SIGNALS

It is summer. Soon it will be fall. That means Apple will introduce a new iPhone. Reportedly, the new phone will be thinner, more water resistant, have a better camera, have more memory, and not have a headphone jack. Wait. What?

The iPhone 7, or whatever it will be called, will lose the headphone jack. At least that's the rumor. The reason for doing this is quite simple. Designing and building phones is enormously difficult. Countless numbers of employees have to get up in the morning, go into the office, read emails, have meetings, and occasionally fly all the way across the ocean to China. Frankly, Apple is tired of all the hassle and figures that if they take away the headphone jack, people will stop buying iPhones, and that will make the whole thing just go away.

It is also possible that Apple actually wants to keep selling iPhones. Given that scenario, the idea of omitting the headphone jack is more difficult to explain.

It can't because of cost. It can't be because headphone jacks are just too bulky. It can't be because headphone jacks can't be made waterproof. Rather, Apple must see some advantage to omitting the headphone jack. Let's think about that. If there's no headphone jack, there would be two ways to listen to music: a) some kind of dongle that plugs into the proprietary Lightning port. b) a Bluetooth connection.

Apple doesn't have many fans in the audio community. The company, for all its clout, hasn't ever done much of anything to significantly improve audio quality or the field of audio engineering.

We might surmise that Apple may omit the headphone jack because it would make more money that way. It could sell headphone dongles. Cost to manufacture: $1. Retail price: $20. Profit! Or, a Bluetooth-only connection would instantly obsolete all of the billion zillion 3.5mm wired headphones out there. Apple, conveniently the owner of Beats, could sell lots of Bluetooth headphones. Profit! Or, Beats could sell Lightning headphones. Profit! There are already some some 3rd-party Lightning headphones out there, but they must pay for a Lightning license. Profit!

Frankly, Apple doesn't have many fans in the audio community. The company, for all its clout, hasn't ever done much of anything to significantly improve audio quality or the field of audio engineering in general. It could be argued that its bundled earbuds have done much to degrade expectations of audio quality. Omitting the headphone jack would burn everyone with a pair of good headphones or at least foist a dongle tax on their use. But Apple has never been an audio company, so what difference at this point does it make?

Alternatively, maybe the rumors all false. Maybe the next iPhone will have a headphone jack. It is summer. Soon it will be fall. We'll see.

Actually, a thought just occurred to me. Apple has the opportunity to do something brilliant here. Omitting the headphone jack, for all the PITAs it would cause, could be a big step forward for contemporary audio playback if Apple adds a certain new feature. Hmmm. Let me think this though, and I'll get back to you next time.