Comment by kunai
11 hours ago
Well the costs had to be cut somewhere. At least they put a headphone jack in it, so they're doing better than Microsoft on that front (who inexplicably removed it from the SP line)
11 hours ago
Well the costs had to be cut somewhere. At least they put a headphone jack in it, so they're doing better than Microsoft on that front (who inexplicably removed it from the SP line)
I don't think this is intentional to cut cost. I simply think that the chip was primarily made for devices with one port (iPhone, iPad) and this is a bit of an afterthought.
I wouldn't be surprised to see a future product with 2x USB 3.0 10 Gbps with DisplayPort support on the next generation, A19 Pro or A20 Pro maybe, if the product has enough success.
This is going to be a primary complaint people have (even if it's not terribly important) - hopefully they have some circuitry that warns you if you're plugging something into the wrong port (e.g. a USB 3 device into USB 2 at slow speeds).
> This is going to be a primary complaint people have
No. Most people never plug in anything to their USB ports where they'd notice a speed difference. Definitely not people picking up a $600 MacBook for school or casual web browsing.
I'd bet 90% of folks never do anything other than charge through these ports...
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If they want to get these things into schools it would be insane to expect the schools to also supply everyone with AirPods or some other kind of wireless headphones.
I've heard wired EarPods are great or a USB DAC is under $10. It's still easier to have the headphone jack though.
AirPods have too much latency for playing music. You want wired audio for running GarageBand or Logic Pro with a MIDI controller. They could have gone with a USB-C to audio adapter, but then you wouldn't be able to plug the MIDI controller and charge the computer.
... Only a few people make music with a Mac, but it's been an important part of its history, and Apple cares about it.
This is the answer.
Hey, it took courage to remove that headphone jack.
https://techcrunch.com/2016/09/07/courage/
This is 2026. iPhones use standard USB C headphones, you can charge your phone at the same time while using your wired headphones using MagSafe and you can even by low end $59 Beats Flex headphones that have all of the Apple magic.
I’m going to need HN geeks to get over analog headphones from the 60s
In my experience, USB-C ports are more fragile than 3.5mm audio jacks for repeated plugging in / unplugging cycles.
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As soon as those headphones sound better than the analog alternatives, sure.
But they don't. And won't.
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Low-end wired earbuds come in packages with dozens of units. I buy cheap earbuds because my kids love breaking them. Not everyone optimizes for the same thing. Analog remains the bees knees in certain settings.
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It's a mobile CPU. They did not modify it. Mobile devices run with a single USB port.
> Well the costs had to be cut somewhere.
its investment into next generation of loyal apple users, they more likely be selling it at loss.
Nope, not Apple