[jude]

I think you guys are missing one of the options Apple may take in the future: A dongle. Put a proprietary jack on the phone, then make you buy an adapter dongle for $29.95. Or, buy Beats for $300 and the dongle will be included...

They won't be doing it on the iphone 6, but there's always v7 or 8 or 9...

 
True. Until headphone (and cable) manufacturers had developed 3.5mm plug bodies that were slim enough, you needed a dongle to use any headphones with the first iPhone's recessed headphone jack (not including, of course, the earbuds that came with it). At that time, though, Apple had the power of offering the first smartphone of its kind--there weren't any other choices for a smartphone like that then. (Still, though, I thought it took some chutzpah to release with that recessed jack as they did.)
 
I do think for a lot of people now--with all the good smartphone choices that are available--it would be a deal killer to require the use of a dongle to use a standard pair of headphones. I'm pretty strongly tied into the Mac/iOS ecosystem of devices (including supporting devices and accessories by other manufacturers), but even I would likely opt for a non-iPhone smartphone if it did not have a 3.5mm jack.

 

[ToddTheMetalGod]

I think you guys are missing one of the options Apple may take in the future: A dongle. Put a proprietary jack on the phone, then make you buy an adapter dongle for $29.95. Or, buy Beats for $300 and the dongle will be included...

They won't be doing it on the iphone 6, but there's always v7 or 8 or 9...

No, I knew that's an option... but I don't think Apple would ever do it because it would take away from the elegant, simplistic design of the phone that people love so much. If I were in the market for a phone I would want an iPhone, but if I needed a dongle to use my headphones I would look for a different phone.

 

[ToddTheMetalGod]

True. Until headphone (and cable) manufacturers had developed 3.5mm plug bodies that were slim enough, you needed a dongle to use any headphones with the first iPhone's recessed headphone jack (not including, of course, the earbuds that came with it). At that time, though, Apple had the power of offering the first smartphone of its kind--there weren't any other choices for a smartphone like that then. (Still, though, I thought it took some chutzpah to release with that recessed jack as they did.)

Interesting, I didn't know that.

 

[DougofTheAbaci]

Personally, I think it much more likely they'll do the sort of port you have on the MacBook Pro that can act as a digital or analogue out. That would make by far the most sense than creating an entirely new connection type then working with every headphone manufacturer to get them to start making iPhone versions of their headphones. The cost for headphone manufacturers would be way too much for the payoff. Then Apple has to give everyone adapters and suddenly to use fundamental parts of the device you require an easy to lose adapter? The iPhone would die in a generation.

 

[TripleZed]

No, I knew that's an option... but I don't think Apple would ever do it because it would take away from the elegant, simplistic design of the phone that people love so much. If I were in the market for a phone I would want an iPhone, but if I needed a dongle to use my headphones I would look for a different phone.

 

I do think that apple does try for that simplistic design so I don't think I see a dongle any time soon. Also, I think a dongle would be enough to even bother my father-in-law who is a large apple fan.
 
I do agree though with some earlier comments, that they'll probably try to push the beats hard for use with the iPhone. Whether it's just through marketing, or actual design may be another thing.

 

[cb3723]

Maybe all the speculation that's been banded about recently over Apple dropping the 3.5mm jack in favour of a proprietary type is just clever gorilla marketing to keep everybody talking about Apple?

This site alone gets over a million hits a month and there has been YT videos like the one below all adding to the speculation hype.

[VIDEO]http://youtu.be/sbE3rqkE17U[/VIDEO]​

Alternatively, this may be Apples way of softening the blow for when they do eventually do away with the 3.5mm jack at some point in the near(ish) future - kinda like - get ready for it boys & girls cos it's a commin so start getting used to the idea.

In the meantime they start to release marketing on the pros of a proprietary input with argument put to why the 3.5mm jack is old skool and can no longer rule?

Perhaps Apples message is clear - either way - you will obey

 

[DougofTheAbaci]

Apple's MO is to create buzz by announcing products, making statements. Not by filing for patents. They do that all the time and nothing ever comes from it.

Besides, Apple doesn't have a history of pre-empting dropping 'standard' technology from it's devices. The death of the CD drive just happened one model and soon it was gone from all of them. But each time it's been done, it's been for a technology where there was a clear reason to get rid of it. Dropping the 3.5mm jack isn't like getting rid of CD drives, it'd be like getting rid of screens. Apple may one day start offering Lightning-connector-based headphones, but they'd never drop the 3.5mm jack.

 

[DisCHORDDubstep]

Anyone that thought it wouldn't was crazy . Do you really think that Apple would force their customers to use their headphones? People don't follow them that blindly, they would lose market share in the process because other phones with decent DACs have headphone jacks.

