No headphone jack for iPhone 7? Let's consider the consequences

There really isn't much of a downside to Apple removing the headphone jack if all you want to do is talk on the phone and listen to music. But that's not all people do with the jack.

It's always something. In fevered pace to stay ahead of the ravenous packs of cheaper smartphone manufacturers, Apple may be giving up a key feature relied upon by many of its customers -- and it's not what you might expect.

              

Apple, as the rumor mills have blabbing about for months now, may be planning to remove the 3.5mm headphone jack from the bottom of the iPhone. Ostensibly, this move is meant to make the phone even thinner and possibly free up space for some additional speakers.

In normal use, this approach might make sense, although there is a case to be made that an even thinner iPhone is just ridiculous. We already have to put cases on these things and the thinner they get, the more annoying they'll be to hold and the thicker the cases will need to be to keep them protected.

But I digress.

For many people, the headphone jack is an anachronism. Many of us have moved to Bluetooth for speakers and for earbuds. While some folks have those Lt. Uhura dongles sticking out of their ears, I've gone to an over-the-head Blue Parrott headphone that works really well for professional work conversations.

So there really isn't much of a downside to removing the headphone jack if all you want to do is talk on the phone and listen to music. But that's not all people do with the jack.

YOU DON'T KNOW JACK
Not by a long shot. And here's where, if this rumor is true, Apple may have a blind spot. iPhones are often used for filming video.

Apple went out of its way to promote the "Shot on iPhone 6" series of commercials to prove how capable the iPhone camera is. Personally, I've shot all my 3D printing shop videos using my iPhone 6s Plus, with a little $20 lavalier mic that I plug into that headphone jack.

And that brings me to the key concern over dropping the headphone jack. The headphone jack is the primary external microphone input port for iPhones. Whether it's for a simple lav mic or something more fancy, if you want to bring in quality sound to match the quality video, you need a headphone jack.

BLUE MOOD
This may be counter-intuitive to those who use Bluetooth headsets, but remember that we're going beyond conversational audio to recorded production audio. The typical Bluetooth ear piece or even headphone like my Blue Parrott won't do. First, of course, they don't fade into the background. Second, they're just not up to the audio quality.

Some of you may be familiar with a series of more professional microphones that purport to be Bluetooth based. Well, yes, they are. But they connect a remote user wearing a mic to a dongle, and that dongle has a mini headphone jack at the end

The professional Bluetooth wireless mics don't talk to the phone, they talk to the dongle. That dongle will no longer work if it can't plug into the phone. This video demonstrates how that works. Here's another example, again with a dongle that plugs into your phone.

I did manage to find a few clip-on mics that use Bluetooth connections to smartphones, but as you can see, they're way too large to fade into the scene. They also have pretty bad reviews.

GREASED LIGHTNING
As it turns out, the Lightning adapter may prove our savior in this regard, at a price both metaphorical and monetary. There are a number of microphones that plug right into the Lightning adapter so that your iPhone becomes the mic body and the add-on mic is the mic head.

One such mic, the Blue Microphones Mikey, is a popular digital recording solution.This works well in handheld interview situations, but is clearly not a body micing solution.

For lav-based microphone use, microphone elder statesman Sennheiser comes to the rescue with the clipMic, a complete lavalier solution using the Lightning port instead of the headphone port. It's not cheap at $199, but with Sennheiser, you do always get your money's worth.

These are good answers to the dropped headphone jack, except for small possible problem: latency. Many of us have been quite satisfied using USB mics and have only experienced the very slightest of latency issues. But the analog to digital conversion in the mic must be fast enough to prevent lip sync and other tight sound-to-visual issues.

There is one more problem with using the Lightning adapter and that's power. The other day, I was recording 4K video using my iPhone 6s Plus (which normally gets almost two days of operation on a single charge). It was out of juice in just a little over an hour while doing the recording.

Those using Lightning-based mics may have a power management problem until or unless we see power splitters that can also handle live mics. This may prove difficult because power is "noisy" and may disrupt mic recording, so a more robust battery in the iPhone 7 or an add-on battery may prove to be the solution.

JACK BE NIMBLE, JACK BE QUICK
Today, there are no really good pro mic solutions using Bluetooth and just a few using Lightning.

There is no doubt that if Apple eliminates the headphone jack, there will be a huge surge in Bluetooth and Lightning mic innovation, if only because so many people use these devices and it's such a huge market. But there will definitely be a time lag between the release of the new iPhone and more good recording solutions.

And what if Apple dumps the Lightning adapter in favor or USB C at the same time it dumps the headphone jack? As improbable as that is, there are USB C to USB 3 adapters, and while there would likely be a jumble of connections, it's doable.

Keep this in mind when you look at the question of whether or not going jackless is right for you. Personally, I'm on the annual iPhone upgrade plan, but I don't intend to swap out my surprisingly beloved iPhone 6s Plus until I'm sure I have a recording solution that will work for me.

iPhone 7:All the rumors about the specs, design and features of Apple's 2016 iPhone

With the March 21 introduction of the 4-inch iPhone SE now in the rear-view mirror, we have turned our speculative focus to the forthcoming iPhone 7, expected to materialize sometime later this year. In a TV interview with CNBC's Jim Cramer in early May, Apple CEO Tim Cook said that the iPhone 7 will have a killer feature:"We are going to give you things that you can't live without, that you just don't know you need today."

