Gadgetory

the iPhone 7 headphone jack why is it really gone let's find out there are several reasons why Apple remove the headphone jack from the iPhone 7 and surprisingly courage is not one of them one of the main reasons why the headphone jack is gone is that the Lightning port is proprietary to Apple Apple owns that Jack so any company making third-party accessories for that Lightning port have to pay Apple in order to use it it's a direct revenue stream for Apple so let's say as a third-party manufacturer I want to design a new car charger or docking station or charging cable for the iPhone 7 using that lightning port I get to pay Apple royalties for each cable that I make even though Apple is not producing or manufacturing that cable just because it's using their port so how much does Apple make for each third-party accessories sold it's hard to say for sure Wikipedia estimates that at about 10% but since Apple has NDA forms all over the place once you're in the program and have signed all their forms you're not allowed to talk about it or you'll get sued some websites speculate that Apple has recently switched to a four dollar flat fee per cable because it's easier to keep track of lucky for you guys I am NOT in Apple's MFI certification program and I have not signed any of their forms but I have talked to several companies in China that manufacture MFI certified cables and they say that in order to get certified it's 550 dollars per product so let's say I have three different color of lightning cables and each of those cables come in three different lengths now we have nine cables total and I'm paying Apple almost $5,000 to certify my cables for the public use remember that these numbers are not from Apple directly they're just from the manufacturer in China so take that how you will and remember I am NOT opposed to these fees business is business Apple designed their own port Apple should get paid for anyone who decides to use their port that's how business works and I'm okay with that but just for reference HDMI ports are also proprietary and they're royalty fee per cable can be as low as five cents you can really tell what manufacturer wants you to use their product and which manufacturer doesn't so Apple did not design the 3.5 millimeter head phone jack so any accessory used with the iPhone using that Jack Apple didn't make any money on now that they have effectively eliminated that headphone jack in the iPhone 7 each and every accessory that gets plugged into the iPhone 7 Apple gets paid for even if Apple doesn't design manufacture or produce that accessory it's an incredibly intelligent business decision Apple does legally enforce their patents as they should I know someone who is selling non MFI certified cables they got sued by Apple and ended up paying over five figures as restitution so apples money is rolling in from all directions now remember I don't care that Apple is protecting their design and their products and their investment in their information that's totally within their legal right and I approve it's important to business to protect your assets but it's unfortunate that they had to remove a feature as useful as the headphone jack just because they weren't making money on it Apple saw a piece of the financial pie and they took it the second reason Apple got rid of the headphone jack is because of waterproofing sealing off a 3.5 millimeter hole in the bottom of your phone is extremely expensive especially when you're manufacturing millions of them sealing the headphone jack internally would cost Apple a lot of money and why would they spend extra money on something that they aren't making any money with in the first place Apple's claim that they are dedicated to the wireless future is not valid if they were truly dedicated to the wireless future they would have put wireless charging in their cell phones wireless charging has been built into cell phones for years now the thing is Apple wouldn't make money from that wireless charging yet that's why they haven't integrated it into their phones they would be paying someone else royalties for that technology and they're not about that life the argument that the headphone jack doesn't fit inside of the phone isn't valid either the nice thing about designing your own phone Apple is that you get to decide what fits and what doesn't so now that we know why the headphone jack is gone let's talk about how it affects us as customers let's say you're on a road trip with your friends anyone who owns an iPhone 7 won't be able to contribute to the aux cable music selection in the car unless you're carrying around your little dongle extender if you've ever been to a state fair or no many entrepreneurs they won't be able to use the credit card reader like square or PayPal for credit card transactions if you've ever left your headphones at home while you're at the gym or while you're traveling there's no more buying a cheap five dollar pair of headphones with a headphone jack you'll need to buy a way more expensive proprietary royalty fee included pair of lightning headphones that Apple gets paid for even if they weren't made by Apple but that's just what I think I'm curious as to what you think would you buy a phone without a headphone jack let me know down in the comments and if you like seeing tech reviewed from the inside hit that subscribe button thanks for watching hope see you around