“Just days after it bought Beats, the headphone firm founded by Dr Dre and Jimmy Iovine, Apple has revealed plans to abandon the headphone socket and make consumers buy headphones with a new connector,” Mark Prigg reports for The Daily Mail. “Apple’s plans allow headphone makers to use the Lightning socket normally used for charging and adding accessories. The firm is expected to use the Beats brand to launch the first headphones to use the connector.”
“According to 9to5mac, Apple revealed the new system earlier this week. ‘We’ve learned Apple has quietly introduced a new specification for manufacturers in its Made-For-iPhone/iPad/iPod (MFi) program that allows them to create headphones that connect to iOS devices using a Lightning connector instead of the usual 3.5mm headphone jack,'” Prigg reports. “The Lightning headphones will be capable of receiving lossless stereo 48 kHz digital audio output from Apple devices and sending mono 48 kHz digital audio input. The input means that the headphones will also support a microphone for audio input following Apple’s upcoming update.
“Headphones will also be able to draw power from the phone – useful for noise cancelling features, for instance,” Prigg reports. “A previous report claimed Apple was working on a version of its own in-ear EarPods using a Lightning connector and planned to enable higher-resolution audio playback in iOS 8.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take:
Death is very likely the single best invention of life. It is life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. – Steve Jobs
As we wrote yesterday:
Bring. It. On.
Mac users are never wedded to old tech when there’s progress to be made.
Also, another good reason for the Beats buy. If Apple and Beats both change to Lightning headphones, the rest of the world will have to follow.
Of interest: Apple Inc.’s U.S. Patent No. 8,655,004: “Sports monitoring system for headphones, earbuds and/or headsets.”
Apple’s patent abstract: A monitoring system that can be placed proximate to the head or ear of a user is disclosed. According to one embodiment, the monitoring system can be used with headphones, earbuds or headsets. The monitoring system can, for example, be used to monitor user activity, such as during exercise or sporting activities. The positioning of the monitoring system can also facilitate sensing of other user characteristics (e.g., biometric data), such as temperature, perspiration and heart rate. The monitoring system can also be used to control a an electronic device. In one embodiment, the monitoring system facilitates user control of the electronic device using head gestures. More info here.
From your ear to your wrist in the blink of an eye™.
Related articles:
Apple may ditch analog 3.5mm headphone jack for Lightning to make thinner devices – June 6, 2014
Apple introduces MFi specs for Lightning cable headphones, iOS software update to deliver support – June 5, 2014
Apple preps HD audio for iOS 8 plus new Apple In-Ear Headphones and lightning cable – May 13, 2014
Apple patents biometric sensor-packed health monitoring earphones with ‘head gesture’ control – February 18, 2014
Apple paves way for more affordable iOS accessories with lower MFi and Lightning licensing fees – February 7, 2014
Game / instrument controller?
If true, this would be a really, really bad move on Apple’s part—making the earbuds and headphones used by millions of iPhone users instantly obsolete. It is very hard to believe that Apple would be so stupid, but what do I know?
If they do indeed kill it there will be an adapter for sure.
Look, I don’t want an adaptor. It seems the 3.5mm connector is not broken… Why fix it? If it stands 1000 years, it does not mean it’s a bad thing. The real problem here… Lighting connectors are not open. So everyone has to license it. That means headphones cost more, instantly, with that connector, and the quality doesn’t go up.
Second, I don’t want to have to buy dedicated headphones just for my iPhone or any iDevice… I can see having to carry multiple headphones in this situation, depending on what’s going on around me.
If I spend a lot of money on a good pair of headphones, so I can listen to them on my iPhone, I would want to use them elsewhere… And elsewhere is going to have 3.5mm jacks.
Currently, you can practically get headphones for free…. Or as part of some function, like air travel, museum visits, convention giveaways.
I have more 3.5mm headphones I know what to do with.
I don’t mind the change, if they can show a good valid reason why, and they have a solution for multi-tasking any new headphones I need to buy. Single-task devices suck donkey balls.
The 3.5 mm jack IS broken in that it is 3.5mm. This limits how thin the phone can be. The Lightning plug is MUCH thinner, and so can your phone be too if you don’t have to have the 3.5 mm socket built in. An adapter is fine. Meanwhile, the rest of us can move on into the next, much thinner, era…
Anyone who regularly uses a (physical) 3.5mm Mini Jack knows that it crackles, oxidizes and gets loose consistently, creating a bad audio interference.
Too many moving parts and it takes up precious room when miniaturization is key. Even In pro audio studio environments, multi pin connectors are preferred to get rid of any 1/4 and mini jacks.