                 

So, a pretty high bar has now been set. And to be clear: we have no hard info. But between assumptions and the new expectations set by Cook, we paint below a portrait of the most intriguing gossip about Apple's next big thing.

Design
For the past several years,Apple's iPhone updates have followed a predictable cycle: major design changes in even-numbered years, followed by "under the hood" tech upgrades that keep the same basic physical chassis in odd-numbered "S phone" years.For 2016,then, a total redesign is a near certainty -- possibly with some dramatic innovations.

However, the iPhone 7 may buck this trend. According to Barclays analyst Mark Moskowitz, supply chain murmurs indicate that the iPhone 7 won't have "any must-have form factor changes," suggesting that we'll see only a few modest refinements and perhaps some newer internal components. In this vein, MacRumors has suggested that the iPhone 7 will have a design that's "very similar" to that of the iPhone 6 and 6S, though without the antenna bands that run across the current generation. And we still expect the company to release two versions of the phone -- ostensibly, a standard-sized, 4.7-inch iPhone 7 and larger 5.5-inch iPhone 7 Plus.

Given the regularity with which folks drop phones in toilets and other bodies of water, could Apple develop a water-resistant or waterproof chassis? (By the way, here's what to do when it inevitably happens to you.) Other manufacturers have already gone there, of course: Samsung with the Galaxy S5, Sony with its Z5 Premium and Motorola with its entry-level Moto G. Still, the fact that Samsung did not make the Galaxy S6 waterproof suggests that it's not a critical feature for most consumers.

In recent months, multiple sources (of varying reliability) have reported that the iPhone 7 will be waterproof and dustproof. Business Insider reports that Apple has filed for a new waterproofing-related patent. Titled "Electronic Device with Hidden Connector," the application suggests that ports could be covered with a "self-healing elastomer." According to the patent description, iPhone ports equipped with this technology would be covered with membranes, which could be penetrated by a headphone or USB connector, for example, and which would seal back up once the connector is withdrawn.

Building on this narrative, 9to5Mac has reported that Apple is developing a new set of Bluetooth earphones that could be introduced simultaneously with the iPhone 7. The fruit of the company's acquisition of Beats Electronics, the new earphones, potentially called "AirPods," are rumored to be completely wireless, similar to the Motorola Hint.

One of the more interesting iPhone 7 predictions involves a move away from the physical home button. As CNET reported earlier, recent iPhone innovations -- specifically the pressure-sensitive 3D Touch screen and increasing always-on hands-free functionality of Siri -- have diminished the need for it, and that a buttonless iPhone would be a natural move for a company with such a strong preference for clean lines as well as simple design. That would also allow the large top and bottom bezels to shrink, effectively allowing Apple to squeeze a larger screen into the same size body. The trick, of course, would be keeping the all-important Touch ID fingerprint sensor somehow integrated into the device.

Note that the melodramatic iPhone 7 "leaked concept" video in circulation on social media has been flagged as a fake. The video shows a cleansuit-clad employee, ostensibly of Foxconn, one of Apple's longtime suppliers, handling a home button-less iPhone 7 until, offscreen, someone shouts, "Hey!". Nice try, folks.

iPhone 7: consumers are more excited about iPhone 7 than iPhone 6s

A new survey of prospective smartphone owners signals customers are more excited to see what Apple has in store for this year's "iPhone 7" than they were last year's iPhone 6s unveiling, though early interest for the 2016 upgrade is still behind hype for the iPhone 6 two years ago.

The UBS Evidence Lab did a survey of 6,336 smartphone users across the U.S., U.K., Germany, mainland China, and Japan to gauge interest in Apple's next smartphone. Though nothing is officially known about the so-called "iPhone 7," the poll found that consumer interest and demand are high.

In the U.S. and China, respondents showed more interest in the "iPhone 7" than were interested in the iPhone 6s last year. In both markets, demand for the "iPhone 7" has not yet exceeded the excitement for the iPhone 6, which launched in 2014 and marked Apple's first foray into significantly larger form factors.

Though Apple's leading markets are very interested in what the company has next, interest has waned somewhat in Europe, where interest in purchasing the "iPhone 7" is actually somewhat below the iPhone 6s.

The data has led UBS analyst Steven Milunovich to predict that iPhone unit growth will reach between 5 and 10 percent in Apple's fiscal year 2017. He believes many users who have not yet upgraded to a larger display could buy in with the latest product cycle driven by a redesigned "iPhone 7."

Finally, the poll also found that nearly half of respondents are holding off on buying a new iPhone until the next model is available. It's expected that the "iPhone 7" will launch in September, in line with Apple's usual release schedule.

The fact that consumer interest in the "iPhone 7" is so high when virtually nothing is known about the device is a testament to users' faith in Apple to continue to churn out desirable products. It's believed the new iPhone will sport a redesigned chassis to differentiate it from the iPhone 6s, and leaked parts suggest it could gain the iPad Pro's Smart Connector for wireless charging.

The addition of the Smart Connector could also allow users to utilize slimmer battery cases, and it could allow Apple to release Lightning-connected headphones that could be used without blocking the ability of the device to charge. There have also been reports suggesting Apple hopes to get rid of the 3.5-millimeter headphone jack in order to make the handset thinner than ever, though this week a new leak suggested the legacy headphone port could remain.