| I’m hoping peer pressure from Google will push Apple to find the “courage” to undo its mistake[1] and restore the headphone jack on new models. [1]: Removing the headphone jack was a mistake because: 1) Every smartphone has built in speakers and a microphone so the components have always been there to support a headphone jack. Restoring it is a wiring change. 2) Removing the jack required another set of components (DAC, ADC, amplifiers) to use wired or wireless headphones. 3) Wired headphones usable with a jackless phone require those components to be embedded in the cable, rendering those headphones useless for other audio devices. 4) Supporting traditional headphones requires an easily misplaced adapter dongle to host those components. 5) Embedding such components in the cable seems like a bad idea because cables tend to wear out before the devices they connect. 4) If the Lightning, micro USB, or USB-C port is used for headphones, it can’t be used to charge or sync at the same time without yet another adapter (or inductive charging, yay more complexity). 5) The headphone jack is the simplest audio connector. Removing it didn’t solve any problems, it just created new ones. |