Apple is reportedly removing its 3.5mm headphone jack for its next iPhone. In place of the jack, the Lightning connector would be used to attach headphones, according to Japanese blog Macotakara.
Removing the headphone jack would allow Apple to reduce the phone’s thickness by about 1mm, compared to the iPhone 6S. It would also force consumers to use new headphones, which will be bundled with the iPhone 7, according to the report, or get an adapter to connect older devices.
Lightning connector headphones can be charged by the phone with passthrough charging without depleting the phones battery substantially, according to 9to5Mac.
Lightning connector headphones are already available from Philips and Harman JBL.
The iPhone is expected to hit stores in October 2016.
