The iPhone 17 series is, by all accounts, a fantastic update to Apple's phone lineup, with a couple of the newcomers ranking among the best phones overall. The standard iPhone 17 now offers Pro-level features people have been asking about for years, while the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max feature brighter displays and more powerful chipsets, while improving on their predecessors in almost every way. Except maybe for scratch resistance, of course.
But as much as people like to talk about what Apple has given us on its latest phones, I can't help but think back to some of the things we've lost. Apple has pulled quite a lot of hardware from the iPhone over the years, and that's reflected on the current iPhone 17 models.
Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of things I'm glad Apple removed. Getting rid of the physical Home button, for instance, freed up more space for the phones' screens, and I suppose I've grown to appreciate the Action Button in lieu of the Mute Switch. But I do still miss these two key hardware features that Apple really shouldn't have taken away: Touch ID and the 3.5mm headphone jack.
There's no reason why we can't have Touch ID back
I've been covering phones, and iPhones in particular, for more than a decade at this point, so I vividly remember the run-up to the launch of the iPhone X — and all the rumors that Apple would add in-display Touch ID to the phone. It sounds pretty realistic and mundane now, but in 2017, that technology was limited to prototypes and pipe dreams.
It was pretty exciting to hear about, especially since this was around the time full-screen phones were becoming more popular — and the fingerprint-scanning home buttons had to go somewhere. Hiding them under the display meant they didn't need to be moved onto the back or side of the phone.
That obviously didn't happen, and Apple instead added Face ID facial recognition to the 10th anniversary iPhone. Apple has been very keen to emphasize the security benefits of Face ID, as well as the convenience factor of using your face to unlock your phone.
While I agree that unlocking an iPhone 17 is very easy compared to something like the Pixel 10, I don't fully agree with the convenience argument, especially when it comes to contactless purchases. But that is very much a personal preference, and my preference would be for Apple to give us a choice between Face ID or Touch ID.
Apple wouldn't even need to develop its own in-display fingerprint scanner, either. All it would have to do is copy the Touch ID power button from one of its iPads. I use the Touch ID power button on my iPad 10 almost every day, and it works absolutely fine. I couldn't tell you how much slower or less secure it is than if the tablet had Face ID, but it's still a convenient (and quick) way to get my iPad unlocked and running.
There are rumors that Apple could bring that technology to the iPhone Fold next year, which I'm all in favor of. Here's hoping that Apple brings it to other iPhones at the same time alongside that rumored under-display Face ID system that's apparently on the way.
3.5mm headphone jacks were the best
I'm not one of those crazed audio people who think everything must be connected by wires, with a list of various technical and complicated reasons why. I quite like the wireless headphones and the best wireless earbuds. They're convenient (as long as they have power) and I don't need to wrestle with any wires that might break or secretly fray whenever I'm not looking.
What I don't like is the fact that we don't really have the same level of choice as we did in the past. When the iPhone 7 dropped the audio jack, it paved the way for other phone makers to do the same with their models. We're at the point now where a 3.5mm headphone jack is a novelty on the cheapest and least desirable phones.
In other words, we're at the stage where we either adopt wireless headphones or just go without. And there are a few problems with that.
I know, you can go out and buy dedicated USB-C to 3.5mm adapters for your phones. Some of them even have an additional port so you can listen and charge at the same time, and won't fall apart whenever a moth flaps its wings nearby.
What I'm getting at is that back when wired earbuds could plug directly into your phone, listening to stuff on the go was just easy. You could buy cheap earbuds just about everywhere, assuming you're not using the pair that came with your phone, and the most you had to worry about was whether your cable would tie itself into knots as soon as you looked away.
Cheap wireless earbuds aren't nearly as easy to find, certainly not without atrocious audio quality, and you then also have to worry about things like keeping them charged up. It's no wonder that there seems to be an uptick in people using their phones at full volume in public places — all so phone makers could save a little bit more space inside their devices.
Bottom line
I don't like to think of myself as an old man shaking his fist at the sky, declaring that things were better in the olden days — or what counts as olden days to a man in his mid-30s. While I do have plenty of nostalgia for older phones with headphone jacks and physical fingerprint scanners (the OnePlus 6 will always be one of my all-time favorites), I can't deny that modern phones are so much better.
The improvements to battery life alone are more than enough to keep me happy, but we've also been treated to better screens, higher quality cameras and faster speeds that I couldn't have dreamed of 10 years ago. Still, that doesn't mean I can't lament what we've lost, especially on modern iPhones.
I know the headphone jack is never coming back, but I certainly hope that Apple swallows its pride and brings Touch ID back to the iPhone soon. Because it's not a bad thing to have a little bit of extra choice.
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