1 min read

Why Apple dropped the SD card reader explained Phil Schiller

Find the dropping of SD card slot amiss in the new MacBook Pro? Apple’s senior vice president of marketing Phil Schiller doesn’t agree sd-cardwith you. In an interview to The Independent, Schiller gave reasons as to why the new line of laptops miss out on the SD card slot.

Schiller said that Apple ditched the SD card “because of couple of things.” Taking on critics, he said that the team did not want an SD card “sticking halfway out”. He added that there now exists fast USB card readers in which users can plug both CompactFlash and SD card.

“So we could never really resolve this – we picked SD because more consumer cameras have SD but you can only pick one. So, that was a bit of a trade-off. And then more and more cameras are starting to build wireless transfer into the camera,” he further explained.

“That’s proving very useful. So we think there’s a path forward where you can use a physical adaptor if you want, or do wireless transfer,” he added.

Schiller also explained why the new Apple MacBook Pro with Touch ID and Touch Bar (also the 13-inch variant that comes without the Touch ID feature) include a 3.5mm headphone jack, while it is missing from the latest iPhone 7 and the iPhone 7 Plus.

“These are pro machines. If it was just about headphones then it doesn’t need to be there, we believe that wireless is a great solution for headphones. But many users have setups with studio monitors, amps, and other pro audio gear that do not have wireless solutions and need the 3.5mm jack.”

Apple’s new MacBook Pros have some other common laptop features too missing. Besides the SD card slot, it misses out on HDMI port and USB 3 ports as well. It now comes with USB Type-C ports. Apple users will need to buy more cables to connect iPhones with the new MacBook Pro. They will need to buy either a USB 2.0 to USB Type-C cable or a Lightning-to-USB Type-C cable to connect the new iPhone 7 or any other older iPhone models with the new MacBook Pro. For those unaware, the iPhone 7 smartphone come with Lightning-to-USB Type A cable, which would be of no use if you have the new MacBook Pro.