The first reviews of the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus are out from publications given early access to Apple’s new smartphones and wireless headphones. The first question on everyone’s lips is: what is it like not having a headphones socket?
In all the in-depth reviews, barely anyone has found anything positive to say about the lack of the jack, aside from Apple’s company line that removing the headphone socket provided more space forother things. There have been quite a lot of negative comments.
While it wasn’t enough to put everyone off the phones, all reviewers found at least some irritation with juggling headphones, remembering not to lose a dongle, and not being able to charge the battery while listening to music.
The irritation associated with not having a headphone jack depends on how much you use Apple’s included EarPods, Bluetooth headphones or whether you try to listen on anything else other than an iPhone.
Andrew Cunningham, writing for Ars Technica, cuts right to the heart of the matter.
Most people will feel the absent headphone jack the most in two situations. First, if you’re listening to music on your iPhone and you’d like to plug into some non-iDevice with a 3.5mm jack but no Lightning port, including to but not limited to your Mac, you’re out of luck. To solve this problem, I’ve found myself using my standard 3.5mm earbuds plugged into the dongle to listen to music and podcasts on the iPhone 7 just to make it easier to switch to my MacBook Air or 3DS when I want to.
The latter problem is more complicated: if you need to charge the phone and listen to audio at the same time. This runs up against the less-talked-about effect of the disappearing headphone jack, which is that the iPhone 7 only has one port where all previous models had two.
I can totally accept the premise that the future is wireless, but the present is still mostly wired. If you buy an iPhone 7 on launch day, you’ll be wading into the most painful part of the transition. Make sure you go in with your eyes open.
For Business Insider’s Steve Kovach, not having a headphone jack on the iPhone 7 isn’t an issue, but everything else not having a Lightning socket or Bluetooth is.
When I was flying back to New York last week, I wanted to watch a movie on Delta’s in-flight entertainment system. But I had shiny new pair of the Lightning EarPods, and Delta’s system requires the standard jack. That means I had to pull out a second pair of regular EarPods that I had with me from my iPhone 6. Bluetooth was out of the question.
I think that’s going to be the biggest problem as people adjust to the death of the headphone jack. Listening to music through Lightning or Bluetooth headphones is a breeze on the iPhone 7, but Apple has ignored the fact that the rest of the world is using the original standard.
The adapter in the box makes the loss of the jack ok for David Phelan, but charging and listening is another story.
If you have favourite headphones with a conventional 3.5mm tip, you can still use them as Apple has bundled a 3.5mm to Lightning adaptor in the box. This can stay connected to your headphones so you don’t lose it. If you need more, they’re available to buy for £9 – about the cheapest product Apple has ever sold.
Of course, it’s not so easy to charge your phone while listening to music any more as it’s all the same socket. You’ll need a different adaptor or dock with multiple connections to make this work.
For Geoffrey Fowler there is one big downside.
So let’s talk about the other reason you might actually consider skipping the iPhone 7—the death of the headphone jack. Apple really blew it when it explained this. The iPhone 7 still comes with corded earbuds, but they plug into the Lightning port now instead of the old round plug, and the box comes with an adapter so you can use your old headphones. There’s one big downside: You can’t plug in headphones and the charger at the same time unless you buy another strange adapter—for $40!
Lisa Eadicicco writing for Time says that if you only listen to music on your commute, it’ll be fine.
How big of a deal is headphone jack’s disappearance? Music fans who’ve splurged on high-end headphones may be peeved about keeping track of an additional adapter that might be easily lost; replacements will cost $9.99. And iPhone 7 users won’t be able to listen to songs through wired headphones and charge their phone at the same time without an optional dock. But for people who just want to listen to music on their morning commute or during a jog, Apple’s included earbuds will do just fine.
Old habits die hard for Engadget’s Chris Velazco.
To hear Apple tell the tale, getting rid of that decades-old standard wasn’t just a practical move to make waterproofing and increased battery life possible – it was also an act of “courage.” Here’s a bit of unsolicited advice for Apple: I get that changing the world is sort of your thing, but maybe go easy on the hubris next time.
The toughest part of not having a headphone jack is trying to break all my old listening habits. I can’t tell you the number of times I tried to plug a regular pair of earbuds into these phones before -- d’oh! -- remembering that doesn’t work and then having to root around for the included Lightning-to-3.5mm adapter.
Brian Chen told New York Times readers that, while the lack of a headphone jack is irritating, the included Lightning earbuds help.
For consumers hoarding lots of wired audio gear, the converter solution is less convenient since the adapter is tiny and easy to lose. If you have a pair of great wired headphones, your best bet is to leave the converter connected to the headphones so you don’t forget it.
For Cnet’s Scott Stein, the removal of the headphone socket is a pain, a compromise that feels forced.
True, the iPhone 7 gives you a number of options: Get a pair of Bluetooth headphones. You could use the included wired Apple EarPods, which now have a strange Lightning plug instead of a 3.5mm one. Or the Lightning-to-regular-headphone adapter dongle, which Apple’s thoughtfully included in the box. But you have to remember to take it everywhere with you, and who wants to remember to carry a dongle? (If you leave it attached to your headphones, you better not bring another pair of headphones.)
That little headphone jack is the one thing that I could see bothering people about this phone. Like the single USB-C port on Apple’s newest MacBook, it’s a compromise that feels forced.
If you’re already a wireless headphone power user, you won’t miss a thing. But someday – who knows when? – you’ll find yourself somewhere wanting to use a pair of wired headphones. And you’ll find that you can’t plug them in because you left your dongle behind. Don’t cry to me when that happens.
For Nilay Patel, writing for the Verge, the included headphones are poor and Apple’s closed ecosystem on a better Bluetooth set up is a hold up to pushing the wireless agenda.
The Lightning EarPods are exactly like Apple’s regular EarPods, which is to say that they sound average-to-bad and fit either fine or not-great depending on your ears. Competitors like LG and HTC ship much higher quality headphones with their flagship phones, and Apple owns Beats, so it’s just really hard to understand why it’s still shipping such decidedly mediocre headphones with the iPhone. Especially when the company is trying to get everyone to be enthusiastic about the move away from 3.5mm. But here we are.
The Guardian has not been provided with a review handset by Apple and will be reviewing the device after purchasing it when it goes on sale on Friday 16 September.