Steve Jobs Explains Why Apple Dropped the Headphone Jack [Video]

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Posted September 9, 2016 at 3:25pm by Shalom Levytam

Check out this video of Steve Jobs explaining why Apple drops tech features (such as the headphone jack) from its products despite the decision being controversial.

Notably, Jobs says that Apple has the courage to take these steps, something that Phil Schiller also mentioned during Apple's keynote on Wednesday.

"We're trying to make great products for people, and we have at least the courage of our convictions to say we don't think this is part of what makes a great product," Jobs says.

Take a look at the video below!

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Comments (41)

Comments are closed for this article.

Eduarda - September 12, 2016 at 12:27am

Maybe because the new headphone will cost 150USD instead of 30 and they are easy to loose?

gamerscul9870 - September 12, 2016 at 1:09am

Wanna bet that? Not the losing part, just the cost.

joshWUa - September 10, 2016 at 11:16pm

I might get in trouble for this decision, but it's where we are going.

gamerscul9870 - September 11, 2016 at 3:45am

After all the success you have had and the future everyone will look forward to? The headphone jack removal is like the downfall of flash. No matter how many times people laugh at these decisions, they eventually realize it's time to move forward. Flash is nearly replaced by html5 in lots of sites and ZDnet mentioned that the jack will be obselete in the next decade and it's clear to see why.

gamerscul9870 - September 11, 2016 at 1:31pm

Don't be! No one will shoot someone who got rid of something that they can stay away from at their own will!

AlpsHiker - September 10, 2016 at 8:42pm

I'm fine with removing the jack, but why on earth did they stick with the Lightning port? Why not adopting usb-c instead? Better question yet: why didn't they wait until Bluetooth 5 is released? Bt 5 promises higher bandwidth so a remote DAC + amp could in principle handle lossless audio. This is by far the stupidest move Apple could have done.

gamerscul9870 - September 10, 2016 at 9:15pm

Unlike those with headphone jack connection where it uses analog sound, lightning transfers i2s sound which is digital and uses amps to go with it. How can you say no to that?

Jonathon - September 10, 2016 at 5:29pm

what he really wanted to say "why we got rid of the headphone jack? Because I like money"

gamerscul9870 - September 10, 2016 at 9:12pm

Or he couldn't because he's not greedy and there is no evidence surrounding what you thought he said.

Steve Semones - September 10, 2016 at 2:39pm

He was such a visionary and was so far ahead of his time if only we could have captured his consciousness and utilize it in the future!!

Hardware engineers - September 10, 2016 at 1:45am

You guys don't even know the benefits in going lightening vs aux... I don't blame y'all cause 99% of you guys aren't engineers. Headphone jacks only deliver L/R analog audio signals... The power with lightening you can transfer POWER and digital audio (i2s) and the benefit in that is simple: headphones now can come out with Audio DAC & AMPS in side the headphones so you can get better sound quality and base... AND you won't have to use a external batter that you typically plug in let's say.... Bose's headphone.

Stealther - September 10, 2016 at 3:56am

I'm a professional electrical and electronics engineer. If you use the earpiece you will always realise that the cable will break after some time of use big you shift the electronics to the earphone, the earphone will become bigger and more expensive. Digital or not is useless coz the ultimate sound producing membranes are still analogue. The Lightning port is not universal., only used by Apple phones. I own a macbook as well, so now I need 2 earphone, one for iphone and another for macbook (What an irony). Not to mention if you still have Ipad 2 or 3 or other tablets or Brand’s of phone.

Hardware engineers - September 10, 2016 at 7:31am

You are correct, cost will go up but that's what you get for better performance. Apple has its on "MFi" authentication chip so phone vendors can use those parts to use the lightening connector. The audio DAC/AMP will convert the digital back to audio to drive the speakers... The point of a digital interface is the improvement of signal integrity over delivering analog signals over long wire that is susceptible to noise and other environmental conditions. The beauty of digital interface is as long as your signal can pass the logic level high / low of the DAC then you should be fine.

Hardware engineers - September 10, 2016 at 7:33am

Also, since your driving small speakers your amp does not need to be high power and as a result your PCB area is smaller, and even smaller if you use a chip scale integrated DAC+AMP.

King Rollo - September 10, 2016 at 9:32pm

Look at Sonys mdr headphones with DAC the support analog and lightening

Stealther - September 12, 2016 at 8:40am

So now I need a earphone for Iphone and another one for Macbook. And the iPhone's battery will be drain faster. And oops, how to charge the phone when you're listening to music?

gamerscul9870 - September 12, 2016 at 12:51pm

Wireless headphone, or use those Qi stickers that allow iPhone to wirelessly charge iPhone so that you can use lightning EarPods, or that hand cranked iPhone case to charge that was made for the 6(s) but can possibly used in the 7 and yet again, use lightning headphones or EarPods.

NickStorer - September 10, 2016 at 1:03am

2 thoughts: 1. This is only going to be a problem for people who lose their headphones because they're giving you a pair of lightning headphones AND an adapter for free! If you simply take care of your possessions you have nothing to worry about! 2. I'm glad they found a creative way to free up more room inside my iPhone for the extra speaker and the Home Button Haptic engine. As someone who listens to music/podcasts from my external speaker more than from my headphones, I'm all for it!

