A photo posted on Chinese site Weibo purports to show an internal component from the upcoming iPhone 7 that would prove the phone will still have a 3.5mm headphone jack. If true, the news would fly in the face of months of speculation that Apple planned to drop the traditional headphone jack in favor of wireless or Lightning port options for connecting headphones.
Just last week an alleged leak of iPhone 7 schematics supported the rumor that the headphone jack was being ditched, but this new photo shows a similar configuration to the same component in the iPhone 6s, with spaces for both a headphone jack and a Lightning port.
With all other indicators pointing to the demise of the headphone jack, this latest image is being viewed with a healthy dose of skepticism, with some speculating that the component is actually a part from a Chinese iPhone knockoff. With the iPhone 7 Plus rumored to be getting a dual camera system that the iPhone 7 will lack, it’s conceivable — but quite unlikely — that one of the phones could have a headphone jack that the other lacks.
Or Apple could also be saving its big breakup with the headphone jack for next year, with a dramatic redesign to the iPhone expected in 2017; in an “S” year, oddly. But for now, this report is an outlier to the consensus that the headphone jack is on the chopping block.
