Sources: this year's iPhones will be thinner with same size displays, lose headphone jack, have improved water resistance; big changes expected for 2017 models
Tech giant plans to break with tradition of overhauling its design every two years; headphone plug likely to disappear
Context & Ripple Effects
The jack removal had been circulating since January, when 9to5Mac reported the iPhone 7 would drop the 3.5mm port alongside a debut for premium Bluetooth Beats earbuds with a charging case. Six Colors then laid out the engineering case — Lightning audio quality, thinness, internal space — giving the rumor a rationale before the Journal put weight behind it.
What the Journal adds is the shape of the year: same display sizes, a thinner body, better water resistance, and — notably — a break from the every-two-years redesign rhythm, with the real overhaul deferred to 2017. The follow-on reporting confirmed the package: haptic home button and a dual-camera system on the larger model per Bloomberg's August sourcing.
First-order effects
- Wired-headphone owners buying this fall's iPhones lose the analog port outright, pushing them toward Lightning or Bluetooth adapters and accessories — exactly the gap the rumored Beats earbuds were positioned to fill.
Second-order effects
- Accessory makers and audio vendors must retool around Lightning and wireless rather than the 3.5mm standard, and Apple gains a new first-party upsell at the moment of upgrade; the thinning-and-audio-quality rationale gives rivals cover to make the same port cut without eating the backlash alone.
Third-order effects
- Deferring the big redesign to 2017 while shipping thinness and water resistance now points to a cadence where 'off-year' models carry real hardware changes — a pattern whose thinness thread resurfaces years later in reports of a significantly slimmer iPhone alongside a major redesign.
The trend: The iPhone is moving from biennial design overhauls toward continuous physical refinement — thinning, sealing, and port removal — with wireless audio replacing the analog jack as the default.