Apple announced the iPhone 7 this morning and has nixed the 3.5mm audio headphone jack. It was a controversial decision and Apple is already copping heat for it, but it appears the Australian public is evenly divided on whether removing the headphone jack is a good or bad idea, according to research from analyst firm Telsyte.
In its Australian Smartphones & Wearables Device Market Study, Telsyte asked 1097 respondents aged 16 and over whether the removal of an analogue headphone jack would stop them from buying a smartphone.
The result? Around 35 per cent said they would be put off from buying a new phone with no analogue headphone jack. Meanwhile, 34 per cent said they are not concerned. Nearly half of the respondents who said they are not fussed about losing the headphone jack are iOS users.
The rest of the respondents said they were unsure.
Here’s a full breakdown of the results:
Lifehacker Australia readers have been quite vocal on this issue. If you have an opinion about Apple’s decision to give the 3.5 headphone jack the chop, tell us about it in the comments.
Comments
6 responses to “Apple iPhone 7 With No Headphone Jack: Good Or Bad? Australians Are Divided”
All for it. Eliminates “cable squeek”, tangles, snagging etc. And Bluetooth quality is these days as good as it needs to be listening to a portable device in most environs.
That said, Apple’s choice won’t bother me – I’m not going to be a customer of theirs.
my only gripe is the fact that you can’t use the headphones and charge the device at the same time.
I am sure there will be adaptors, though that is still annoying. Much like how you can’t charge the new MacBook and have any external storage added. It will be annoying, but in time it will be solved.
Removing 3.5 mm headphone jack a good idea? First thought is no, mainly driven by having spend money on good headphones (AT-M50x).
But thinking a bit, an adaptor is not that hard to manage. Everyone who has good headphones would be able to easily find a 3.5mm to TRS/6.5mm adaptor (I have about 5 of these in my study drawer). This demonstrates we can deal with an adaptor.
I think the issue is if it is necessary to remove it. What is the reason? The existing solution works and works very well, so why change what is not broken? To take 1mm off a phone? To save 10c in its construction? Apple prides itself on simplicity but has now added complexity. You can’t listen to music and charge your phone without an adaptor or bluetooth headphones. I can’t help but cynically believe this is a money grab on accessories and headphones.
Didnt think I would like moving to bluetooth, but have enjoyed it a lot. I have two sets of bluetooth headphones (Backbeat Go in-ear and Jabra over-ear)
I’ve also kickstarted two more. Very rarly use cabled headphones unless I have a device that doesnt support it
I’d love to know what Apple have done with all the space they freed up.
This generation iPhone is exactly the same external dimensions, but 4-5g lighter.
Yeah you get stereo speakers, but that’s not exactly something I’ve ever cared about on a phone.
I could only play music from my car stereo using an auxiliary cable – do I have to buy a new stereo to play music from a new iphone? I’m not impressed.
you can buy very cheap adapters for your aux input to convert it to bluetooth, using power from your car’s power socket. i got one about 7 months ago and i love it, from amazon us and including shipping i dont think i paid more than $50 for it. more expensive than an aux cable? yes, it is, but for some people it is worth it. you have to consider if its worth it for you.
on the other hand, i hear apple is including a lightning to 3.5mm headphone adapter in the box with the new iphone, which you could leave permanently attached to the aux cable in your car if you wanted to.
Im pretty sure apple will sell plenty of propertiary cables and some sort of other propertiary cable for something else that dosent use the world universal thing. Even when usb c is on every android phone as well as apples mac they will provide an expensive propertiary cable for that to when they change to usb c, i mean that was the plan when they bought beats was to get everybody buying there wirless headphones even thou they have been around for years, but will now force everyone to buy bluetooth, very clever. As i said no one should worry as apple will just make something propertiary to cover any slight inconvience to the consumer, now open your wallets and stop complaining.