How Apple Killed The Headphone Jack!

In 2016 Apple did the unthinkable, Apple removed the headphone jack. This move has changed the smartphone industry, audio equipment industry and the role of the smartphone for decades to come.

All of this started in 2015, a story had broken out that the upcoming iPhone(iPhone 7 and 7 Plus) would not have a headphone jack. A lot of people didn’t believe this leak because why would the company of iPod(a music device) which helped build the brand of apple as a music enthusiast company remove the beloved headphone jack, but slowly this leak gained steam and in 2016 this was the main talk of the iPhone 7 series. So many leaks and rumours had flooded the internet, people were almost certain that Apple would officially remove the headphone jack in the upcoming iPhone 7 series. The 2016 September event was incredibly hyped and everyone wanted to see will Apple remove the headphone jack? The show started, they get on stage and they announce the iPhone and Phil Schiller announces that the iPhone will no longer have the headphone jack.

After Apple had announced that the iPhone will no longer have the headphone jack, the entire smartphone market was shocked and thought that this change was a joke. Samsung, OnePlus, Google and countless companies mocked Apple in tweets and even in ads. Samsung with every new launch would make an ad where they would mock apple. The Original Google Pixel introduction ad mocked Apple and even OnePlus mocked Apple. Die-hard enthusiasts, Smartphone companies, all of them mocked Apple and considered this removal as a complete joke and they all believed that Apple would tank and this would hurt them in the long run, well that was 2016. In November of 2021, every major smartphone company which makes premium smartphones no longer have the headphone jack and now even mid-range phones with the price of 20,000–30,000 rupees don’t have a headphone jack. How did this happen? The entire smartphone industry called Apple’s move a joke and yet they followed them and removed the headphone jack? How did this happen and why did they do it?

To understand why major smartphone companies joined Apple, we need to understand why Apple did this move in the first place. Back in 2016, when Apple removed the headphone jack they gave us 2 reasons,

1. with the new haptic engine and phone being waterproof we could not find space to fit the port and we could not offer IP67 water resistance without the removal of the headphone jack.

2. “Courage”, which in some sense was true but still kind of ridiculous.

The reality was that the headphone jack was always going to, the port’s life cycle was coming towards its end but Apple made it end significantly quicker. Apple knew that the headphone jack was going obsolete and the industry had to move on. Apple knew that the future of audio is wireless so they wanted to capitalize on this and began the end of the headphone jack. In 2016, Apple introduced AirPods, a wireless earphone that a consumer could use instead of using a traditional wired headphone. AirPods is completely wireless and is able to connect with the iPhone in seconds which no other portable wireless audio device could do at that time. The sound quality of AirPods was okay but it was the style and ease of use that Apple marketed to users.

The removal of the headphone jack and introducing AirPods was a bold move, in many ways this was a huge risk and could potentially hurt the sales of iPhones and in the long run, hurt its brand, But that’s not what happened. AirPods is an incredibly successful product, Airpods in a short span of time became the world’s most popular headphone. Everywhere you go, someone had the AirPods. Airpods was incredibly popular and their popularity was shown in sales numbers as well. In 2020, Airpods alone made $12 Billion Dollars, the revenue received from AirPods was more than the revenue of Twitter itself. You heard it right, AirPods alone made more money than Twitter, Youtube, EPIC, AMD and many more companies. The revenue from Airpods was so much, AirPods alone could be a listed company in Forbes 500. Apple’s bold move and its long term vision paid off, AirPods is one of the most successful products in Apple’s history and Airpods is the most innovative(in terms of user experience), game-changing product Apple released since the Original iPhone launched in 2007.

Airpods is incredibly successful and in many ways changed the game. Every smartphone company which mocked and made fun of apple for removing the headphone jack were baffled and dumb-founded. Enthusiasts were completely shocked. Both believed this would hurt Apple and it would be a total embarrassment for Apple but the only ones who were embarrassed were the companies and enthusiasts who mocked apple. Major companies such as Google, Samsung and OnePlus realized that they were missing out on a billion-dollar opportunity and if they didn’t capitalize on this, the only idiots would be them. 5 years after Apple removed the headphone jack, OnePlus, Samsung, Google and many more companies have removed the headphone jack and in many of the mid-range phone’s, it’s slowly being phased out.

Apple’s bold move caused shock waves in the smartphone industry. Traditionally, Smartphone companies make money by selling smartphones themselves, these companies have a simple philosophy, make a great smartphone and sell it to the users and you’ll earn good money. Apple proved that there are more ways to make the phone more profitable and that is by creating an ecosystem of products around the smartphone itself. By creating an ecosystem of products around the smartphone,

1. You’re able to add more value to the smartphone itself so the user will continue to buy newer iPhones and will continue to be an iPhone user.

2. By creating an ecosystem of products around the smartphone, you’re able to re-establish the brand and make the brand more powerful and add newer types of users.

3. With an eco-system model, the revenue received from this kind of model is a lot and keeps the shareholders happy.

The reality is that the headphone jack was always going to go but it’s still had some time in its life cycle but Apple didn’t wait for that and they made a bold move and decided to innovate, this move was a gamble but the gamble paid off. This goes to show that if any company wants to innovate and disrupt the market, they need to have a culture of making bold moves and innovating but in a calculated and organized manner with a long term vision.

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