Apple tipped to ship new iPhone without headphone dongle

AFTER getting rid of the headphone jack, Apple is tipped to ship its new iPhone without an essential component.

IF THERE is one thing Apple knows how to do, it’s make life a little difficult for its loyal customers.

When it launched the iPhone 7 in 2016 it became the first smartphone maker to ditch the headphone jack. The move was rather controversial at the time and was met by some pretty serious criticism by some customers.

To help stem the inevitable outrage, the company shipped the device with a dongle that connected to the charging port at the bottom of the phone and could be used to attach headphones.

It meant that when it came to charging your iPhone or listening to music through headphones, you can only do one at a time (unless you now have a wireless charging pad with the newer iPhones) but it was a much-needed workaround to ease the transition.

Apple continued to ship the dongle with the iPhone 8 and the iPhone X. But that looks set to change.

According to a research note from an analyst at Barclays and seen by MacRumors, the new 2018 iPhones will no longer come with the lightning port-to-headphone jack adaptor.

The maker of the dongle, Cirrus Logic, reportedly confirmed the change to Barclays.

“Cirrus didn’t update its FY19 guide … but they did finally confirm the dongle loss, adding more support for our below estimates,” the Barclays note said.

If this turns out to be the case, it will likely leave a bad taste in the mouth of some Apple users as the dongle is still considered essential by most.

But as far as Apple extras go, it’s far from the most expensive. You can currently pick one up for about $12. And given how easy they are to lose, it might be worth stocking up.

Sooo Apple is trying to remove the dongle in the box for the 2018 iPhones. It bums me out because all my wireless headphones are broken and others are to expensive to buy. I somehow have 2 dongles and I have a 6 with lightning port earpods. Darn.

— Brian (@thebriancharm) August 3, 2018

Listen here Apple. We’re all done with this “dongle” B.S. just give us our damn headphone jack back

— Pete (@petersethan5) August 5, 2018