Yes, it is true. For those of us, who have owned an iPhone or are planning to upgrade to the newer variant of the iPhone, sadly we will not be seeing the trusty old headphone jack anymore. Apparently, the company might be looking to bid its farewell with this old technology. The headphone jack (3.5 mm) is decades old, which gives it the benefit of being a standard across car stereos and audio systems. But now Apple is getting rid of it in its iPhone 7.
So now the question is, ‘How are the motorists going to connect iPhone 7 with their car’s audio systems?’ Many of us might be aware of the fact that Apple’s big decision to remove this headphone jack is that it only leaves one port for both charging the phone and plugging it to an audio system. Here I might add, that smartphones aren’t very famous for their long battery times, which results in a significantly decreased duration of playback music on long drives for many motorists.
#1: Lightning-to-Aux Adapters
Apple Inc. has admitted on shipping iPhone 7 with a lightning-to-aux adapter. So apparently it looks like people will be able to connect their audio systems with their iPhone 7, but I wonder is the solution to this lack of headphone jack that simple? The problem (I believe) is with the lightning port, which will be used to charge the phone; it is going to be occupied by the car’s audio system.
It is not yet confirmed that whether or not, the phone can cater to an after-market adapter, which will split the lightning port’s electrical signals for both charging and music playback features, at the same time.
#2: Possible Solutions
There could be a number of solutions to this problem, but my limited personal observations on this situation have allowed me to come up with the following 3 solutions:
- A lot of new cars these days come with Bluetooth capabilities or people have replaced their old audios with these new systems, which means people can just pair their mobile phones with these systems and use them to call or play music. And in iPhone 7’s case, the absence of an audio jack will not be missed that much; if you have the Bluetooth module in your car stereo.
- Another way around this problem is to just use a good after-market aux-to-Bluetooth adapter, which will act as a medium between the new iPhone 7 and the old audio systems, which lack Bluetooth modules.
- The most feasible solution (I believe) for this problem is the USB port, which comes in a lot of audio systems. Just plug in the phone with the audio system and it will be good to go.
What are your views on this situation or its solutions, which could be employed? Please share your feedback
Really…
A bad step in my opinion for the people of developing countries. And a lot of people are comfortable with it, not to mention this tech is old and reliable. It isn’t going to be easy for a lot of people in Pakistan (Not big cities folks) to adjust with this new tech.
1. 3.5mm jack is decades old, but it serves its purpose well. Modernization is for solving problems, not to increase the problems.
2. Apple mints money on the phone and then mints money on the accessories. That’s why they have removed the 3.5mm jack. Lightning port has been developed by themselves, while the 3.5mm jack is possibly an IEEE standard, for which royalty must be paid unless it has been made totally free. If they manage to force their users to use Lightning port, they may manage to recover their money spent on R&D. This is important also because iPhone sales are slumping.
3. To make the phone thinner.
4. Bluetooth: last time we saw, iPhone bluetooth did not recognize other companies’ bluetooth, only recognized bluetooth of other Apple devices.
5. USB connection? It assumes the phone will have at least one USB port? If all the phone has is a single Lightning adapter, then?
6. Wireless charging would solve the issue. But iPhone 7 doesn’t come with wireless charging. What would happen is they may introduce the feature in iPhone 7S, and everybody (re: Apple fanbois) who bought iPhone 7 despite its obvious shortcomings would rush to increase Apple’s (NASDAQ:AAPL) stock value.
7. I see another commenter posting about how it is a bane for the Pakistani consumer. As far as I know, Apple has not officially introduced their phone series in Pakistan (there are companies which claim to be Apple resellers who deal only in their desktops and only for corporate customers as we knew). The phones people buy are grey market imports without any warrantee. In other words, they are orphan imports just like 2nd hand JDM cars that come around here.
I use a usb drive never my phone anyway
1 in 10 (or maybe like 50 :p) get to own a brand new iphone here so I dont think aux jack is going out of fashion soon esp in our country
Its not about who gets to own an iPhone 7, its about one company introducing a trend and soon the others will start following it. Try to look at the bigger picture.
Cheers!
oh right! thats depressing :s
Apple themselves sell a small dock which acts as splitter. Plug the handsfree and charger into the dock. Plug the dock into the lightning port.
iPhones can stream audio over bluetooth to any other audio device…my iPhone works fine with my Toyota Aurion’s bluetooth.
They cannot transfer files over bluetooth though.