The internet has been talking about the possibility of Apple killing classic 3.5mm headphone jack in favor of the company’s propriety Lightning port. The decision to do so could have far-reaching effects for customers, who would be requisite to buy adaptors for their existing headphone sets, but would also result in larger synergies with the company’s latest acquisition of high-end headphone company Beats Electronics.
The company has introduced a new design for manufacturers in its made-for-iPhone (MFi) program that will let them to produce headphones with Lightning connectors. The new type of headphones will be able to make the change between analogue to digital audio with an elevated lossless stereo 48 kHz digital output, it would in addition convert the traditional headphones into a smart device.
The headphones that go directly into the Lightning port would have better audio quality than current models, meaning those fancy Beats by Dre would sound better.
The 3.5 mm headphone jack also remains the biggest hurdle when trying to make a slim phone, as the headphone jack requires a far fatter cavity than most other components, and the lighting connector serving as a headphone jack could mean that the iPhone could end up being super slim at the edges.
Apple has pointed out in its new specification that the new headphones can be “made to work specifically with a companion iOS app”. For instance, consumers would be able to do more than just skip tracks; they could work with apps such as iTunes Radio or initiate playback controls on iOS.
The biggest advantage of this new addition in iPhones will be that the headphones would be able to tap into power from an Apple device, thus eliminating the costs associated with an internal battery.
But on the downside, talks are customers won’t be able to listen to headphones and charge the phone at the same time, but of course there are also talks about wireless charging for the new iPhone.
Unlike the iPhone charger, the audio headphone jack has been around for more than 100 years. A version of it was used in the first telephone switchboards, and the jack has been in Army radios for as long as the Army has had radios. The current 3.5mm headphone jack is the portable-music standard, and has been since even before the first Sony Walkman hit stores in 1979.
There is a possibility of a revolt if Apple lovers are suddenly told that every pair of headphones they ever bought will be useless with the iPhone 6. But, then again, Apple usually tries to be ahead of the curve and predict what technologies are going to become legacy technologies, And so far they’ve been successful with it.
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