Innovation or e-waste? Apple's rumoured plan to ditch headphone jack

An online petition accusing the company of creating 'mountains of e-waste' is gaining signatures, but this is an industry developing at breakneck speed

The annual cycle of the iPhone rumour mill has become almost as predictable as the launch of the handsets themselves. Leading the charge of this year's batch of tittle-tattle is that the 3.5mm headphone jack is being ditched for the iPhone 7.

It could make sense for Apple. Getting rid of the jack would allow it to make the handset even thinner, while potentially selling more products. Users are less enamoured with the idea, however, and a petition to keep the 3.5mm socket has attracted more than 290,000 signatures.