The End of Headphone Jacks, the Rise of DRM
<i>&gt; When you plug an audio cable into a smartphone, it just works.</i><p>No, hardware-wise you&#x27;re still going through a DAC, and the complex audio subsystem of the OS is still deciding, upon receiving the connection signal, to re-route the application audio through that headphone DAC. Or not. Jack or Lightning doesn&#x27;t change this.<p><i>&gt; Apple can choose which manufacturers get to create Lightning-compatible audio devices.</i><p>Sure. Or you can use the <i>included</i> lightning-jack adapter and just use normal, un-DRM&#x27;d headphones.<p><i>&gt;Once Apple gets the ability to add DRM, the record industry gets the ability to insist that Apple use it</i><p>See my first point: the audio jack wasn&#x27;t your last guardian of freedom.<p><i>&gt;In other words, if it’s impossible to connect a speaker or other audio device to an iPhone without Apple software governing it</i><p>Use the adapter. And see the first point.<p><i>&gt; the only way to connect an iPhone 7 to a recording or mixing device will be over the suboptimal Bluetooth connection or a dongle provided by Apple.</i><p>Aha! They finally acknowledge the adapter! But do they acknowledge that it&#x27;s functionally identical to a built-in DAC?<p><i>&gt; It&#x27;s possible that iOS or specific apps will be able to disable the dongle.</i><p>It&#x27;s also possible the phone will halt and catch fire if you run an unapproved app. But disabling the dongle would be moronic. For one thing, they&#x27;d be incurring the wrath of ADA-defender groups.<p><i>&gt;the converter you rely on to hear your phone on your hearing aids—just became less useful.</i><p>See previous point.<p><i>&gt;But you shouldn’t have to depend on a manufacturer’s permission to use its hardware however you like.</i><p>Then don&#x27;t even buy Apple. They&#x27;ve been locked down in so many other ways for a long time.<p>Anyhow.<p>The simple explanation (see Occam&#x27;s Razor) is that the designers noticed that they were using valuable internal space for a redundant connector (considering the hardware has been able to route audio over Lightning for a long time), and figured they could reclaim that space for something else. Clearly, people disagree with this change. The market will tell.