Report: Apple will kill the 3.5mm headphone jack on the iPhone 7

By Jason Hahn Published November 28, 2015

Apple lightning connected headphones — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Even though the iPhone 6S and 6S Plus mildly surprised the world by being ever-so-slightly thicker than the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, Apple’s apparent obsession with thinness is far from over. A Japanese blog cites a source who says Apple intends to do away with the traditional 3.5mm headphone jack for the iPhone 7 and require users to hook up their cans via a Lightning connector or Bluetooth.

The move would enable Apple to shave off “more than 1mm” from the thickness of the current iPhone 6S, according to 9to5Mac, citing the Japanese blog Macotakara. This could give Apple an opportunity to boast that the iPhone 7 is the thinnest iPhone ever.

The 3.5mm headphone jack is essentially the bottleneck to supreme thinness, since it “can hardly be thinner because it is the world standard,” according to Macotakara. Apple once considered replacing the 3.5mm port with a 2.5mm port, according to 9to5Mac. Last year, Apple introduced Lightning headphone specs, though Lightning headphones are still a rarity.

“The report claims that Apple will bundle Lightning connector-equipped EarPods with the next iPhone, incorporating a tiny DA (Digital to Analog) converter into the connector,” according to 9to5Mac.

If this report is accurate, Apple’s move would open the floodgates for manufacturers of 3.5mm-to-Lightning adapters. It also surfaces questions about charging the iPhone while a headphone is plugged in.

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Jason Hahn is a part-time freelance writer based in New Jersey. He earned his master's degree in journalism at Northwestern…

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