Whether we like it or not, there is a symbiotic relationship between Apple and Android. Yes, Apple continually “invents” features Android has had for years (stereo speakers you say! Waterproofing? My lawd!) but you’d be deluding yourself to say Android doesn’t borrow from Apple on occasion too. More to the point though, the iPhone shapes public opinion a lot more effectively than Android phones do. With that in mind, how will the iPhone 7 affect Android devices?
See also: iPhone 7 and 7 Plus: Everything you need to know385
In the grand scheme of things, not much. But several things that have already happened on Android will now be “accepted” by the general public much more willingly than they were prior to the iPhone 7 announcement. First example: while Android devices were the first to remove the 3.5 mm headphone jack – for better or worse – now that Apple has done it too there’s no turning back.
Last rites for the 3.5 mm port
Apple has a history of removing features in their laptops that the rest of the computing world relies on – remember floppy drives, optical disk drives, ethernet ports and the move to flash storage? And yet, slowly but surely, those features steadily start to disappear from other laptops too. Like it or not, the general attitude towards them gradually turns towards Apple’s way of thinking. So it will be with the headphone port.
While we’re all in for a not-so-fun transition period full of dongles and adapters, the Apple-shaped asteroid that will bring about the extinction of the 3.5 mm port on smartphones has officially entered the atmosphere. Android will take up USB Type-C and Apple will stick with Lightning. It’s definitely a shame to lose the ubiquitous 3.5 mm port, but it’s too late to cry over spilt milk now.
It’s a shame to lose the ubiquitous 3.5 mm port, but it’s too late to cry over spilt milk now.
We can expect an increasing number of next year’s Android flagships to ditch 3.5 mm for good, because what Apple does, consumers accept. Not everyone will be so quick to follow suit, because there’s still value in giving the people what they want. So a few stalwarts will hold out for a while, but sooner or later they’ll cave in. After all, no one wants to be the company that refuses to accept a technological inevitability.
While this is really great news for Bluetooth headphone makers and Lightning and USB Type-C headphone companies, it’s definitely going to be an expensive and irritating shift for most of us. But all generational shifts of this kind are, so we’re just going to have to deal. It’s highly unlikely that the 3.5 mm jack will have so many loyal fans it will force its way back onto our phones.
If anything, we should be complaining that Apple and Android will now adopt different standards.
The good news is that the change does actually have some benefits (like batteryless noise – Source
How will the iPhone 7 change Android smartphones?
No comments:
Post a Comment