Earphones may make Apple the king of wearables

I ran down the subway station stairs, thinking I would definitely catch the train. The doors just opened and people filed in. Just in time.

But suddenly, as I turned right at the bottom of the stairs, the earphone cord caught on the handrail. My iPhone 6 was immediately disconnected from the earphones and was pulled out of my pocket by the sudden force and fell to the ground.

The car door closed, and I turned back to get my iPhone, which was lying face down on the hard tile floor. I picked up the phone and was immediately shocked to find that the screen had been smashed to pieces.

Despite all the improvements Apple has made to the iPhone, some things remain the same, and thousands of iPhone users have experienced similar misfortunes over the past few years.

But I can’t fault Apple for this: at least they have been working hard to make the glass screen as strong as possible without sacrificing quality, and they have indeed achieved considerable success.

In the past few years, Corning's Gorilla Glass has enhanced the iPhone's drop resistance. Apple even offered to help GTAdvanced, hoping to replace Gorilla Glass with sapphire in 2014. Sapphire is the second hardest material known. Unfortunately, the cooperation between Apple and GTAdvanced was not successful, and it is still unknown whether Apple will try to use sapphire in mobile phones.

Maybe the glass isn’t the problem, after all, phones aren’t that easy to break—unless you’re too careless. The real problem might be the unassuming pair of white earbuds that come with every new iPhone purchase.

To me, the key to reducing iPhone damage is to take it in and out of your pocket as little as possible. The Apple Watch can obviously help, as it can perform most iPhone functions on your wrist - but I think Apple's EarPod headphones have more important value in improvement.

Apple launched the EarPod headphones in September 2012, and all iPhones since the iPhone 5 have been shipped with them. But the headphone cable is an extremely inefficient design:

Headphone cables can fray and possibly break.

The headphone cord can get caught on clothing or other objects, and can even pull the iPhone to the ground.

The MagSafe design of the Macbook may not be suitable for the iPhone, because it is not easy to disconnect the phone when it is in your pocket. Therefore, the answer seems to be wireless headphones.

I believe many readers will have this thought: "Stop talking nonsense, just buy a pair of wireless headphones."

I understand that point of view, but I don't think Apple should sit back and act like the EarPod is a flawless design. It's by no means perfect.

Here’s a scoop: Apple is actually one of the world’s largest speaker manufacturers, having produced more than 1.2 billion of these tiny speakers for its headphones (including EarPods). So why not make something people love?

In 2012, EarPods were a huge leap forward from the iPhone earbuds that came before them. But now, competitors have caught up. Amazon offers something similar for $10 less. So it’s time for Apple to give its earbuds a second chance, just as the heyday of the iPod attracted an entire generation of people to wear white earbuds.

While going wireless seems like the ultimate solution, it's not clear how this model should be adopted.

By removing the headphone cable, you can still receive audio data from your device via Bluetooth, but you don't have to worry about the cable getting tangled. But there is also a major drawback: the headphones must be charged frequently. This is not a good thing - most consumers just want to take their headphones with them at all times. No matter what the reason, they will be angry if the headphones don't work.

Still, companies have come up with some clever ways to wirelessly charge headphones, and perhaps Apple will one day join the wireless charging fray, perhaps first with in-ear headphones and then with larger devices like the iPhone or iPad.

Wireless EarPods are a good idea, and would have completely prevented the tragedy that befell my iPhone this morning. But why stop there? Apple is never satisfied with just being "good," they're always striving for "incredibly great."

So if Apple really cares about headphones and wants to improve users' health in more ways beyond the Apple Watch and Health app, it should integrate heart rate and blood pressure sensors into the EarPods.

In fact, Apple applied for such a patent as early as 2008. It's just that they should make it a reality now.

There are reports that the Apple Watch will have heart rate and blood pressure monitoring capabilities - but not everyone will buy an Apple Watch, so why not provide another way for users who don't want to spend $350 on a smartwatch to access health data?

The EarPods only cost $30, but if they offer more features than the competition — especially if those features can make users healthier — Apple could easily raise the price.

Don't forget, doctors have long tried to develop similar in-ear monitoring systems to notify doctors of cardiovascular risk signals in a timely manner so that they can provide preventive treatment for patients. Researchers believe that the ear is an ideal place to place wearable vital signs monitors from both a physiological and mechanical perspective.

Yet, no company has yet launched an in-ear solution focused on healthcare, especially in the mainstream market. The main reason: Fitness devices must be beautifully designed to convince people to wear them—it shows that you take your physical and mental health seriously. Unfortunately, medical device manufacturers have always lacked fashion thinking.

From this perspective, Apple has an advantage, as it can design stylish, comfortable and very practical headphones that can not only listen to music and make calls, but also collect data and understand your health status.

If EarPods can truly adopt a wireless design and are health-oriented, Apple may quietly become the king of wearable devices for the foreseeable future.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.