No, Apple removing the audio jack from the iPhone is no drama

Image: MKBHD

Phil Schiller confirmed on Wednesday on stage at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium what rumors had been predicting for months: Apple "killed" the 3,5-millimeter audio jack in its next iPhone models. And they do not eliminate it for simple pleasure or because they have nothing better to do, as many think, but for all that that implies. This is an article for the detractors of this change, who will surely be the same ones who also cried out to heaven when the MacBook CD player was eliminated.

We are not going to try to convince anyone that this is the best thing that could have happened to the iPhone or that it is a masterful move, we simply want to explain why shouldn't you be scared or panic that the next iPhone won't have the well-known 3,5mm jack.

Is space

Perhaps this is the clearest reason to justify the change. Today's smartphones do more and more things and need components that do those things. The interior of the same is millimetric so that the space is used to the maximum, always tried to do more in less. The smaller a piece is, the more hollow it is so that it can be used by another. And not only do they do more things, but they are also thinner and lighter. By removing unnecessary elements, its dimensions can be adjusted even better.

In the image above you can see the space that the entire piece of the 5,5-millimeter audio jack occupies on current iPhones. It may not seem like a big deal to you, but as I said, even the smallest space counts. In fact, has almost the same dimensions as the Taptic Engine (the one in charge of providing the haptic response of the 3D Touch) that we find in the iPhones 6s and 6s Plus.

It is minimalism and future

"Our obsession continues to be to continually simplify and improve," Jony Ive said in the introductory video for the iPhone. And is that one of Apple's maxims over the years has been to keep things simple, to get the most out of the least possible. Removing this connector is to simplify the iPhone, it is to remove something so that it can do something else without losing the functionalities it had.

In other words: we will be able to continue listening to music and, in addition, that extra space inside the iPhone is used to improve the terminal. Not that the iPhone 7 is going to have two speakers at the bottomInstead, the left part (where the jack used to be) will probably be dedicated to microphones and noise cancellation. We will leave doubts when iFixit gutters the device.

All this without taking into account that in the future there is no place for cables. Everything tends towards wireless and this is just an example of the future without connectors that awaits us.

Is courage

Schiller began to talk about the removal of the jack using this word, a bit far-fetched perhaps, but not the result of chance. As well indicated in 9to5Mac, It is likely that he refers to an interview with Steve Jobs, where he put into perspective the reasons for the steps the company is taking.

We're trying to make great products for people, and at least we have the courage our convictions give us to say that we don't think this (in that case it was not supporting Flash on iPhones and iPads) is part of what makes a product great, and we are going to remove it. Some will not like it, they will call us everything […] but we are going to accept it and focus our energy on those technologies that we believe will be relevant and that we believe will be the right ones for our clients. And you know what? They pay us to make those decisions […] If we succeed, they will buy it, if not, they won't, and everything will go its way.

A reference that adds to the one that some have discovered in the iPhone 7 wallpapers, which match the colors of the first iMac that eliminated the option of being able to use floppy disks on it. Apple has always liked to be the first to take the steps that mark change. Do what others do not dare. Dance at your own pace. This is just another step.