from Hacker News

Seven years later, Apple was right to kill off the 3.5mm headphone jack

by galogon on 8/25/22, 2:04 PM with 72 comments

• by glennvtx on 8/25/22, 3:00 PM

  1: I do not wish to charge my headphones.

  2: I have many headphones with higher quality sound than earbuds can provide.

  3: Bluetooth still kinda sucks, even after all this time.

  4: Bluetooth is subject to denial of service, security concerns.

  5: Apple's purpose with the decision was to increase revenue, that is all. You all are now paying $$$ for headphones with batteries, etc. onboard, and they no longer had to implement an audio amp or jack. win for apple, not the consumer.

• by dougmwne on 8/25/22, 2:30 PM

  That’s a joke. 7 years later I am still picking up headphones then remembering I can’t plug them in without going to find a dongle. If there was an iPhone with a headphone jack I would buy it.

• by bluefirebrand on 8/25/22, 2:34 PM

  Surely even people who love Apple a lot must realize that this is is just propaganda, right?

  "Apple was right all along, says Apple"

• by 57FkMytWjyFu on 8/25/22, 2:13 PM

  According to Apple it might be.

  But we aren't asking any end users in the article, because screw them, right?

  Anything that enables the environmental irresponsibility of AirPods is only "right" from the perspective of the shareholder.

  Certainly not the species.

• by archagon on 8/25/22, 4:47 PM

  Bluetooth headphones are good != Apple was right to remove the jack

  There is no reason to remove a feature that works perfectly and is invaluable in some situations. Bluetooth headphones will never be sufficient for music performance, audio production, and rhythm games, for example. And it's not like Apple shies away from features that affect only a tiny portion of their userbase, such as Lockdown Mode.

• by mplanchard on 8/25/22, 2:23 PM

  I’m holding on to my iPhone 6S until it dies irreparably, and would have probably bought a new iPhone by now otherwise, exclusively because all of my headphones are wired and I hate messing with bluetooth. But sure, great decision.

• by blueflow on 8/25/22, 2:25 PM

  Previously: "AirPods don't “just work”" https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30084901

• by moogly on 8/25/22, 3:36 PM

  If I use the same pair of headphones paired to my work computer and my phone, I cannot unlock and look at my phone without it taking over.

  I have "solved" this by having three pairs of headphones. #1 paired to my phone. Used for my commute. #2 left at work, paired with the computer. #3 left at home, paired with the computer when I'm WFH.

  It gets expensive/old pretty fast. Also a lot of charging needs to be done.

• by boh on 8/25/22, 3:09 PM

  The culture of "Apple Knows Best" died years ago. People are realizing the lightening port and removing the Jack isn't innovation--it's just a cash grab.

  At some point there needs to be some sympathy for consumer preferences. I'm an Apple customer due to the bloat/clunkiness of their competitors rather than an appreciation for Apple itself.

• by dmz73 on 8/25/22, 3:36 PM

  Apple charges more for less and their users line up to pay instead of walking away. As long as this keeps happening, Apple will keep taking away and gouging their users. People are stupid and gullible so I think Apple is doing the right thing here - fleece the sheep while they keep coming. The main downside is that other companies observe this behaviour and try to emulate it but that doesn't work because people who avoid Apple probably don't want to pay premium for substandard products so these companies die of and there is less and less competition and innovation in the market so we are left with Apple and Samsung $1200 phones/tablets instead of decent XYZ brand devices for more reasonable price - say $300-$500.

• by joshstrange on 8/25/22, 3:12 PM

  Wired headphones suck for 90%+ of the population. We can talk about the cost of AirPods but they are objectively better in most all situations.

  I was a hold-out on the AirPods having using bluetooth headphones before and hated them but I got AirPods as a gift and almost immediately fell in love. Way easier to carry (no tangled wires, and yes, I knew how to wind them up but that wasn't always foolproof), super easy to pop in your ears for a few minutes or a few hours, and no cables to get in your way.

  I lost my original AirPods (or they were stolen) and I decided to just use the wired headphones while I continued to hope they would turn up. WIthin 2 days I had an order placed for a new AirPods because wired headphones are a huge step backwards (wires get caught on things and tug at your ears when you extend too far).

  I generally find audiophiles to be nearly completely full of shit when it comes to "audio quality" and while I know bluetooth doesn't allow for the highest quality possible it's well past "good enough".

• by anthk on 8/25/22, 3:15 PM

  Ahem. On headphones Pros: - Not bound to an insecure protocol. - Compatible with jacks a century old. - Decent headphones can cost as low as 5EUR on a convenience store and still sound better than most of BT headphones

  Cons: You can't do jogging fine, but you have tiny and cheap media players with clips easily attached to the neck of your T-shirt.

• by jdalgetty on 8/25/22, 2:58 PM

  I'd still rather have the option.

• by nkotov on 8/25/22, 3:55 PM

  I love having AirPods Pro. Super easy, seems to just work™. Where I have issues with connecting to vehicles.

  I have a pickup truck that has bluetooth and a 3.5mm jack. The problem is that when I start the truck, it takes about a minute for it to connect to my iPhone. While it's connecting, it's playing FM radio extremely loud. It's gotten to the point now where I just gave up on bluetooth and use a permanent dongle to 3.5mm just so that I don't have to deal with bluetooth.

• by Sohcahtoa82 on 8/25/22, 3:33 PM

  It's easy to act like any change to your product was the "right" thing to do when people are going to buy your product no matter what you do.