Apple gives you a dongle to lose in consolation for killing the headphone jack

Welcome to dongle hell!
 By 
Raymond Wong
 on 
Original image replaced with Mashable logo
Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

Good news iPhone fans: Apple is including a 3.5mm headphone jack dongle with every iPhone 7 and 7 Plus. Welcome to dongle hell!

The iPhone 7 and 7 Plus are the first iPhones without a headphone jack. The dongle, which plugs into the Lightning port, will let users use their existing wired headphones with the (now, apparently, antiquated) 3.5mm headphone jack.

That's great because we were expecting Apple to charge everyone for it.


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Now for some bad news. As I've ranted about in detail before, the loss of the headphone jack is a loss for all music lovers and interoperability.

The Lightning-headphone dongle will not work with Android phones that use Micro-USB or USB-C ports and vice versa.

Not only that, but because the dongle uses up the Lightning port, you won't be able listen to music and charge up your iPhone 7 (through a charger or a battery pack).

The worst part is if you lose the dongle, you'll need to buy a new one. Or go full wireless with Bluetooth headphones.

Topics Apple iPhone

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Raymond Wong

Raymond Wong is Mashable's Senior Tech Correspondent. He reviews gadgets and tech toys and analyzes the tech industry. Raymond's also a bit of a camera geek, gamer, and fine chocolate lover. Before arriving at Mashable, he was the Deputy Editor of NBC Universal's tech publication DVICE. His writing has appeared on G4TV, BGR, Yahoo and Ubergizmo, to name a few. You can follow Raymond on Twitter @raywongy or Instagram @sourlemons.

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