iPhone 5 mini-dock connector means headphone port gets shifted

More rumours are landing today concerning the iPhone 5 and its dock connector. The mini-dock connector remains the most-often rumoured new feature of Apple’s next phone, used in order to accommodate a thinner device. It’s now also being suggested that the new design for the iPhone 5 will see the headphone port move from the top of the device to the bottom, alongside the docking connection.

According to Reuters, the headphone port moving to the lower side is Apple’s main reason for using the smaller dock (“to make room for the earphone moving to the bottom”), not necessarily the thinner chassis.

It makes you wonder what Apple have planned for that top edge then. Apple have already riled accessory makers with the suggestion that they’re using a 19-pin port over their long-standing 30-pin standard. Moving the headphone port to the underside could frustrate users equally, as they’d have to pop their iPhone into their pockets upside down in order to listen to music.

With Apple products always pushing ease-of-use over anything else, we find this latest rumour hard to believe then.