(photo thx to MKBHD)
Why is Apple removing the 3.5mm headphone jack from the iPhone 7?
This is not rocket science.
Simplicity.
Jony Ive - Apple’s design chief, has repeatedly said Simplicity is key to what Apple do.
“Simplicity is not the absense of clutter, that’s a consequence of simplicity. Simplicity is somehow essentially describing the purpose and place of an object and product.”
Aggressively removing ports and wires that are inevitably going to be phased out or not required in the near future is at the core of this philosophy.
Yet - Apple rarely gets credit for removing things - and if it does - only well after the fact (e.g. floppy drive removal on first iMac).
This philosophy is why Apple’s hardware design has been better than everyone else, for so long. But if this philosophy works - nobody notices how the sausage was made.
Loss Aversion
In most studies it has been shown humans are at least twice as averse to losing something, however small or theoretical the loss - as making equivalent gains. When the gains are hard to see (removing extraneous ports for a gain in simplicity) - this effect is probably amplified.
No reviewer ever said “I love the lack of ports on this MacBook - because of what that philosophy enables” (the new ultra slim Apple laptop with 2 ports total). People were almost universally critical of the lack of ports (although some did like the device).
This is at the core of mainstream ignorance. People were implying that it would be easy for Apple to just add 1 or 2 more ports with little or no consequence. Again this totally misunderstands why Apple are successful - and how good design happens; by being bold, by having an opinion, by removing the extraneous.
Ive:
“So much of what we try to do is get to a point where the solution seems inevitable: you know, you think "of course it’s that way, why would it be any other way?” It looks so obvious, but that sense of inevitability in the solution is really hard to achieve.“
Leonardo Da Vinci:
“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.”
Antoine de Saint Exupéry:
“It seems that perfection is attained, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing more to take away.”
By removing the 3.5mm port you gain a huge amount in simplicity. It’s not about trying to squeeze an awkward battery into that space. It’s about following the philosophy of simplicity - that is what makes Apple’s products so good.
There are HUGE parallels between removing the 3.5mm jack - and removing the floppy drive on the first iMac. People lost their shit then too - and, weirdly - found their shit soon after.
The Sky Is Falling, The Sky Is Falling
Same with removing the DVD drive from laptops. Same with the 30-pin to lightning switch. Same with having no removable flash storage on iPhones. Same with having a sealed battery in iPhones and laptops - or no upgradability.
Probably 90%+ of users of the iPhone 7 will either be using Bluetooth earphones (including Apple’s probably awesome Air Pods when released) - or whatever lightning earphones Apple bundle with the device.
For everyone else, to be at almost *precisely* the same place we are now - all you’ll need is a 2cm lightning to 3.5mm dongle. THATS IT (with passthrough charging).
If you don’t need a hole on the outside of the device, you don’t need components, space, drivers etc inside the device to support 3.5mm. Components you don’t use can’t malfunction, don’t use power & take no space. In such a small package these are HUGE wins.
Less is more is why Apple win.