The iPhone you'll never need to plug in

The latest is a series of rumpurs claim the firm has worked with chip companies to make the change, and will also include noise cancelling technology directly into the handset.

The moves are expected to result in a far thinner handset, it is claimed. 

'Apple is working with its longtime audio chip partner Cirrus Logic to adapt the audio chipset in the iPhone to work with the Lightning port, according to our source,' Fast Company says. 

Apple is also believed to be developing a more expensive pair of noise-canceling, Lightning-connected, earphones or headphones, possibly under its Beats brand, the site claims.

Apple is expected to include an adapter with the handset to use older regular 3.5mm headphones.  

It is the latest in a long claims have emerged that Apple is set to kill off the headphone socket.

In order to shrink the thickness of a future handset, Apple is rumoured to be looking at ways to get rid of the standard 3.5mm headphone port.

Now, more reports suggest the yet-to-be-announced iPhone 7 will feature a single, multipurpose lightning port that will double up as a headphone port as well as charger.

According to a report in Chinese site Anzhuo, supply chain sources have confirmed the removal of the 3.5mm port on iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus.

It claims Apple will instead focus on wireless headphones to output sound, and will sell the handset with a new, wireless equivalent of Apple’s ‘EarPod’ headphones.

Users will also be able to use the lightning connector on the phone to connect a headset  

Apple angered many people when it introduced its proprietary Lightning port because it required specialist Apple hardware to use. 

This headphone change could have a similar knock-on effect. 

The reports come from Japanese site Macotakara that said the new iPhone will support headphones with either the existing Lightning connector or via Bluetooth, and these new headphones will be sold with the new handset. 

It is expected that Apple may also sell a converter that would allow users to plug in their 'old' standard 3.5 mm headphones to newer phones.  

Getting rid of the headphone jack would help Apple to shrink the iPhone 7 by one mm (0.04 in). 

By comparison, its latest smartphone, the iPhone 6s, is 7.1 mm (0.27) thick.

Such a shift would also mean larger, stereo headphones using an internal battery would be able to draw power directly from the iPhone, or other devices, if the change is enforced across the Apple board.

Elsewhere, Lightning-based headphones would experience less 'crosstalk', or signal interference, according to The Next Web. 

Lightning-connected earphones are already available from third-party manufacturers such as Philips' Fidelio but Apple could be looking to monopolise the market. 

In the past, the company has famously ditched support for hardware and software once it believes it has become obsolete.

It was the first to remove the floppy disk's slot from its computers in 1998, and it more recently did away with all but one USB-C ports on its laptops, as well as Flash on iOS.

Its Lightning charging technology was then brought into replace Apple's previous 30-pin charger in 2012.

(dailymail.co.uk)