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Comment by mattnewton | Hacker News Reader

There are pros to wireless headphones and the right choice for many people, but the choice has been made for all people who do not experience that. I personally use Bose over ear heaphones that have an optional cable you can attach and connect and it has come up an incredible number of times. There is so much pain if you switch for more than two devices, forget to charge, at unsure something is paired, etc that all goes away with having a cable option for when it is more convenient.

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Exactly. Removing the headphone jack is incredibly hostile to those of us who want to use wired headphones, and clearly motivated by the insane profits of wireless earbuds. And the worst part? It's working. Just look at the AirPods business and you'll see exactly why Apple does it.

For myself, I'm sticking with an older phone and IEMs with replaceable cables. Super happy with it because I'm OK with the tradeoff of dealing with the wire instead of dealing with batteries and replacements every 2-3 years. So sure, Apple has made some profit off of wireless buds. But they could make even more profit by adding a headphone jack and allowing folks who want wireless buds to use them. (no, dongles and lightning headphones do not solve this issue -- I want to be able to use the same connector for all my devices, and I want to be able to use it while charging) At least add it to the SE, for Pete's sake.

You could always get the dongle to support the wired headphones. My teen daughter is using it now that she has lost her airpods.

Tried it, Apple-made dongles fail with incredible frequency, and non-Apple made ones just don't work.

> But they could make even more profit by adding a headphone jack and allowing folks who want wireless buds to use them.

How would this generate more profit for Apple?

For one thing, I'd buy an iPhone again.

I wonder how many people have actually stopped buying iPhones due to the removal of the minijack. I bet it’s noise to Apple’s revenue. I also expect that they save more in the hardware simplification than they lose on sales.

I'm sure it's 100% worth it for them financially. Me not buying an iPhone because it doesn't have a headphone jack means nothing to them.

I think what will hurt them in the long run is their pattern of user-hostility will start to affect their image. For instance:

* Right to repair gaining steam (Apple now introducing some basic form of parts availability)

* Apple eroding their image as a Privacy company (Apple had to delay their "child safety" tools after public outcry)

* iMessage lock-in (Apple users "bullying" Android users due to Apple's hostile UI choices).

Those are just the recent examples that come to mind.

It'll all add up until Apple has a PR problem that actually does start affecting their bottom line, and then they'll have to make concessions that'll make people happy again.

Probably not a lot. But it's one of those "death by a thousand cuts" things I can't ignore in an iphone purchase. Between that and the fingerprint reader, I'm out. If they brought either back I could justify it.

I really do miss my headphone jack. Not being able to charge and listen to music at the same time is dumb as hell.

However, my 6 was proper dying, so once they bought out the SE or whatever with a sensible form factor and fingerprint scanner I was convinced it was better than trying to switch

The iPhone SE2 has a fingerprint reader. It's a lower quality device though.

Looking at my SE2 right now. What you mean lower quality? (Btw it has no minijack)

Not flagship. Non-OLED screen, single rear camera, no face recognition, smaller battery, etc.

GP's requirements were either a fingerprint sensor or headphone jack before switching.

That is called less features, not less quality.

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> but the choice has been made for all people who do not experience that

What are you talking about? Is someone stopping you from using wired earbuds?

You're not technically stopped, you just have to pay extra money to get an adapter, with the additional downside that you can no longer charge the phone while using those headphones.

For me, it's not the cost or the ability to charge my phone, but the fact that the adapter can get lost. I can't leave it plugged in because I use my headphones with non-iPhone devices too.

I perpetually loose my headphones anyway. If I had an adapter too, I'd find myself unable to listen to anything twice as often.

The old jack was also more solidly connected than the current inclement weather port (sorry, can't remember ifit's lightning, thunderbolt, or wizard strike).

> get an adapter, with the additional downside that you can no longer charge the phone while using those headphones.

Shouldn't such an adapter have a female USB-C connector and pass that through to the male one, with the headphone jack being branched off? Do those not exist, or are they prohibitively expensive? Did the Apple "dongle" mentioned in sibling comments do it that way? (Sure oughta, IMO.)

The official Apple one, at least, does not do that. I don’t know if there are others which do.

Then one would think someone else has exploited such an obvious(?) market opportunity. (BTW, I deliberately didn't write "with a T-branch for the audio jack" or similar, because the stem of the T should obviously be the male USB-C going up into the phone, so the audio and the incoming USB-C go out to the sides. Then you can still stand the phone upright on top of them.)

Did they stop including the dongle in the box? I haven’t bought phone in a couple of years so I honestly don’t know.

I can understand the complaint about charging. Although the fanboy answer is of course wireless charging.

They've stopped including it, but they sell it for $9 with free shipping.

The next thing to go will be the physical SIM card tray - takes up a similar amount of space which is better utilized for battery capacity or other features, and also makes for easier waterproofing if removed.

They stopped including it a while ago, I think they stopped with the XS.

Or, if you get a wired->BT adapter like the FiiO uBTR, it’s another device you have to remember to keep charged.

(Btw there are 3.5mm to lightning adapters that let you charge while listening, just not made by Apple)

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