Can Apple's Earpods Be Used With Any Smartphone?

Solution 1:

They can be used in any device that accepts a 3.5mm stereo headphone jack (and that's pretty much anything that has a headphone socket these days, alternatives include a smaller 2.5mm jack, or a much larger 1/4" one), although the inline controls may have limited use or operate differently depending on what you plug them into.

As to advanced features, this depends on a couple of things. The socket size is the most important consideration, but the next thing is the amount of "poles" that the headphones have, and that the socket supports. A "2 pole" device (3 separate contact areas separated by 2 solid line/band right around the jack) will provide for stereo sound (left/right/ground), adding a 3rd band/4th pole will add MIC functions and the ability to send controls from an inline controller for volume, track selection etc. For the latter, the actual commands sent down the connection may vary per device, giving you volume on one device, or tracks on another, but there are a couple of semi-unofficial standards in that it usually works OK across devices so long as the contact is there inside the socket to support the connection.

Standard    Tip         Ring 1          Ring 2  Sleeve          Phones using this Standard
CTIA / AHJ  Left Audio  Right Audio     Ground  Microphone      Apple, HTC, latest Nokia, latest Samsung, latest Sony (2012+), most Android phones

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