... You sure about that? I've seen some pretty crazy apple fanboys as of late. I've never bought an apple product, and probably never will. I don't like their UI's, or the hardware their computers use... Dual core with 2gb of ram for a 700$ computer? No thank you. The iPhone is actually decent though. That, and the iPod is the only two things imo they did well. Just because I like Microsoft doesn't mean ill buy an Xbox because they made it.

 

[brassmonkey]

I would think that the Beats acquisition came too late in the game for Apple to change  the iPhone 6 specs; and I did not foresees Apple dropping the 3.5 jack without having fully integrating its own proprietary headphone manufacturing capability (ie Beats). Now, as for the iPhone 6s, you have a full 18 months (+/- a couple) to speculate on that one.

 

[Sko0byDoo]

$2.5 billions for Beats is still incomprehensible...with that amount, Apple can start from scratch and not needing to ride on the Beats wave.

 

[DougofTheAbaci]

$2.5 billions for Beats is still incomprehensible...with that amount, Apple can start from scratch and not needing to ride on the Beats wave.

That's assuming that Apple bought Beats solely for their ability to make a headphone. And that makes absolutely no sense. However, if you imagine they did it to get the brain trust, the brand recognition, licensing deals, patents... Suddenly it makes a lot more sense. Those are the sorts of things that are difficult to quantify.

 

[DisCHORDDubstep]

I would think that the Beats acquisition came too late in the game for Apple to change  the iPhone 6 specs; and I did not foresees Apple dropping the 3.5 jack without having fully integrating its own proprietary headphone manufacturing capability (ie Beats). Now, as for the iPhone 6s, you have a full 18 months (+/- a couple) to speculate on that one.

That would be very stupid of apple to drop the 3.5mm jack. First off, IOS isn't even close to as popular as android. Secondly, since apple has patented their connector, headphones that use their connector on the cable wouldn't be able to be used with any non apple devices, or you'd have to use an adapter for headphones with a 3.5mm to work on the apple device, or for headphones with an apple connector to work on other phones, which I highly doubt would be popular with consumers who just want noise without bulk, or they want good looking headphones. Third reason is that apple would most likely end up losing money from people not buying their next phone because they'd have to spend another 20$ on a connector which would look ugly and would just be unnecessary... Apple is not a stupid company. They know how to make money, and they do it well. They know what an average person wants. A good looking phone that is easy to operate. They'd add a lot of problems by removing the audio jack, and most people just see headphones as something that make sound when you plug them in and don't bother others. They don't care about sound quality most of the time. They want portable audio.

 

[brassmonkey]

That's assuming that Apple bought Beats solely for their ability to make a headphone. And that makes absolutely no sense. However, if you imagine they did it to get the brain trust, the brand recognition, licensing deals, patents... Suddenly it makes a lot more sense. Those are the sorts of things that are difficult to quantify.

 
For that kind of money, Apple could have probably have purchased Bose. While Beats is the "hip" trend right now with a particular demographic, one would assume that the patten portfolio of Bose would be a better fit that Beat's street cred. And while, I know that audiophiles do not care for the Bose brand, however Bose does carry a lot of cred with a more affluent demographic with greater access to disposable income to spend on said product. Apple is claiming to be a premium life-style brand along the lines of Bose, I just don't see that with Beats. To me, Beats is like some guy on the street sticking a Cadillac emblem on a Hyundai and selling it as said Cadillac.

 

[Bansaku]

   Bose does carry a lot of cred with a more affluent demographic

 
Mainly because Bose has been around for 50 years, and who's products are actually designed by real engineers and not a father-son duo who foolishly paired up with a man who's rise to fame was off from trend and not talent.
 

 

 

[DougofTheAbaci]

For that kind of money, Apple could have probably have purchased Bose. While Beats is the "hip" trend right now with a particular demographic, one would assume that the patten portfolio of Bose would be a better fit that Beat's street cred. And while, I know that audiophiles do not care for the Bose brand, however Bose does carry a lot of cred with a more affluent demographic with greater access to disposable income to spend on said product. Apple is claiming to be a premium life-style brand along the lines of Bose, I just don't see that with Beats. To me, Beats is like some guy on the street sticking a Cadillac emblem on a Hyundai and selling it as said Cadillac.

Apple clearly didn't buy Beats for their sound engineers so why would they want Bose? Besides, Bose already works very closely with Apple and is always a featured partner. They don't need to buy Bose and Bose doesn't need to sell. Apple already owns the same demographic as Bose so again, what would they gain by purchasing them?

Apple mostly owns the music industry but they don't have anything in streaming and studios are loath to give them the licenses. That's where Beasts comes in. They have a number of licensing agreements with major labels already and through their purchase Apple now has them, too. I don't think any headphone companies we worried when Apple bought Beats but I bet Spotify was.