Apple Inc is out to make a splash with new waterproof iPhones and a smartphone game starring Nintendo Co’s beloved “Mario,” but it has raised eyebrows by eliminating headphone jacks in a push for wireless.
The iPhone 7 and larger iPhone 7 Plus, with sophisticated camera technology, improved water resistance and other features, were shown off to applause on Wednesday at an Apple event in San Francisco.
The flagship devices with boosted memory capacity are to be sold at about the same price as the models they replace, starting at US$649 for the iPhone 7 for US customers, with deliveries in 25 countries beginning on Friday next week.
Photo: AFP
However, gone is the traditional headphone jack, requiring audio to be delivered via Apple’s proprietary “lightning” connector or by wireless — and that may ruffle feathers.
Lightning connectors were designed from the outset to handle high-quality audio, Apple vice president Phil Schiller told the audience, addressing concerns about the headphone jack removal.
“It comes down to one reason; courage, the courage to move on,” Schiller said of the decision to get rid of the traditional headset port. “Our smartphones are packed with technologies and we all want more, and it is all fighting for space in that same enclosure. Maintaining an old, single-purpose connector just doesn’t make sense.”
Apple “AirPods” wireless ear pieces and adaptors to plug wired headsets into Lightning ports will come with iPhone 7 models, Schiller said.
Apple might be setting the stage for a dramatically different iPhone model to debut next year on the 10th anniversary of the smartphone first introduced in 2007, Creative Strategies analyst Tim Bajarin said after the event.
“It could be a first step for Apple making this completely wireless, and maybe next year a new iPhone with wireless charging,” he said.
The new smartphones come with Apple seeking to reverse declines in sales of the iPhone in an increasingly saturated global market, and boost its Apple Watch.
While Apple has touted total iPhone sales of 1 billion, the number sold in the quarter ending June 25 fell 15 percent year-on-year, and analysts were split on whether new iPhones would help Apple regain momentum.
On the wearables front, the new Apple Watch Series 2 is to feature GPS, allowing people to gather fitness data during an outdoor workout.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last
US CONSCULTANT: The US Department of Commerce’s Ursula Burns is a rarely seen US government consultant to be put forward to sit on the board, nominated as an independent director Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday nominated 10 candidates for its new board of directors, including Ursula Burns from the US Department of Commerce. It is rare that TSMC has nominated a US government consultant to sit on its board. Burns was nominated as one of seven independent directors. She is vice chair of the department’s Advisory Council on Supply Chain Competitiveness. Burns is to stand for election at TSMC’s annual shareholders’ meeting on June 4 along with the rest of the candidates. TSMC chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) was not on the list after in December last