A little over five years ago, Apple was rumored to be removing the headphone jack (a.k.a. 3.5 mm, or stereo jack) from the iPhone 7. Seeing this ominous change, one of our teardown engineers considered this and proclaimed a looming repair problem:
Removing the headphone jack and consolidating its function into the Lightning port will lead to more broken Lightning ports.
iFixit, July 14, 2016
Andrew Goldheart wasn’t alone. Much of iFixit’s technical writing team agreed. The headphone and Lightning ports were, before the iPhone 7, consolidated in a single assembly—replacing either one required replacing both. But between 75-87 percent of iPhone 5- and 6-series owners looking for port repair guides were looking for Lightning replacement, not headphone jacks—the charging port was a lot more likely to break. Making the Lightning port the only slot for wired headphones, we guessed:
will also increase the failure rates of the Lightning-port-audio. Because you’re essentially doubling the use of a port that’s proven delicate in phones-past.
What’s more, with a broken Lightning port, you couldn’t charge your phone, back in those pre-wireless-charging days. We did note one non-port-bending alternative: wireless headphones. “But Bluetooth still sucks (both in function and battery impact),” we wrote, “and adding more non-replaceable batteries to a product sucks even more.”
Were we right? Were iPhone owners forced to fix their Lightning port more often for the next five years? Not exactly. After Apple found the “courage” to drop headphone jacks, many things changed about iPhones, people’s affinity for Bluetooth, and the design of Lightning ports. Some of it is good news. But some of it is landfills full of tiny circuit boards and non-replaceable batteries.
What changed after the iPhone 7
Apple did, of course, remove the headphone jack from the iPhone 7, and every iPhone thereafter. Apple’s stated reasons were to save space inside the phone, improve water resistance, and shift audio processing from inside to outside the phone. Coincidentally, the company simultaneously had ready wireless headphones designed to easily pair with other Apple devices—AirPods. Those basically disposable, $100-plus gadgets could soon be the company’s third-most-popular product.
Many smartphone makers followed suit in removing their jacks and selling their own AirPod clones. Square, the company whose headphone-jack-based card reader jump-started its small-business appeal, transitioned to wireless readers.
Apple and other phone-makers typically provide 3.5-mm-to-single-port dongles. But, in our experience, they either break or go missing the third time you remember you have them.
The iPhone 7 was a turning point for the headphone jack as a consumer convenience. It was also the peak of people’s desire, or maybe tolerance, for fixing that port. Let’s go to the charts.
Who cares about Lightning ports?
First up, page views on our Lightning/headphone port replacement guides. We don’t always have a guide ready the moment a device drops, or even at the same time every iPhone cycle. So I gathered page views from within one year after the publication of our Lightning/headphone jack guide publication.
Not exactly a smooth roller-coaster. Starting at the iPhone 5s, there’s a steady rise of interest in replacing the power/audio board. Then a dip after the 6S, but that’s likely because the 6S Plus didn’t sell as well as its predecessors (roughly one Plus to every four 6S models, by one estimate). The first budget-minded iPhone SE fared better. But people are generally less likely to fix their cheaper phone when parts need fixing, the difference in cost between fixing and upgrading being narrower. This principle does not include the iFixit staff, however; many of us kept their first-gen SE going just as long as the software would allow. RIP to a real one.
Then the jackless iPhone 7 arrives in late 2016, and, almost proving our point, page views on that phone’s Lightning port connection guide increase nearly 75 percent over the comparable guide for the 6S. Overall sales of Lightning connectors, too, hits an all-time high in 2017.
So did history bear out our Lightning Audio Disaster Suggestion (LADS)? Well, despite sales cresting just after the iPhone 7, they’re followed by a fairly steep decline. This decline might have been even steeper, were it not for the attention Batterygate drew to iFixit (which likely generated more sales overall).
Moreso, if we group headphone port sales by model, we see that the 2017 year was actually a peak for people fixing the Lightning port on older models: their iPhone 5, 6, or 6S, the phones of one or two years ago:
There’s more to this story than just graphs, though. Starting with the iPhone 7, and continuing through later OLED-screen models, Lightning ports simply became more of a pain to replace. Replacing the port on the iPhone 6s is 39 steps. Most of them are the same steps required for any iPhone repair: heating up the screen, prying, disconnecting cables, disconnecting the battery, and so on.