Stealther - September 10, 2016 at 3:58am

So only careful people can buy the airpod. The rest (most of us) will bound to lose the airpod. This is definitely a problem.

Ab08 - September 10, 2016 at 6:39am

It's not Apple's fault you're careless...

Quop - September 10, 2016 at 8:29am

"For free" :D

Nickstorer - September 10, 2016 at 12:18pm

With that logic you shouldn't buy anything, not just Apple products.

clown - September 9, 2016 at 7:23pm

Just anthor way to sell $30 products.

hamood_d10 - September 9, 2016 at 6:09pm

I just pre-ordered the iPhone 7!

88Ender8800 - September 9, 2016 at 3:56pm

No jack doesn't improve anything for people, our phones ALREADY have bluetooth right now. Less options for us? More proprietary dongles for Cook.. I've only owned iphones, but there is no real innovation, it's just harder to to like. Nail in the coffin here and I hope for millions to vote with their mmoney. Iphones suck now....

Ok.... - September 9, 2016 at 4:02pm

I agree buddy....u take head phone jack out....fine....but by doing so u actually negate Steve's point of emerging technologies. For example, Square.....Square card readers is an emerging technology....so......no head phone kills emerging technology of accepting your credit card during your Uber drive lol

Timoyates - September 10, 2016 at 10:25pm

Uber users have a credit card on file. Drivers are handling any part of the financial process.

Headphones to usb-c!!!! - September 9, 2016 at 3:54pm

In the dawn of it's lifecycle is not lightning... It's USB-C

matrixmaniac - September 10, 2016 at 12:01am

Exactly, Jobs explains rather why Apple shouldn't have removed the headphone jack: because the lightning port is a dying technology already. And the new W-chip will never be an emerging standard either. No other manufacturer will offer that on their devices. Shame shame, Apple lost its way by so much in so little time!

6italia0 - September 9, 2016 at 3:40pm

Apple is the only company I know of that can make terrible decisions and then sell millions without even flinching and then that terrible decision within months even becomes the standard and all others follow suit, plain and simple. If it has an apple logo on it, the sales rep doesn't sell it to the consumer, that product sells the consumer which is how it's been for a very long time now and I don't see that changing any time soon at all.

stevenlacross - September 9, 2016 at 3:44pm

So why do you think they are terrible decisions if about 3 months later everyone else decides to make the same terrible decision?

A non e moose - September 9, 2016 at 3:51pm

Because it's not hard to convince companies new ways to make more money by making terrible decisions that ultimate shaft customers. Like how there's a sudden influx to ship half-ass games and provide a "complete" package thru DLCs and Episodic Sagas.

gamerscul9870 - September 9, 2016 at 3:52pm

Terrible decisions or not, the jack is worth removing. Watchmojo mentioned in their 'Top 10 things that will become obselete in the future' video that wires is one of them. We once used landlines, tangled cords to set up monitor, huge brick comouters, and Internet which nowadays is just a router and a laptop and simple as it gets, and as for headphones? No more of those cords tugging ears (if that's a problem to some), lightning port is a good use of headphones, but at least we have adapters. I could at least see what you're trying to say if it wasn't for either of these, but what makes it more hard to believe this really is a terrible decision when you can also get the headphone spit and not deal with a tangled mess or lose connection. I could go on about this, but I made my point.

gamerscul9870 - September 9, 2016 at 3:54pm

At least those games are stored within consoles and not on fragile discs. If you had a choice, would you rather have half baked DLCs or rigged game discs to fix yourself?

A non e moose - September 9, 2016 at 4:00pm

Rigged disks actually. Majority of digital games are tied to an account via DRM. So if anything happens to that account, such as hacks, bans, or even if servers are down preventing me to log in, I won't be able to pay it. In another case, moving from one device to another, sometimes it's not transferable, which has happen to me on mobile games already. I see the convenience of digital content being located in one device, but it can also lead to a plethora of other problems. Other than that, I love the feel of the merchandise in my hands. The art book. The case. The manual. How they design the box. It's like the Apple experience, unveiling the product in hand bought with hard earned money. Digital trades some conveniences with tangibility.

Chip - September 9, 2016 at 4:44pm

@5mexican9 that's right thumbs up.

6italia0 - September 9, 2016 at 8:20pm

I don't think people understood what I meant by "terrible decisions". Apple makes "terrible decisions" now and not too long afterwards it becomes the standard. Does that make it a terrible decision? No, it just means people don't like it at first, but then soon adapt to it and can't remember how they ever lived without the change

A non e moose - September 9, 2016 at 3:37pm

Misleading title. Video is more about the philosophy to forge onward by leaving dated technologies rather than Steve Jobs explaining why Apple left the jack. I was expecting a video of him making that bold prediction a while back but all I got was the same philosophy any tech firm follows. If customers like it, they'll buy it. If they don't, they won't pay us. Nothing new.

Fnam - September 9, 2016 at 3:34pm

Legend!

António Júlio Sousa - September 9, 2016 at 3:33pm

I miss this guy so much! :(

sandeewhispers - September 11, 2016 at 11:21am

That's exactly what I said.

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