And no more batteries…..everything should be able to be powered over the lightning connector as well.
3.5mm cable is also analog, losing sound quality throughout the length of the cable. A lightning cable would be be fully digital and capable of much better sound quality than any analog connection.
Ho along do you really expect your old headphones to last. Move on…
People moaned and bitched about the new connector and now no one would go back. The old connector looks just silly.
The really point is “if and how” will Apple help the users cushion the change (for those with none headphone devices using the socket and an adapter will help with that). Maybe this years iPhone will support both and next generation will drop the socket all together.
Apple continues to create the path that others walk.
And adapator that costs more money, thats what this is really about. Just another avenue to make more money!
People upgrading to iPhone 6 or 7 or 8 would just buy new headphones or ear buds or an adaptor.
Life goes on!
People hi buy new iPhone get a new pair included. Nothing else to buy. Manufacturers will make both kinds for a while.
And don’t you DARE touch VGA !
Bring back ADB! 😜
Hahaha
and SCSI.
Or Nubus!
As long as Apple doesnt kill the 3.5″ floppy, then it’s all good for me. Can’t imagine having to live without it!
The 1/4″ audio jack spec goes back to the 19th century, when it was developed for telephone switchboards. The 3.5mm version was created for transistor radios when they became popular in the 1950s. That’s a spec over 60 years old. It’s had a good run. As MDN says, Bring It On. If they can demonstrate an improvement in audio reception (and Mic input), then people will flock to it. Will be interesting to see what they come up with. The audio jack will still be around, and some manufacturers will make adapters for it, if you still want it.
That would be 1/8th inch.
I don’t believe there is a reason to worry about Apple killing it off in one fell swoop. Existing phones could likely be retrofitted with a software “switch” if the hardware is already capable. The two can operate side by side for quite some time and I anticipate they will.
Apple has a history of being on the bleeding edge while “helping” customers make the transition new and better tech. I don’t see this transition being any different and I whole-heartedly welcome it.
Manufacturers can do a lot over the Lightning port..
Get power for noise cancellation or sensors without adding extra batteries, better/more microphones for improved voice recognition, even supply power to the iPhone …
What a load!
What I really cannot understand is Ive’s obsession with making things thinner. Up to a point maybe, but I think that point’s long been reached.
Personally I’d settle for the same thickness but longer battery life.
As any Brit will tell you the Daily Mail will happily invent a bunch of outright lies in order to fill column inches. Don’t click on the link. They will have absolutely no evidence no real source for this story, and have just made it up.
I agree and doubt Apple will kill it so soon. We’ll see Lightning in use for noise cancellation headphones for example, but the standard jack will remain for a while. Sounds like the Daily Mail is just fuelling the speculation started by Gordon Kelly, who’s always been wrong about Apple.
After all Apple, at the time of the first iPhone, was one of the few that shipped a phone with the standard jack. Nokia, Blackberry, Ericsson, et all were selling proprietary headphones.
Even if this is probably a fake story, I’m all for it. The connector we’ve been using for decades is way outdated. Time for a new better super thinner way.
It’s a simple, elegant solution. The wheel has been round for millennia, is that reason enough to change its shape? Change for the sake of change is stupid.
Not a good example. Wooden Wagon Wheels where great and worked for decades. I like the new Rubber Radial Tires. Don’t you? 😉
I think it is great for providing ability for higher caliber headsets, however, I often keep me iPhone plugged in charging while I listen to stuff. “Y” adaptor perhaps. The benefits will need to go beyond just being thinner to make it worthwhile for me. Need to see some use scenarios before I get too excited about this.
Will this be added to Android phones so they can play music with beats music- up 48k lossless
If so, Apple will receive a royalty on each Android phone- ouch!
I don’t buy the premise that Apple would kill the 3.5mm stereo jack in order to make the iPhone thinner. The camera is 5.2mm, and there’s pressure to make it even thicker to improve image quality.
I think this is a rumor created by the speculation around the new Lightning MFi specs, but one doesn’t necessarily lead to the other. Apple didn’t kill the 3.5 port with the 30-pin connector either. In fact, when Apple went with a recessed 3.5 port, the entire world collectively went apeshit.
Maybe Apple has a new camera tech supplier that can improve the image quality and make things thinner, leaving the 3.5 audio port as the thickest component. If so, removing it may make some sense, but it should be a slow transition. First give MFi partners a chance to make Lightning based accessories, while keeping the 3.5 port for a generation. Then, include adapters for the first generation without the port, perhaps doing it as a trial on one model to get the feedback.
