Apple: This is why MacBooks have headphone jacks and iPhones 7s don't

Apple's Phil Schiller explains the company's apparent inconsistencies

Apple marketing supremo Phil Schiller has explained why the company decided to retain the 3.5mm standard headphone jack in the new MacBook Pro line-up - but pointedly removed it from the new iPhone 7 and 7 Plus

Schiller said that the headphone jack is simply important for the professional users that use devices like the MacBook Pro, but that other creative professionals who use Macs for image editing would be less inconvenienced by the removal of the SD card slot.

"These are pro machines. If it was just about headphones then it doesn't need to be there. We believe that wireless is a great solution for headphones," he told The Independent.

"But many users have set-ups with studio monitors, amps and other pro audio gear that do not have wireless solutions and need the 3.5mm jack."

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However, Schiller said he does not believe these same users would be so bothered by the lack of an SD card slot. "It's a bit of a cumbersome slot. You've got this thing sticking halfway out," Schiller said.

"And then more and more cameras are starting to build wireless transfer into the camera. That's proving very useful. So we think there's a path forward where you can use a physical adaptor if you want, or do wireless transfer."

Schiller also mentioned Apple's controversial Touch Bar, explaining why the firm opted for a minuscule OLED display rather than making the new MacBooks fully touchscreen.

"Others are trying to turn the notebook into the tablet. The new MacBook Pro is a product that celebrates that it is a notebook," he said.

"This shape that has been with us for the last 25 years is probably going to be with us for another 25 years because there's something eternal about the basic notebook form factor.

"The team came up with this idea that you can create a multi-touch surface that's coplanar with the keyboard and the trackpad but brings a whole new experience into it. One that's more interactive, with multi-touch."

Earlier this week, Schiller emailed a reader who questioned why the firm stuck with 16GB of RAM, rather than upping this to 32GB.

"To put more than 16GB of fast RAM into a notebook design at this time would require a memory system that consumes much more power and wouldn't be efficient enough for a notebook," he said.

However, rumour has it that Apple could launch a 32GB model next year, assuming that Intel's Cannonlake processors are ready in time.