A few weeks ago, Japanese publication Mac Otakara reported, citing reliable sources, that Apple was planning to do away with the 3.5mm headphone jack in iPhone 7 and 7 Plus. Customers would have to use Bluetooth or Lightning port compatible headphones. Now two Chinese websites Anzhou.cn and Wei Feng have learned from supply chain sources that the bold design change is indeed going to happen. The iPhone 7 and its Plus-size sibling would arrive without a 3.5mm headphone jack.
Apple is going to abandon yet another legacy technology
Both sites claimed that Apple would release its own wireless Bluetooth headphones. If you are not willing to part ways with your current headphone, you may have to buy an adapter. The Cupertino company should expect to see a lot of complaints if it does away with the headphone jack in iPhone 7. Apple has a history of abandoning legacy technologies, killing the DVD disc drive in its Mac line and removing the standard USB ports in favor of a new USB Type-C port in 12-inch MacBook.
The Lightning headphone would plug directly into the Lightning port of the new iPhone. It means the Lightning port will serve the dual purpose of connectivity as well as audio output. Lightning is much better than the standard headphone jack because it is digital. The iPhone’s software could fine tune the way the headphones sound. Another benefit is that the Lightning headphone can draw energy from your phone to power components in the headphone.
iPhone 7 to feature wireless charging technology?
It has also fueled speculations that the iPhone 7 would introduce wireless charging capabilities. That’s because users will not be able to charge the device and use the Lightning headphone at the same time. There has to be a way to perform these two tasks simultaneously. In June 2014, Apple had introduced new MFi program specifications to allow third-party manufacturers to produce Lightning-equipped headphones.
Why would Apple drop the headphone jack? Because the company is looking to make it the thinnest smartphone it has ever launched. Removing the headphone jack will reduce the thickness of the iPhone 7 to just 6.1mm to 6.5mm thick. Recent reports suggest that the iPhone 7 will also feature a huge 3,100mAh battery and 256GB of internal storage.
