The Reason Behind the Assassination of the Headphone Jack

Samuel Ramlow

Mr. Reuter

The Reason Behind the Assassination of the Headphone Jack

Ever since the Iphone 7 was released, people have been questioning why Apple took away the headphone jack. One of the only practical reason people could come up with was, the cords from the headphones were annoying and got in the way (“Why”). While this is true, this is not the reason behind the disappearance of the headphone jack. Apple released a product that made the new “innovation” completely useless, and the new product made wired headphones eve more annoying. They released:

The top part plugs into the charging port and the bottom part is where the headphones plug in. Apple’s new genius innovation has forced consumers to choose between charging their phone and listen to music.

If we look back to the great year of 2014, Apple Inc made a very smart investment. The year 2014 was the year that Apple Inc BOUGHT Beats By Dre. Essentially meaning that Apple now owns that company and makes money from it just like any other owner of any company. Beats By Dre is a major supplier of headphones, and their company is affected by the release of Iphones. Beats Headphones and Iphones are complementary goods. Ever since the first wireless headphone was created, Beats By Dre has been a major supplier of wireless headphones. If more Beats wireless headphones are bought, apple makes more money. Which means if someone or some company were to invent something that increased the demand of wireless headphones, Apple would potentially make more money. In my opinion, Apple only created the IPhone 7 without a headphone jack to increase the demand for wireless headphones., The new supply of the IPhone 7 would increase sales for Wireless Beats, and therefore it would increase Apple Inc’s profit. I also believe that if this truly was Apple’s intentions, they succeeded. According to 9to5mac.com, in the month of June 2016 Wireless headphones sales surpassed wired headphones. While the IPhone 7 was released in September 2016, the rumors of the disappearance of the headphone jack started a little before June. While everyone has been questioning why the headphone jack was being taken away, Apple was making money off of the consumers who were now following trends and buying wireless headphones. There is no innovative reason behind the new IPhone 7, Apple just wanted to make more money with consumers thinking they were just trying to make a better IPhone.

Citations:

"Headphones, Earbuds, Speakers & Accessories." Beats By Dre. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Jan. 2017.

"Lightning to 3.5 mm Headphone Jack Adapter." Apple. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Jan. 2017.

"NPD: Wireless headphones exceed sales revenue of wired headphones for the month of June." 9to5Mac. N.p., 2016. Web. 02 Jan. 2017.

Quora. "Why Did Apple Remove The Headphone Jack From The iPhone 7?" Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 2016. Web. 02 Jan. 2017.

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