Apple will drop the 3.5mm headphone jack on next year’s iPhone 7, requiring wired headphones to connect to the smartphone via Bluetooth or the phone’s 8-pin digital Lightning connector, a news report contends.
The move would shave more than a millimeter off the iPhone’s depth and open up the potential for improved headphone sound quality through the use of a headphone-embedded DAC delivering 48kHz lossless audio. The headphone’s DAC would be powered by the iPhone.
Third-party makers of wired headphone makers would have to embed a DAC in their headphones or offer a Lightning-to-3.5mm adapter.
9to5Mac’s report cited Japanese blog Macotakara.