On the Economic Feasiblity of Apple Providing Decent Wireless Earbuds With the New iPhones

Thomas Ricker, writing for The Verge:

“I’d prefer ‘good enough’ wireless earbuds included with the iPhone,” says Gruber, “and ‘amazing’ headphones as the upsell product.”

Same, but that doesn’t mean it’s economically viable for Apple to do it. When I first read Gruber’s take a few weeks ago I thought bundling an acceptable set of wireless earbuds would be too expensive. After all, the most popular models recommended by experts start at around $80, and can easily cost more than $200. But that was before I received the Meizu EP-51 Bluetooth earbuds for testing.

These Meizu earbuds cost $28 and are pretty decent. Of course Apple could make something similar. Apple loves profit margins, but institutionally their distaste for wires and cables is even stronger. They might go with Lightning earbuds by default, but they should go wireless. That’s what justifies removing the standard jack — not that one port is better than another, but that wireless is better than wired.

★ Wednesday, 10 August 2016