The death of the headphone jack has been a ‘non-issue’ for iPhone 7 sales in the US (AAPL)

AP

When it was first rumored that Apple would omit the headphone jack from the iPhone 7, it kicked off a months-long wave of online furor.

When Apple actually went and did it, citing “courage” as the big reason for its decision, that outrage only intensified, and more words were written about dongles than have probably been written in years.

After a few months of the iPhone 7 being on the market, though, it turns out all that anger didn’t really mean much.

At least, that’s according to market research firm Kantar Worldpanel, whose latest quarterly report says “the lack of the headphone jack has proved to be a non-issue for US iPhone consumers,” given that the iPhone 7 was the top-selling phone in the country in the three months ending October 2016. That was reportedly good for 10.6% of US phone sales over that time.

The iPhone 7 Plus, meanwhile, is said to have been the fourth highest-selling phone in the US over the period, with 5.3% of sales. The iPhone 6s and Samsung Galaxy S7 were second and third, respectively.

APIn general, Kantar says the iPhone’s market share rose from 33.5% to 40.5% in the US year-over-year. That 7% raise is said to put iOS at its highest point in the US since January 2015.

Worldwide, Kantar says that iOS saw yearly gains in most regions — save Germany and Urban China — but that Android, unsurprisingly, remains the dominant platform overall, with its only significant declines coming in the US, where premium phone sales are more prevalent.

Other noteworthy findings include Google’s Pixel phones grabbing 0.5% of the US market, bringing it in line with the likes of Huawei and Microsoft, despite releasing at the tail end of October.

AP

Though Kantar doesn’t explicitly say why the iPhone saw such gains in the US, the debacle with Samsung's Galaxy Note 7 likely left a big gap for Apple to fill. 

In any case, while those who railed against the removal of the headphone jack aren’t necessarily wrong — Bluetooth headphones tend to cost more and sound worse — it seems like most people are loyal enough to the iPhone brand to live with an adapter, or pay for a newer type of technology.

On Tuesday, it was reported that Samsung will also ditch the headphone jack with its forthcoming Galaxy S8.

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