Apple axes iPhone headphone socket ... and tries to sell us £120 earbuds
APPLE was condemned for being ‘arrogant’ last night after it revealed the headphone socket had been scrapped from the new iPhone.
As they unveiled the iPhone 7, executives at the tech giant said it was time to move beyond normal headphones as they were ‘ancient’.
Phil Schiller, senior vice-president of worldwide marketing, claimed the firm was showing ‘courage’ by removing the socket – ignoring a petition signed by more than 300,000 saying that such a move would ‘screw customers’.
Instead, Apple unveiled its new range of Bluetooth ‘earbud’ headphones that have a battery life of just five hours and cost $159 (£119).
Apple’s move threatens to singlehandedly make the traditional 3.5mm headphone lead – which can be used in almost all devices – obsolete. It was condemned by critics and users as arrogant and out of touch.
At the US launch in San Francisco, Apple revealed that the new earbuds with the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus can be charged through a single socket in the phones known as the Lightning port.
Owners can also connect wirelessly via Bluetooth headphones. Mr Schiller said only Apple had ‘the courage to move on and do something that betters all of us. And our team has tremendous courage’.
He added: ‘Our smartphones are packed with technologies and we all want more. It’s all fighting for space, and maintaining an ancient, single-purpose analogue connector doesn’t make sense because that space is at a premium.’
In his speech, Apple chief executive Tim Cook said its new range of earbuds, known as AirPods, were ‘helping usher in the future of wireless audio, effortless and magical listening experience’.
But the loss of the headphone socket sparked an angry reaction from Apple customers. On Twitter, user Joe Tidei wrote: ‘How arrogant is Apple? They used “courage” to describe removing the headset jack, because they can and they’re still gonna make billions.’ And on Facebook Matt Van Ryn wrote: ‘Apple, the only company arrogant enough to make its products worse, and less capable, and then charge you more for it.’
Mr Schiller revealed a string of features he hoped would pacify irate consumers, including a battery that lasts between one and two hours longer than the previous models, and water and dust resistance – features rivals such as Samsung already have.
The iPhone 7 will cost $649 (£486) and the 7 Plus – a larger model – will cost $769 (£576). Both will be available from September 16.