New Photos Of Apple’s Lightning EarPods Appear
There have been a plethora of reports that the new iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus will not feature a 3.5mm headphone jack. This means buyers who currently have a set of headphones with a 3.5mm headphone port will either need to invest in Bluetooth-enabled, or Lightning-enabled headphones.
As it stands, Apple currently ships a pair of EarPods with every iPhone. Obviously, it wouldn’t make much sense for Apple to continue bundling headphones with a 3.5mm jack if the device itself doesn’t have the port.
In photos that were shared on Weibo, a new version of the EarPods are bing developed that connect via Apple’s Lightning port.
The new EarPods look nearly identical to the existing earbuds, from the ear inserts, inline buttons and mic. However, the biggest change is with the connector.
The photos indicate that Apple will ditch the 3.5mm headphone port in favor of Lightning. This, of course, would make sense if the iPhone 7 comes without a headphone jack.
To take it a step further, it looks like Apple has reinforced the Lightning end with a much thicker cable. It may also be due to the fact that the new EarPods will have an embedded DAC and amp.