A painting of me

The iPhone Headphone Jack

   26 September 2007, early morning

Neither my Grado SR-60s or my AKG K26Ps can be used with my iPhone. The iPhone’s headphone jack is recessed into the unit a fair bit. The problem here is that unless the plug on your headphone is fairly skinny, it’s not going to fit in the iPhone’s headphone jack. A lot of people think Apple is trying to sell official “Made for iPhones” headphones. I think the answer is much simpler. You can tell by looking at the phone that this was done to ensure the curved edges of the phone remained curved. If the headphone jack was raised slightly it’d protrude. Here Apple has chosen aesthetics over functionality. (Because the Touch is skinnier than the iPhone, the jack doesn’t need to be recessed as much, so the Touch avoids this issue completely. I think that should be evidence enough Apple isn’t trying to gouge headphone makers.) The iPhone does look nice.

 

Comments

  1. Although I’m sure you could find something cheaper

  2. This one from RadTech and this one from Helium are probably less liable to snap. Like I said though, it all seems a bit kludgey. The bundled headphones have the advantage of having a built in mic/quasi-remote.

  3. The Belkin doesn’t get great comments on the Apple Store website. I’ve seen it in the store and it’s a beast of rubber.

    I totally agree that the jack is recessed for aesthetics, but boy is it annoying. I’m waiting to find a cheap HK knockoff of the iPod Shuffle Sports Case adapter

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