Personally, I haven’t touched my 3.5 port on most of my iOS devices for a couple of years now. It’s all Bluetooth and AirPlay for me.
How thin do you want a phone to be? if a 3.5mm connector makes a phone too thick, I won’t want that phone. I want a phone with a screen size that fits my hand and a thickness that assures room for a battery that will last a good, long time. This obsession with thin phones is insane.
I don’t want a thinner phone. The iPhone is awesomely thin as it is. I want better battery life! Apple — stop continually trying to make your (already thin) phones thinner and, instead, wow us with ground-breaking battery life…
Well I for one do NOT want my ground broken. In the name of all that’s holy, Apple NO GROUND BREAKING BATTERY!!! Keep our ground SOUND!
🙂
How are we going to charge the iPhone while listening to the headphones? Unless there will be two Lightning connectors.
You’ll find out when iPhone 6 ships 😉
really this is what apple is wasting its time on now. how about improve ios8 so it doesnt still look like ios1. apple has jumped the shark
Where does it say that Apple “plans to abandon the headphone socket” ?!?!?
Prigg is just making s**t up and MDN fell for it, hook-line-and sinker!
The 3.5mm plug will be standard on audio gear for a long long time. Much as I love Apple, I would hate to see that jack eliminated. All the good headphones have 1/4 in or 3.5 mm plugs on their cords. We don’t need another damn adapter.
Allowing digital audio out via the lightning connector is fine. Build self powered headphones with D/A converters, that’s great, but that drives the price of headphones way up.for the average listener of 128 Kbps iTunes files, there’s no advantage at all. IMO, a better option is to make the 3.5 mm plug dual functioning like the Mac, where it’s either analog audio or digital s/PDIF so it’s compatible with all kinds of audio gear. Then you don’t need an expensive adapter.
It’s one thing to eliminate something that is really holding a technology back. The 3.5 mm audio jack is NOT one of those. Making an Apple iOS device incompatible with every headphone out there is a dumb idea, with the net reduction in phone thickness being a mm. Absurd. I don’t believe they are planning to do this at all. Hell, the volume up/down buttons and the power switch are about the same size. This article is a crock. If it’s not, and Apple actually does eliminate it, the backlash will be vicious. That change would not make the rest of the world obsolete, it would just make Apple’s devices incompatible with 99.9999% of the audio hardware and cheap cables on the planet.
Hopefully they’ll just develop stuff that works with the Lightning connector, and leave the defacto standard 3.5 mm connector on the device.
It will never happen. Apple isn’t that stupid. Lightning is all digital which means any audio device will need a digital to analog converter (and an analog to digital converter to pass audio the other way) plus an audio amplifier plus a power supply to power them all. Compare that to the simple, passive headset that comes with every iPhone. Suddenly they would have to be active, powered devices, which means more bulk and more expense for the end user.
Apple products are all about user experience, and if they decide to add sensors to headphones to determine heart rate, blood pressure, air speed, etc, They’d never abandon the elegant simplicity of analog audio, which is not supported by the lightning standard.
Apple would never abandon analog audio I/O unless it became a minor part of an array of sensors where the added cost, complexity, bulk and power requirements would be irrelevant.
We’ll always have cheap analog earbuds with a mic.
I’m surprised no one uses Bluetooth headphones. I would never return to an old fashioned cord after using my $30 pair for a few years now.
Some people don’t want to worry about charging them, and have you ever tried to replace the battery, or even have it replaced by the manufacturer? Bluetooth headsets and headphones are, with only a few exceptions, disposable. I learned to hate bluetooth headsets long before the iPhone was ever released.
As long as they have enough forethought to think that users may want to charge their idevices at the same time they listen to headphones and plan accordingly,I’d be ok with no 3.5mm connector.
Exactly.
I listen to iPod and iPad while it is charging quite often.
Without adding another lightening connector, how would this be accomplished without a mini-jack?
Unless the Lightening connector is released to the world at zero cost royalty-wise, it’s not like to become as ubiquitous as the mini-jack. Does anyone get a royalty for the mini-jack?
Oh come on. The lightning port is larger and more complex with smaller pins than the 3.5″ headphone port and so is more vulnerable to mechanical wear. Also, in my car I charge the phone while listening – can’t do that if you have an adaptor in the lightning port. Don’t tell me to get a new car to suit my phone.
As for sound quality – it’s only 2 feet of wire – anything else in the signal path is far more important.
Apple just wants to sell more adaptors and junk.
This will pave the way to have battery cells in the headphone itself. You could stuff a lot of cells in the bracket for ex both powering the headphone as well as providing extra power to the phone.