Apple could end support of 3.5mm audio jack in favor of Lightning port
Rumor has it that Apple Inc. might do away with 3.5 audio jacks, in favor of its proprietary Lightning port. According to Gordon Kelly, a contributor to Forbes, who was asked by “All Things Considered” host Audie Cornish about what could happen if the rumors were true, the implications of such move would be minimal, as the potential profits would still remain substantial.
Jordan Kahn, writer of “9-to-5 Mac”, was also reached by Corning to comment on the rumor. Kahn’s response was also in favor of a potential switch from the regular audio jack to a proprietary solution, as he described Apple as always have been “ahead of the industry game”.
The rumor is not entirely unexpected, as Apple’s recent acquisition of Beats could mean that future designs of the Beats headphones, as well as other Beats products, might include, or exclusively adopt the proprietary Apple’s Lightning port.
Apple is not new to making radical changes to make its devices more proprietary. It wasn’t long ago since the introduction of the Lightning connector as a replacement of the old 30-pin connector, and Apple’s latest guidelines to manufacturers included important notes on how to build headphones and audio speakers compatible with the Lightning port.
An important selling point of replacing the legacy audio jack with the Lightning port is the ability of the connector to power devices, in a similar way as a USB 3.0 port. This could mean Beats headphones, as well as other devices, could benefit from higher digital sound quality than any previous analog headphone.
If, or when, this rumor is confirmed by Apple, there will be most certainly concerns about how manufacturers will respond to the new guidelines, both in regard to building devices less compatible across the board, and in respect to battery life, as higher audio quality on a digital device could require more power.
If one were to think about this logically, there is a chance that related rumors about the iPhone 6 could converge with those about the Lightning port, as the new iPhone 6 design is expected to be less battery demanding than its predecessors.