Speculation has been mounting that Apple will deprive the iPhone 7 of a physical headphone jack, but so far, proof of the bold design move has generally been limited to fuzzy ‘leaked’ photos.
Now though, we’ve got our hands on some cold hard evidence in the unlikely form of Apple’s latest Back to School promotion.
The firm’s 2016 student sweetener has just gone live on Apple’s US site and features one very interesting caveat – this year, the company will offering free Beats wireless headphones with eligible purchases.
Note, wireless. Not those crappy little in-ear jobs Apple has been tormenting us with for years.
Buyers of an iMac, MacBook, MacBook Pro, Mac Pro or MacBook Air get a pair of Beats Solo2 wireless lug-huggers (RRP $299/£269.95), while the Beats Powerbeats2 ($199.99/£169.95) cord-free cans will bundled in with the iPad Pro, iPhone 6S, and iPhone 6.
Of course, this could just be Apple being really, really nice and wanting to equip America’s bright young minds with some tuneage while they hit the bong…er…I mean…books.
But we’re not buying the charity angle. Not from a company that will happily charge you the best part of £800 for a phone, and is only just coming to the realisation that 16GB is a miserly amount of on-board storage for a smartphone circa 2016.
Related: Apple iPhone 7 news, rumours, specs, release date and price
More likely is that is a clever bit of pre-conditioning on Apple’s part, getting its users used to the idea of rocking wireless headphones ahead of axing the physical 3.5mm jack later this year with the iPhone 7.
It’s not the most dastardly plan in the world, but while subtle, it’s the most solid indication to date that this whole death-to-the-headphone-jack saga isn’t just a load of hot air.
No, the 3.5mm headphone jack is definitely going to Cupertino’s electric cemetery – this we now know for sure.
Or are we wrong? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.