First Look At New iPhone Earpods Appears Online

There have been a variety of reports stating that the new iPhone 7 earpods will be wireless while others have stated the new iPhone earpods will feature lightning plug-in capability.

According to Forbes, the possibility for the latter seems more reasonable, and it is all because the publication got its hands on a pair of new iPhone 7 earpods. But if you think someone snuck the earpods out of a testing facility in California or a factory in Asia, you would be mistaken. Forbes reported that its experience with the rumored new iPhone earpods came about as a result of an individual who created the prototype using a traditional lightning cable and a traditional pair of iPhone earpods.

“Fashioned from an existing set of earpods and an official lightning cable, joined with a custom ControlTalk adapter on the cable, this high-tech MacGyver is likely to match the supplied earpods that will ship with the new jack-less iPhones,” Forbes reported.

For anyone expecting that this rigging of the two iPhone products would be seamless, they would be mistaken. The author of the article said there were issues that arose with the new iPhone earpods, some of which was unexpected such as the inability to charge the device while listening to music since power is fed to the device through the same lightning port that people would listen to music through.

But perhaps a larger issue exists with the lightning earpods which could exist for manufacturers looking to target iPhone customers who may want non-Apple accessories.

“Finally, Keller notes that the iPhone 6S used would throw up error messages saying that the accessory was not approved. Peripheral manufacturers looking to use the lightning port will have to be part of the ‘Made for iPhone’ (MFI) certification program. Which means that Apple will have the ability to ‘sign-off’ on any major manufacturer looking to supply headphones that go though the lightning port, and pick up a licensing fee into the bargain.”

In spite of the problems highlighted by Forbes‘ reporting, Inverse has said the lightning earpod for iPhone 7 could actually be a vast improvement over previous earpods offered by Apple.

“True audiophiles will tell you those high quality over-the-ear headphones require a digital-to-analog converter (DAC) to really draw the best sound out. With a lightning cable connector, Apple could build a lot of that same functionality directly into the cable and you wouldn’t have to buy one of Neil Young’s over priced Pono Players.”

Inverse also notes that Apple’s $3 billion acquisition of Beats is likely to result in a vastly improved earpod offering on the new iPhone 7.

Even with the expected enhancement in the new iPhone earpods, analysts familiar with Apple and the iPhone product line note that the changes expected later this year with the iPhone 7 launch will be light compared to the expected 2017 launch of the iPhone 8. How do we know this? Forbes said Apple is making it all too evident that another iPhone is in the pipeline.

“Put simply, the news that Apple’s supply chain partners are reporting more conservative orders of components for the new handset, a conservative approach not matched by its rival manufacturers,” the website reported.

With the expected light push on the iPhone 7, one has to wonder what exactly the manufacturer has in mind for the iPhone 8 and whether launching the iPhone 7 could just be going through the motions. If nothing else, it will give Apple the opportunity to ease its consumers into the idea of possibly bigger changes on the horizon with its newer models.

With all the talk of hardware changes and new iPhone models, will you switch to the new iPhone 7, wait for the iPhone 8, or go with an Android device? Let us know in the comments section.

[Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images]