The iPhone 7 has been announced and the rumors were true; they've removed the headphone jack. Now you'll need an adapter to use your standard headphones. This is probably fine for the majority of iPhone users but it's impractical for me.
I'm addicted to my iPhone. I use it for both work and play on a daily basis. I film footage with my phone for our behind the scenes series and I also use it at times for professional jobs as well. I have approximately 6 different sets of headphones that I use with my DSLRs while we film that I will also use to listen to music or podcasts with my phone. When I play my digital drum kit at home, I plug my phone into my kit via the headphone jack for music backing. When I get in my car, or a rental car, I use the aux port to play music. The idea that I am going to buy an adapter for each of these devices is ridiculous or the idea that I am going to carry an adapter with me everywhere I go is even more absurd.
I know that I'm probably not an "average" iPhone user and you may only have one set of headphones that you use but there is one more annoying issue. The flaw with Apple's design is that even if you don't mind using an adapter for your headphones, you can't charge your phone while listening to music at the same time. I would imagine that the majority of people with long commutes like to charge their phones while they pipe music through the aux port in their car.
Phil Schiller has recently come out and said that if you want to charge and listen to music, you can purchase an iPhone Lightning Dock that is designed to sit on a desk and cost $50.
Belkin has announced that they are releasing a Lightning splitter which would allow you charge and listen to music via Lightning headphones but if you want to use standard headphones you will need to use a second adapter. This option is also too cumbersome to be taken seriously.
I've never been satisfied with my iPhone's battery life. Maybe it's fine for 99% of users but I want to be able to use my phone literally all day long without needing to charge. For this reason, I have put a battery case on every single one of my iPhones to double, or sometimes triple, my battery life.
My current battery case converts the proprietary Lightning connector on the bottom of the phone into a standard micro USB slot. This has saved me from buying extra Lightning cables for all of my computers at home and at the office. Every room in my house already has some device which uses micro USB.
We already know that it is possible to charge the iPhone 7 and listen to music with the help of Apples dock. I'm praying that one of these battery case manufacturers will include a micro USB for charging and transferring files and a headphone jack for music.
In a perfect world I want an iPhone that is double the thickness with 2 days of battery life, a headphone jack, a micro USB jack, and a Lightning jack. I seriously doubt that will ever happen though. I've heard some people say that they believe Apple will be forced to back pedal and will include the headphone jack back in the iPhone 7s or 8 but I doubt they will. If you look at their track record, they love proprietary cables and I don't remember them ever doing a complete 180 with their designs.
I was planning to buy an iPhone 7 but at this point I'm going to wait for a battery case with a headphone jack to be released. A wire-free world sounds awesome, but I use my phone with too many devices to make that a reality today.
From what I've read, the wireless headphones cost $160. With no tether or strap, those can be easily lost on the street, subway, cab, etc. Plus it is another device to charge. Since Apple designed the wireless headphone, replacing the battery in the wireless headphone probably means buying a new pair.
Of course Apple holds a gun to your head to buy only their headphones since Bluetooth is such a proprietary standard and god forbid about using a free adapter, that would just not be possible.
100% agree with this, I'm heading towards android the way this is playing out, I listen to music and podcast 24/7, and because of the battery I charge it while playing, I haven't seen any adapter for charging and listen to my already existing headsets. I'm suppose to buy a 700 dollar phone, buy new headsets, blue tooth stereo for my car? I might just have to go ahead and switch to android. I'll really miss imessage :(
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I have been using a set of Bose wireless headphones with my iPhone 6+ for about the last nine months and love it/them! does it bother me that i will need to use the 7+ lightning included adapter to use my Rode smartlav microphone? not in the slightest. I am looking forward to an iPhone 7+ with longer battery life 256gb storage more water resistance brighter display and much more advanced camera etc etc can't wait!
Here's a thought... Don't buy an iPhone 7
One observation about headphone jacks. In all the years I have had an iPhone, the number 1 most common reason I have had to exchange a phone for repairs was failure of the headphone jack. The physics of the torque stress applied to the jack is immense, and I am surprised that the jack does not fail more often. I think Apple will also save millions on fewer returned iPhones. I have had at least 3 jacks fail over the last 8 years while on warranty.
Lee, what do you recommend now for a battery case with a headphone for either the Iphone 7 or 8? Many of the press releases that have come out about Iphone 7 battery cases with headphones link to dead links or crowd-funded products that never came to market. Is it a hopeless chase? I with Apple had issued their new Iphone with two lightening ports, that would solve the problem. Perhaps the Iphone 8 or X will solve the problem with the battery case doing wireless charging and leaving the Lightening port to solely be used for headphone use.
It is starting to feel hopeless. Patrick seems to have the only working unit in existence (there is another post on Fstoppers where we have a working unit). Every company that we have talked about this with has stopped responding to us. As we understand it, they can easily make the product, but Apple is the one blocking it from being distributed in the US.