The last iFixit-written Lightning port guide up at the moment, for the iPhone SE 2020 (essentially an iPhone 8) is 66 steps—that’s 69% longer. You have to move the entire logic board out of the way. You must heat up the iOpener a second time to get at the huge glued-down flat cable inside. It’s only rated “moderate” in difficulty; even at a walking pace, though, a marathon is a marathon.
We still sell the parts (here’s an iPhone 12 Lightning connector), but we don’t have iFixit-written repair guides (at least yet) for the Lightning ports on the iPhone X series, the 11, 12, or 13. That’s partially due to dwindling part sales, which are themselves indicators of dwindling public interest. However, there’s also Apple’s release scheme, dropping up to four phones at once. Creating detailed guides for even the common repairs for each iPhone takes time, and we’ve got a lot more than iPhones needing guides.
Not even Apple offers Lightning port replacement as a standard-price service. If Apple can fix your Lightning port (or instead offers you a refurbished whole-unit replacement), the prices range from $270 for an iPhone SE (2020/second generation) to $600 for an iPhone 13 Pro Max. There is certainly some value in fixing your own iPhone’s wonky Lightning connector—owning your stuff and protecting your privacy among others. But it’s an undertaking.
The verdict
Did removing the headphone jack from iPhones cause more Lightning port damage? Probably not. For one thing, many, many people took up Bluetooth headphones and never looked back.
In the three years before the iPhone 7, Bluetooth and non-Bluetooth headphones essentially swapped places in revenue share, according to NPD Group market research. In recent years, Apple’s AirPods and Beats headphones account for nearly half of the increasingly popular “true wireless” category. Wired headphones are still around, but as a factor in Lightning port damage, they’re far less substantial.
There are other factors, too. We know of other phone makers that prioritized reinforcing their USB-C ports, cutting down on port replacement repairs. And the rise of wireless charging has likely lessened Lightning port damage even further—not to say there isn’t damage done.
The future moves in mysterious ways: wireless became king, repairs became tougher and more fragmented, fixes became less common, and interest faded away. So, yes, our initial worries turned out to be less dire than predicted. But the future didn’t get much rosier for it—if anything, it’s more bleak. Essentially, we traded a theoretical Lightning port stress problem for a bunch of other, measurably worse, problems.
If you’re still angry about losing easy, no-battery-required access to your tunes, we recommend taking advantage of all the component space and increased waterproofing Apple gained and using it to hold onto your phone for as long as you can. Take them up on their promise of more durable phones. Fix only what’s broken and demand your rights to keep it running as long as possible.
14 Comments
Of all of the iOS device we have in our family, we’ve never had a lightning port failure despite that being the main way we charge our devices. On the other hand, we’ve had a one headphone port stop working. The only device I ever had charging port issues was on my original Google Nexus 7. With iOS devices, it’s the cable we’ve had to most issues with thanks to cheap Five Below, Walmart, “insert store brand here” lightning cables. In fact we’ve actually broken a few lightning cable 8-pin plugs when we dropped devices. The cable no longer worked due to the broken connector that’s still inside the charge port but the device charge port continued to work fine using a new cable.
ccfman2004 - Reply
My Nov 2017 SE was unable to fully seat my Ear Pods (which I had used w/ 5S until unsupported) by 1.25 yrs after purchase, and after reading how difficult for me was a repair (+ risk of co-damage), I bought the lightning-connector version of Ear Pod and have had no issues since. I was also using a Plantronics BT all along for calls and podcasts, reducing the wear & tear. Just another data point / perspective.
Jack - Reply
Only lightning port failure we’ve ever suffered was on my wife’s iPad. Lightning cable end broke off inside the port. We tend to keep our iPhones and iPads for a fairly long time (3-4 years) so plenty of time for it to break. We have been pretty much in the Bluetooth headphones camp for a long time.
glenthompson - Reply
Or, hear me out on this insane idea, grab a tiny dongle! Whenever I need quality hands-free audio to use with any sort of important call then I’m using a headset and I’m 90% likely to be sitting at home by my desk referencing documents and not paying any attention to my physical device whatsoever. So let’s assume you’re a digital nomad and don’t want extra kit on you BUT also want to use that awesome new headset you bought then a headphone jack would be clutch. First off all, the audio quality coming out of the jack on any mobile (short of those with dedicated DAC’s) isn’t going to sound any better or worse via a wired connection - It’s still not “studio quality”. Secondly, how high end is that headset you’re rockin’? I’ll bet that it isn’t high enough quality to hear a discernible difference from what’s coming out of a mobile, an old AM radio, or a recording studio. We’re living in the “Good Enough” age where most consumers want something that easily works, doesn’t perform terribly, and suits their needs.
