There are rumors regarding the iPhone 7 abandoning the headphone jack. While it’s only a rumor at this point, there might be a bit of truth to it. There have been multiple sources that report Apple has been in talks with various headphone makers to implement high-res audio. There’s much speculation about why Apple would want to ditch the iPhone headphone jack.
A Slimmer iPhone
With the abandonment of the headphone jack, iPhones can be made even thinner. There’s also a rumor that the camera will be embedded into the case, so it’s flush with the rest of the phone’s case. If Apple was to remove the iphone headphone jack, they would be able to shave 1 mm from the thickness of the phone.
Bigger Battery
The loss of the headphone jack means that the deepest connection on the phone will be gone. The interior of the phone would have more space for a larger battery, which has more life to it. Less charging means that people can enjoy their iPhones for a longer period of time. With more space inside the phone, Apple could add wireless technology that will allow for wireless charging too.
Stereo Sound
A popular rumor is that Apple may eliminate the headphone jack in order to make room for stereo speaker. The current model iPhone is only able to generate mono sound and the addition of another speaker would produce bigger, stereo sound and possibly even surround sound for use while watching movies.
Beats Acquisition
There’s talk that the acquisition of Beats electronics makes more sense if Apple plans on taking away the headphone jack. Experts were puzzled about why Apple would pay 3.2 billion dollars to buy a company worth 1 billion. There’s speculation that Apple was acquiring the popular headphone makers to create their own proprietary technology that would work wirelessly with the new iPhone sans jack.
Larger Screen
Without the headphone jack, the screen can be brought to the edge of the phone. Currently, the jack stops the screen from reaching the end because the headphone can’t be shoved behind the screen. This could lead to wrap-around screens too. In fact, Apple filed a patent for a wrap around screen in 2015, which would ditch the headphone jack as well as volume controls and a home button.
Waterproofing
Without the iPhone headphone jack and other ports or openings, the phone is easier to make waterproof. While it might be impossible to submerge the phone in water constantly, it’ll make little accidents like dropping the phone into the bathroom sink less likely to cause overwhelming panic.
Proprietary Lightning
If they decide to remove the headphone jack from the iPhone, they could use Lightning as the standard in all their Apple products. It would make it difficult for customers to switch from an Apple product to another since they’d also have to replace their headphones and other accessories. This is another reason that rumors are flying around their acquisition of Beats.
In the future, you might find yourself without a headphone jack, but in the meantime, you have to protect the ports and headphone jack you currently have on your phone with an earphone dust plug. Without an earphone dust plug, you could end up with dirt, dust, crumbs or lint inside the ports, which could burn out the electronics in the phone.