And just what is this innovation?
Waterproofing, which other manufacturers pulled off while retaining the audio jack?
Better audio quality? How and why? Better than, say, the $ 1,000 top of the range quad-driver in-ear Shures used by professionals?
SE846 Sound Isolating? Earphones | Shure Americas
24 bit? Like Sony's 24-bit-capable hi-res audio headphones which, guess what, use an ordinary jack?
Hi-Res Audio | High Resolution Audio for Best Sound Quality | Sony US
More battery? Exactly how much more battery has the iphone gained? And can't this be offset by lightning headphones drawing power from the phone?
Better active noise cancelling? Better than Bose's? Better than passive noise isolation which, unlike the active one, does not require power and does not distort sounds in any way?
Like I said, floppy disks and lan ports were removed because there was a better alternative. I still have to understand how and why lightning would be any better.
I do, however, see lots of downsides: the adapter adds bulk, defying the point about a thinner point, and is easy to lose; you cannot charge and listen to music at the same time; you cannot listen to any media stored on an OTG device; using the same headphones on other devices becomes harder (yes, there's an adapter, but how many people will forget to carry it around when they need it?). Forget Android, this means incompatibility even with many Macs! Ah, yes, the future, the innovation... even if it is unclear what advantages this innovation brings!
Apple did this because it wanted to push users towards using lightning headphones, because they get a cut on every lightning device sold, while they do not get a cent on non-lightning headphones. You may say you are fine with it, that this is not a disadvantage for how you use your phone, or that the iphone has other pros which outweigh this con - that's fine, of course, it's a subjective opinion, to each his/her own. What is totally flawed, though, is that this was because of 'innovation'.