pattmyn - Reply
I'd suggest taking a look at a device made by Samsung, the XCover Pro. It has an IP68 rating, headphone jack, HOTSWAPPABLE BATTERY, Mil-spec grade, 2 extra buttons, modern specs and goes for $250 on eBay. The only reason it's slightly thicker than an iphone is the extra ruggedness of the XCover lineup. I just don't understand why other manufacturers can't copy the XCover. Even if you don't use the 3.5mm jack, if it doesn't change water resistance or thickness, like Samsung has proven, why not have it?
Carter Thiel -
I had major problems with the Lightning Port connector on my iPhone 6, in spite of it having a headphone jack, but I kept it a really long time (until recently). I’d clean it out from time to time, but for years, I had problems getting it to charge with many cables. Some worked, some didn’t. Some would work and then lose the connection.
I now have an iPhone 13 Pro and it obviously doesn’t have an earphone jack. I don’t want to use Bluetooth earbuds, so I still use a wired earbud and I simply keep the dongle always attached to the earbud as if it’s part of that cable. So it can’t be forgotten and it doesn’t feel like I’m using a dongle. Since I’m primarily using MagSafe for charging, I don’t expect the Lightning Port to wear out.
mbrooks - Reply
Yeah, it’s why I ran out and got one of the last Samsung 10e’s — still has a port for headphones (yeah, I know, totally radical of me). Just don’t need something else I gotta worry about charging up.
leoFromChicago - Reply
It would be more of a side grade from an S10e, but the Xcover Pro takes it a step further from the headphone jack with a hotswap battery and modern specs. ~$250 on ebay
Carter Thiel -
FWIW, the Xcover Pro looks interesting in Carter’s description, but apparently it’s really aimed at people using it for 1 or 2 things (think waiters). It’s not a workhouse and likely to become sluggish quickly. Plus, it’s got a lousy camera, it’s Android so it might not even get next week’s updates and it’s a Samsung. They undoubtedly make great stuff, but I’ve learned to stay away from any of it that isn’t a component in another brand’s device.
rjvbertin -
This was an interesting article, but your data is based on who read repair articles. Don’t you think it might be a little skewed, in that when you have a charge port issue, you are definitely going to fix it one way or another, but when you have a headphone issue many people might be more likely to say “eh, guess I’ll buy the Bluetooth ones” or even “welp, I guess I don’t get to use headphones anymore”?
Jess - Reply
even on working 3.5mm audio jacks, i’ve had static, crackling, etc. from the cable slightly moving - on brand new devices (not just iPhone). so it’s not like 3.5mm is some amazing more reliable tech.
Jethro Rose - Reply
A few things to keep in mind, from my personal experience:
- Lightning ports actually very rarely need replacement. Most common cause of “failure” is debris/pocket lint buildup in the port. Cleaning it out “fixes” the Lightning port 99% of the time. Phone Repair Guru has a good video covering this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EA4v7XnB...
- The iPhone 7 suffered from a quite widespread Audio IC failure which affected the microphone. Since the microphone is part of the Lightning flex assembly, it wouldn’t be surprising if people simply Googled “iPhone 7 microphone not working”, and came to the conclusion that they needed to replace the Lightning flex.
vantt1 - Reply
Interesting read. I only recently got a newer Apple, I forgot myself a few times that it does not have a headphone jack.
richielegend - Reply
Not amazing, is it, that the predicted port damage increase didn’t occur if all owners just drank the koolaid as good little fanboyzandgirlz?
As others commented here, I wouldn’t miss the jack most of the time because I rarely plug headphones into the phone. The times I do, listening conditions are such that I would probably not notice any quality decrease because of the wireless connection.
HOWEVER, I do hook the phone up to good, old-fashioned HiFi systems here and there. I used to do this via a dock-lineOut dongle but truth be told, you rarely hear the quality difference that allows too, playing back even over good speakers.
What I also do is connect an external, studio grade microphone through a tube pre-amp. The quality I get that way is more than good enough for my application, so I just don’t want to have to bother with an additional dongle.
It really peeves me that I’d have to go Android OR go back to using a dedicated phone plus an iPod by the time my iPhone SE1 becomes useless.
rjvbertin - Reply