The ultimate Apple I/O death chart


The Verge has an interesting summary of various input/output interfaces Apple has eliminated from its products over the years. This of course continues the rumors of the next iPhone dropping the analog audio jack.

It's been there since the first Mac shipped in 1984, and it's one of the few things on this list that hasn't even really had an upgrade to the underlying standard, like USB to USB 2. It's just... the headphone jack. You can see how most Apple I/O standards come to a quick end after the first phase out, but the headphone jack has been the one constant Apple connector for 32 years, twice the usual lifespan.

It's remarkable how the iMac was the start of three big changes for the Mac. The iMac started the end of ADB, SCSI, and the floppy disk in favor of USB and FireWire.

ADB and SCSI were good times.