Apple earphones may not work with other devices in future

With the upcoming iPhone 6, the biggest change to the next Apple smartphone could be where the earphone/headphone compatibility is concerned.   9To5Mac has learnt that Apple is introducing new specifications for manufacturers in its Made-For-iPhone/iPad/iPod ( MFi) program, allowing them to build earphones for iOS with Lightning connector instead of the usual 3.5mm jack.   “The Lightning headphones will be capable of receiving lossless stereo 48 kHz digital audio output from Apple devices and sending mono 48 kHz digital audio input. The input means that the headphones will also support a microphone for audio input following Apple’s upcoming update,” adds the report.   Manufacturers will also be capable of taking advantage of Apple Headphone Remote controls like volume and other buttons for launching specific apps. It is quite possible that the headphones could also be made to work with a companion iOS app.   Currently, the Apple-made EarPods use a regular 3.5 mm headphone jack and hence they can be used with any other device with a 3.5 mm audio port. It also means you can use virtually any other pair of non-apple headphones with your iPhone. But that is not going to be for long.   The port switch could also means headphones could be made to work exclusively with a particular app - or even launch a specific app once they are plugged in. So, instead of being able to plug in your EarPods and listen to whatever streaming music app you want, a pair of future EarPods could only work with the iOS Music app and iTunes Radio.   With inputs from IANS