SHOCK HORROR: People Are V. Mad About The iPhone 7’s AWOL Headphone Jack

We saw it when the MacBook Air abandoned the chunky CD drive. Nowadays barely anyone remembers what it was like to need CDs regularly, but when it happened people thought it’d be the end of the damn world. Well, they’ve done it again by dropping the beloved headphone jack on the iPhone 7, in a move VP Phil Schiller said took “courage”.

This might be a different kettle of fish, though. Unlike the CD drive, which had a whole bunch of successors ready to go which were much more convenient than physical disks (digital downloads, the cloud, so on), the 3.5mm headphone jack is actually pretty fuckin’ convienient, you know? Wireless headphones had better be pretty damn good to be a better experience than just whacking your headphones out of your pocket and plugging them in.

Yeah, the AirPods look nice as hell, and they can’t be much worse than the old standard headphones for sound quality. And yeah, It comes with a Lightning adapter, and extra adapters are only nine bucks, but still. The punters are, overall, not keen. Gadget fiends are okay with it, but let’s be honest – gadget fiends are not most of the population.

And people are a little frustrated online. Not only by the fact they have to use an adapter now, but by the fact that the new wireless AirPods cost $229, which is a hefty chunka change.

with headphones this expensive I better hear Beyonce push Michelle away from her mic when I listen to destinys child pic.twitter.com/nv2ctIp5To

— CHARLI XCX (@bodyofmyown) September 7, 2016

They better have ‘Find My #AirPods‘ for the price of those headphones… #AppleEvent pic.twitter.com/aMhCW4Vzin

— S?vion (@SavionWright) September 7, 2016

i don’t want wireless headphones I want to be able to close the YouTube app without the video stopping THATS ALL I WANT #AppleEvent

— &rea (@aintmyfaujt) September 7, 2016

yes it’s pathetic for apple to fidget with the headphone jack and call it “courage”

— Felix Gilman (@felixgilman) September 7, 2016

Hey other bad ideas imma let you finish, but the new iPhone not having a headphone jack is the worst idea of all time.

— Ben Rector (@benrector) September 7, 2016

And look, I’m inclined to believe that we’re not quite ready to accept a wireless solution just yet. The headphone jack just works, whereas Bluetooth is still a bit of a pain. Everyone knows what its like when Bluetooth just doesn’t connect for some arcane reason.

But hey. We’ll see how this goes down.