It’s no surprise that Apple eliminated the headphone jack in the iPhone 7. While it’s been a staple feature since the original iPhone, we’d heard the rumor for a long time that the headphone jack was disappearing.
I am glad that it’s finally happened. The lightning connector on Apple’s devices is an incredibly versatile connector and can deliver power, remote control, and digital audio. But, while many in the mainstream media hyper-focused on the elimination of the headphone jack, that’s not the real story here.
On the contrary, the real story is that Apple has seemingly waged war on Bluetooth’s limitations. And Apple’s message is clear: Bluetooth alone isn’t the future of wireless audio. The future is smart wireless. That future is based on Apple’s new W1 chip. With the W1 chip and the communications protocol supported, you set up the new Apple Air Buds simply by opening the case near your iPhone 7. The AirBuds will instantly pair with your phone and with your Apple Watch. Nothing more is needed. Bluetooth alone can’t do that. Moreover, the pairing then uses Apple’s iCloud and propagates that pairing to every single Apple device you have connected with that Apple ID—computers, iPads, you name it. The bane of Bluetooth pairing and unpairing, conflicts, etc. is theoretically gone. That really is smart.
[Related:Will Apple’s AirPods be seen as the first networked heaadphones?]
As Apple’s Phil Schiller disclosed, it’s no surprise that Beats is making new headphones with the W1 chip and will be launching wireless versions next month. The new Beats Solo wireless will have 40 hours of listening time with the W1 chip.
Now, Apple didn’t say the audio resolution the W1 chip would be sending over Bluetooth. Apple merely used the term “high quality” without further qualification. We therefore can’t tell if the W1 chip is enabling some additional compression that’s good enough for streaming hi-res files natively or if files will be down-sampled and if so to what sampling rate. Apple inferred but didn’t explicitly state that the new chip and its protocol are more reliable and robust that typical Bluetooth connections (though the specs didn’t say if it’s a Class 1 or Class 2 Bluetooth device). Class 1 devices have a range of 100 meters, rivaling Wi-Fi. Time will tell.
I, for one, am optimistic by this direction. Bluetooth alone has been a completely lackluster audio experience. There’s often digital noise and without aptX, it’s like going back to MP3s. It’s not my preference.
Does this mean that if you have Bluetooth headphones you’re out of luck? Well, yes and no. The iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus still support Bluetooth, but there’s no indication Apple is adopting the aptX Bluetooth codec to give you the illusion that plain old Bluetooth audio has a central future with Apple (anyone remember Apple’s war on Adobe Flash?).
Sometimes radical ideas take time to catch on. The radical thing about the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus isn’t the fact that they don’t have a headphone jack. On the contrary, the real revolution is that Apple isn’t investing in someone else’s technology (and its limitations) to define the future of wireless audio. Bluetooth alone isn’t good enough. Like it or not, Apple is moving ahead on their own terms. Again.
[This article and its points have been updated to note that the published spec of the AirPods indicate that it uses Bluetooth]
It is using Bluetooth but will use proprietary software at the top level of the software stack… Apple was and still is a founder member of the Bluetooth special interest group so waging war against Bluetooth is not in its interest.
Thanks Richard for that tidbit, you are correct now that some initial public specs have come out about the AirPods.
so then shouldn’t you remove this article all together?
Austin, I updated those details in the article, but the point I’m making in the article is still valid. Namely, Apple isn’t going to wait to follow someone else in the wireless arena—in this case Bluetooth—along with the limitations they might face. Instead Apple’s taking wireless connectivity into their own hands.
Didn’t they already follow two other cell phone companies into the arena? Yeah, I am pretty sure they did. And, how exactly are they pioneering the “wireless arena”? Everything has bluetooth including headphones, so what exactly are they doing new?
it’s defiantly a bluetooth chip with special authentication chips with it. Think of the Apple MyFi program that companies needed to go through in order to get special permission to use bluetooth for data purposes. It’s probably similar to the few bluetooth chips out there that support data transmission via bluetooth (Not talking about BLE). This in combination with some software creativity, one would be able to make all of this happen seamlessly. Perhaps this is how they are getting better audio as bluetooth 3/5 have pretty high bandwidth’s for data transfer.
Does it then mean that since the W1 is actually software on top of Bluetooth, that the AirPods are useless when BT is off?
Or if not, does it mean that BT in the iPhone 7 is on indefinitely if you are using the AirPods?
But how do I play all my hundreds of dollars worth of iOS synthesizers with zero latency audio?! OMG! Did apple forget that they bundle Garage Band with every iPhone..? BlueTooth audio is super laggy. What about this?
Yeah they thought of it, you have wired lightning headphones in the box
Bluetooth alone isn’t good enough. Like it or not, Apple is moving ahead on their own terms. Again.
1. again ??
Apple never invented [things] they just build on top of what already exists. and streamlines it
2. They are not going ahead, they are simply making it sound like its a new thing when its not, they did the same thing with the original ipod which was just another mp3 player. but they made it sound like it was new.
As a single example, FireWire. Always superior to USB, but PC makers chose to cheapen their product by $20 and use a garbage connector. As best example, while it’s a dead technology for personal electronics, it’s still a favourite in aerospace, where a 3 second lag can be the difference between getting home for Christmas and, well, let’s not go there.
Does someone try iPhone 7 for aptx compatibility? Or I am very optimistic? 🙂
I have tried it and it does not have aptX compatibility.
I think the admin of this website is truly working hard for his website,
since here every data is quality based data.
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