A button-free, port-free device is in Apple's not-so-distant future. Prepare to love it and make it yours

Dec 31, 2015 19:45 GMT  ·  By

2015 was the year Apple launched a no-button device. The year they finally achieved the supreme goal when it comes to simplicity. No, this is not about the iPhone. Their smartphone has 4 buttons, even though they do not seem too obvious and the user sees a touch-screen interface. We are talking about the Apple Pencil.

The guys from Cupertino are famous for leaving stuff out of their products. Let's remember the first computer without a floppy drive. Back in 1998 when that happened with an iMac, everyone thought Steve Jobs was crazy. And guess what? He was not crazy back then and he was not out of his mind when he removed the DVD / optical drive from the MacBook Air or when he launched a phone without a QWERTY keyboard.

Industrial design, stripped

Getting rid of stuff on computers started with the floppy, then it went on to the MacBook Air and onto the new MacBook launched in 2015, the first laptop featuring only two ports - a USB-C 3.1 used for charging and a 3.5 mm headphone jack. The computer was not expensive for an Apple device and it takes the user to the future.

The Apple user has two choices right now: go wireless or stuff your bag with (expensive) adapters. However, who needs to do more on his/her computer can get a 13-inch diagonal Retina MacBook Pro or slip the new iPad Pro in a suitcase and roll with it.

Getting rid of the ports

There have been rumors of Apple getting rid of the 3.5 mm headphone jack in the iPhone and replacing that with a lightning port. Sure, this sounds right up Apple's alley. And we will probably see this, if not in iPhone 7, maybe a few years from now.

Apple may very well do this and users will be pissed. Getting rid of the headphone jack means you need to use wireless headphones with your iPhone or get some new headset that works via the lightning port. If the second option will be the default one, there would be no way to charge your device and listen to music or keep the sound to yourself.

The guys from Cupertino are probably laughing right now. If their calendar was followed per usual, this decision was taken almost two years ago. The higher-ups at Apple know exactly where they are going to go next and how to handle most issues.

Transition to a simpler device

Apple is well known for ripping the band-aid when it comes to sudden moves. There was no telling the 30-pin connector will go away and get replaced with the lightning connector. Everyone thought Apple will go the micro-USB route and they were wrong. Having a proprietary port that has a net advantage over others was good enough for Apple.

Losing the headphone jack in an iPhone is a pretty bold move. Sure enough, this will bring high-quality audio to the users and Apple can achieve a device that either has a larger battery or is thinner.

There are two ways for this transition. Apple may introduce wireless charging, but this can cause the device to be thicker or they could deliver wireless headphones along with the iPhone. Note that I didn't call them "Bluetooth headphones" because Bluetooth 4.0 is still not as reliable as it is advertised, and having a bad experience with your headphones may ruin the whole thing for the user.

Providing a wireless headset with the phone can help users get closer to the Apple Watch. The new device needs something like this and the move may get extra customers.

Wireless headphones would be more expensive and providing an accessory like that for free, with the iPhone, can increase the cost of the device. I'm not saying Apple doesn't have the money, but it's not their way of doing business.

Another way to work with this situation would be to provide a lightning to 3.5 mm headphone jack adapter. This is cheap and it will help everyone get used to the idea that next year there will be no adapter and lightning is the way to go.

Unless... Apple decides to go the USB-C way and lose lightning altogether for the faster port in the new MacBooks.

Port-free, button-free

Taking a design and functionality cue from the Apple Pencil, users can expect the iPhone to lose ports just like the MacBook did. Going wireless and button-free is the next move for Apple and users would have to get used to it.

Remember the mid-2012 MacBook Pro that did not have a user replaceable RAM stick? Pro users were not happy with that, but the regular ones didn't care. The future of Apple devices will probably bring less options for the hardcore pro-users and more stuff for the regular ones.

Do you think we would care about a button-free, port-free device or we are going to look for better, longer lasting batteries in our devices?