Can Apple hear the critics now?

Speculation, as is the permanent protocol with tech and lifestyle giant Apple, has been building with the release of the iPhone 7 this September. Rumor of a dual camera has been an intriguing, potentially exciting new feature. Then there are rumors that the iPhone 7 will be the thinnest iPhone yet.

Here’s where Apple’s well-oiled rumor mill experiences some friction.

And from a familiar, beloved source, no less. He goes by “The Woz.”

“I would not use Bluetooth … I don’t like wireless,” he said. “I have cars where you can plug in the music, or go through Bluetooth, and Bluetooth just sounds so flat for the same music. He added, “If there’s a Bluetooth 2 that has higher bandwidth and better quality, that sounds like real music, I would use it. But we’ll see.”
–Apple Co-Founder Steve Wozniak / “The Woz”

The rumor is that Apple is going to remove the headphone jack from the iPhone 7.

Wireless headphones are gradually increasing in availability and improving in quality, but the wireless innovation for music listening hasn’t reached everyone by any stretch of the imagination. Currently, I can turn my Bluetooth on my iPhone and listen to music in my car from my iPhone and it works well. It’s important to note, though, that there is still a headphone jack for a wired connection. Bluetooth and a wired connection can and does co-exist in harmony.

The question is whether a thinner phone frame and disappearing headphone jack is worth irritating consumers and dedicated fans in the uncertain and still fragile post-Steve Jobs era?

The Apple Watch is a fun invention, but we live in a world in which most consumers will choose an iPhone or an Apple Watch. The functionality is strikingly similar, as was the design to promote a synchronized front. The point is that Apple consumers and followers haven’t experienced that “wow” moment the late Steve Jobs seemed to deliver with regularity. If Tim Cook’s Apple (which has made positive changes towards increased philanthropy pledges, as one example) makes the conscious decision to design and release an iPhone that doesn’t feel and sound like the revolutionary iPhone we all fell in love with, then the fragile standing of Apple’s superiority may take a slight hit.

Not a major hit, but in the aforementioned fragile post-Steve Jobs era at Apple, the last thing Mr. Cook and Co. want is to trend downward at any angle.

If only there was a way to remain connected to its celebrated past…