Apple Kills the iPhone Headphone Jack, Introduces Wireless Earbuds Called AirPods

Today, Apple announced the new iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus, and confirmed a long-standing rumor: The next generation of iPhones will ship without a headphone jack. Instead, new earbuds shipped with the iPhone 7 will have a port for Apple’s proprietary Lightning connector, which is also used for charging power. The new phones will also come standard with a Lightning-to-3.5mm headphone jack adapter for iPhone users who want to continue using traditional headphones. Apple said it was making the change because the digital port allows for more control than the traditional analog interface. For wireless listening, Apple also unveiled its new AirPods headphones, separate earbuds that provide five hours of listening on a single charge. The iPhone 7 will also come with stereo speakers, as opposed to the current mono speaker, and will be twice as loud, according to the company.

The iPhone 7 starts at $649 and the iPhone 7 Plus starts at $769, each starting with 32GB of storage. Preorders will begin September 9, with the phones becoming available on September 16. The new iOS 10 operating system is set for release on September 13. The AirPods, meanwhile, are set to begin shipping in late October with a $159 price tag.

More than 1 billion iPhones have now been sold, Apple CEO Tim Cook said at the annual September product event. Other big news announced: The iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus will be water-resistant and come with a redesigned camera. (The iPhone 7 Plus will include two cameras, including one that has a telephoto lens.) Apple originally unveiled the new phones in tweets that were quickly taken down as the event began.

During the event, Cook also announced that the Apple Music streaming service now has 17 million paid subscribers.

 

 

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