Apple may make your headphones obsolete on the iPhone 7

Besides removing the need for an extra socket at the bottom of future iPhone models, a Lightning cable connection for headphones would mean that the iOS device could be used to rewrite the headphones firmware or, if needed, power them.

Apple caused a lot of controversy when it brought in the lightning adapter on the iPhone 5 – and it may pull a similar stunt next year with the headphone jack.

Apple’s desire to shave fractions off the iPhone’s profile could lead to the company eschewing one of the most time tested tech standards.

Apple is rumoured to be working on a way to make the iPhone 7 thinner than ever before, and the 3.5mm jack is getting in the way of that – so the idea is to shrink that down so the whole phone can shrink.

We assume that you’d be able to plug Apple’s D-shaped plug into a traditional audio jack.

According to TechRadar, the United States firm has patented a new technology for connecting headphones and it will mean all your old cans will no longer work with the iPhone.

The iPhone 7 is likely to be a major redesign of the iPhone 6S, so it wouldn’t surprise us if Apple decided to go even thinner than before.

The Cupertino company’s patent for a “D-shaped connector” was granted this week, though it was actually filed way back in 2011.

While Apple has a fondness of making their products as thin as humanly possible, they did not accomplish this with the new iPhones.