It seems that Apple’s “courageous” move to eliminate the headphone jack from the iPhone 7 last year may have cost it a fair number of sales. According to a Yahoo Finance survey of over 7,700 people, 73% of Android users are less likely to switch to iPhone solely because it lacks a headphone jack. In other words, with a 3.5mm headphone jack, they might have considered switching from Android to Apple.
Apple will continue to succeed in the West regardless of which ports do or do not appear on its phones, but as Yahoo notes, Android is still the overwhelming favorite when it comes to mobile platforms around the world. If Apple wants to expand its footprint internationally, seemingly small drawbacks like this can have a noticeable impact on both phone sales and Apple’s various services.
Additionally, iPhone owners themselves are overwhelming opposed to the lack of headphone jacks, as evidenced by the 71% of iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus owners who told Yahoo that they would like Apple to bring the jack back. Around two-thirds of those respondents go so far as to say the omission of the jack has “been a problem,” and 40% have even considered dumping the iPhone as a result.
We’re still at least a month away from the unveiling of the iPhone 8, but all signs point to Apple continuing to walk down the path of courage in 2017. In Apple’s estimation, whatever corners it would have to cut in regards to the phone’s design in order to bring back the headphone jack isn’t worth the potential Android switchers it’s going to lose as a result. At least we’ll have wireless charging.
