But... why?

The cameras are so good, and I love having the larger screen vs my 6

the speakers are insanely good too!

its sexy as fuck in matte black

But now you've got to pay a premium on adaptors for your headphones. 

you mean.. the free adapter that comes in the box? plus only costs £9 if I lose it?

and the free lightning headphones that also come in the box?

Ah, my bad. 

But still, I shouldn't need an adaptor for headphones. Just seems silly and regressive. 

maybe, but there are benefits of headhones with built in dacs/amps and lightning heapdhones can have noise cancellation without a need for batteries too! which is pretty cool

plus I plan to get some bluetooth in ears for portable use so i dont need the jack

I agree, it might be, but the 3.5mm isnt enough to put me off a device that I think is otherwise really good, great screen, speakers, performance, gaming, build, waterproof etc

To each his own. I'd rather have a headphone jack. I remember being royally pissed off when I couldn't listen to my game audio when in the car with my Gameboy Advanced SD back in the day. Plus, I have the options to use a dedicated amp/dac or just use simple headphones like what I have now. 

sure but Its not like I cannot connect headphones, the only other thing I use lightning for is charging and I do that overnight, my battery lasts until I get into bed, especially on the plus with like 30% better battery life than my 6

Literally my headphones now have a 1" lightning extension on the end, its not even noticeable

but it has a headphone jack, and you can use 3.5mm headphones, i dont really see the problem

I mean, sure it would be better if it was there, but its barely an issue at all, i carry me earbuds on my in my pocket every day, now it just has a 3cm adapter cable on the end, problem solved I can continue to live on

I dunno, i mean, I DO wish it was there, I have no plan on buying lightning headphones, that can fuck off

but equally, I dont want to go android, and I do want some Bose QC35 bluetooth headphones  plus I can just keep using my ear buds as normal

I know for some its an issue, but frankly im not THAT bothered, - I personally wont buy lightning headphones because it limits what I can connect them to but im happy to move on from 3.5mm if thats the way the industry is going

shame its not USB C but - i guess that has its own layers of issues 

there are some Y shaped lightning adapters that are Apple certified. Problem solved. no big deal.

But we shouldn't have to spend more money for something that has been a standard for years. I don't see why we are accepting a regressive design choice from one company than condemning another company for doing the same.  

But the headphone jack itself is regressive, and backwards, a digital port can support so much better tech, for example powering Active Noise Cancelling, or fitness trackers other bits and pieces

The only reason we CARE about the headphone hack is because everything has it

if everything changed to lightning overnight, it would be fine, remember when HDMI came out? or when CD drives dissapeared? its the same awkward time

A new digital standard connection will come out, or bluetooth will get lossless and better battery and everyone will forget 3.5mm 

Apple are going to massively push the audio industry, which is very stale, and will hopefully bring out exciting new products, as well as push wireless standards and portable battery tech too

1. dongles are pretty stupid, even more so when they require other dongles

2. digital audio = drm

3. nobody was asking for the removal of the headphone jack

4. it will make Android and Apple headphones incompatible

5. there are tons of active noise cancelling headphones already so I don't see the point

Yes, it probably will cause a pretty big competition in the wireless audio industry, but that's about it.

Oh, and guess who has the most to win from this? Apple of course. They are the ones making money from each accessory using the lightning port.

everything changes overtime. 3.5mm is like one of the most important analog thing that is being used for many years. but it's disappearance is for it's own good. it's not like you can't use 3.5mm here. every single other manufacturers has done it in the past like LG on some of their basic phones. I remember it. Some Oppo phones, Moto Z Force and some I can't remember it.

There is definitely advantage on listening to audio on digital over analog. it's just there are massive no of people has 3.5mm headphones lying around. that's why all of us freak out.

Apple is like most important company in the world. Y'all are freaking just for that. no one complained about missing headphone jack in the above mentioned phones.

you get an iPhone 7, it comes with lightning headphones, comes with 3.5mm jack.

purchase a Y lightning splitter put it in your backpack. listen and charge at same time.

I mean if you can afford a $650 phone, you can surely afford $20 Y splitter. no big deal.

there are even some battery cases that are coming out with 3.5mm jack or dual lightning port and a Micro USB built in as well. you have wide variety of choices over one disadvantage.

I got a brand new iPhone SE two days ago, I switched from HTC One M8, and so far its only got two flaws: 1. Small screen size 2. iOS.

it's just the technology. I can see some USB Type C headphones on market. It's just how CD/DVD disappeared. It's just how film cameras disappeared. It's just how we evolved to touch phones. It's just how we went to slim monitors. It's just how we went from washing clothes with our hands to washing the clothes in machines. It's just how we went to wired to wireless. It's just how we went from Traditional to Modern. There are many thing everyone know. I don't have to say.

I can move on with that.

@Morgan MLGman haha. both flaws could've been avoided if you already knew about iOS. You don't need to own it for experiencing the both the flaws that you mentioned.

total mistake on your side. M8 is a nice phone. Why you wanted an iPhone SE?

@kameshss You're mistaken, I've owned three iPhones in the past. The first gen one and iPhone 4 and 4S. I've also owned a first gen iPad. So I know iOS, I just prefer Android, as it's more flexible and allows me to do more stuff with my phone.

I didn't pick it, I just had a chance to trade my M8 (used for almost two years) for a brand new iPhone SE with no charge. The SE is damn fast though, its got 6S hardware inside of a 5S chassis.

It doesn't really seek any attention to me. I consider the lightning headphones only as the advancement of technology. There are massive no of iPhone users that get benefits from this.

How are u liking it? Thinking of getting one myself.

I agree about lightning being proprietary and I wish it was USB C but Lightning is a great connector, with tons of features built in, its SUPER robust too, and apple have certification so you know you dont get a cable that will blow up your device

@Flight1sim its pretty awesome so far, moving from teh 6 to 7  plus, loving the large size, and new stereo speakers so good for youtube vids and music etc, almost rivalling some small bluetooth speakers for sound!!! 

its FAST as fuck, and the cameras are super super impressive

gaming is nice too, but not got much installed as im off out for a meal soon

I may not get a 7+, but maybe a 7. Depends. Either a 7, or an OP3, HTC 10, or the upcoming google pixel, or an S7 lol.... Too many options! 

But my main runner ups are the iphone 7 and the op3

OP3 is better for it's price. Insanely good fukcing phone for it's price.