner – apparently driven by their customers’ perceived obsession with stuffing them into skinny jeans
● removing anything from a phone allows it to be repackaged to reduce any dimension – including thickness
● Apple has shown themselves to be ready to delete components which others consider essential – floppy disk, DVD drive
● Apple has been ready to create or adopt new standards before others – USB, Firewire, Thunderbolt, Lightning
● in 2014, Apple defined a spec for Lightning connected headphones
● this is not without precedent – HTC/T-Mobile in 2008, released the first Android phone in the world, with no 3.5mm plug, using the USB port for headphone connection, in addition to charging & data i/o1
● Lightning headphones already exist2
● an online petition asking Apple not to dump the 3.5mm jack has 200,000 signatures3
● Bluetooth headphones may be used
http://arstechnica.com/apple/2016/01/report-next-generation-iphone-design-will-ditch-the-3-5mm-headphone-jack/
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1 Engadget: “Confirmed: T-Mobile G1 has no 3.5mm headphone jack”, http://www.engadget.com/2008/09/23/confirmed-t-mobile-g1-has-no-3-5mm-headphone-jack/
2 Gizmodo: “These $800 Lightning Headphones Make Your iPhone's 3.5mm Jack Redundant”, http://gizmodo.com/these-800-lightning-headphones-make-your-iphones-headp-1747045839
3 Phone Arena: “More than 200,000 people petition to save the 3.5mm headphone jack in the iPhone 7”, http://www.phonearena.com/news/More-than-200000-people-petition-to-save-the-3.5mm-headphone-jack-in-the-iPhone-7_id77278
/ iPhone thinner iPhone 7 rumor mill Fast Company design ditch standard 3.5mm headphone jack make phone thinner Japanese website Mac Okatara November Fast Company 9to5 Mac anonymous sources lend extra weight to the claim Apple developing different potential accessories replace ubiquitous 3.5mm EarPods ship iPhone headphones connect via Lightning port spec Apple defined Lightning headphones 2014 charge phone listening to music phone support wireless charging Apple Watch Android Windows phones completely wireless headset Apple Beats acquisition no wire connecting headphones iPhone no wire connecting left and right earbuds together Apple testing replacement headphones solutions market dongle standard headphones dropping headphone jack thinner phone important extra battery space freed up relatively deep headphone jack dumping old technology drive adoption new technology typical Apple behavior ubiquity 3.5mm jack guarantee consumer pushback Internet petition 200,000 people signing Apple dump 3.5 mm jack plug every computer tablet phone buy billions 3.5mm headphones guarantee a painful transition /
