- 🤔 One of Apple’s most famous accessories seems to have been discontinued
- 👋 The Lightning to 3.5mm jack adapter has sold out in the US
- 🌎 It’s also not available in other countries
- 🎧 The adapter was introduced in 2016 when Apple removed the headphone jack from the iPhone 7
Controversial? Unpopular I can understand, but that’s not the same.
I still prefer wired buds and chose a phone with a 3.5mm jack, but I wasn’t into Apple phones to begin with.
Now that Apple is going USB C, the lightning adapter will stop mattering, I guess.
You make a good point. When a small number of people complain loudly but most people don’t care, I’m not sure that’s “controversy.” The majority don’t care but this accessory is for the minority who do, and they hate it, so yeah “hated” would not be overstating it :)
Oh you mean the discontinuation rather than the accessory itself. Meh, there is always ebay. Someone will always have an extra one left from their old phone before they upgraded to a usb-c phone.
The USB-C one is a great deal, and good quality. If you need one for other devices too.
Just a heads up for android users (like me):
It might not work at full power on android because fuck you. They made it so it has only 50% power on android.
I’ve never heard this before. And I use it on a VR headset. It’s actually louder than another option I have.
Yes, Apple’s USB-C > 3.5mm DAC dongle is not properly compatible with Android devices . The roughly -25dB gain applied appears to be by design.
How to charge* and listen/speak simultaneously?
EDIT: misspell
Wireless charging and/or wireless headphones. Or a powered usb c hub.
Yeah, I’m not here to say it’ll fix every USB need you have for a device. It’s only $9. It’s not a USB hub.
I recently bought a cheap phone after I broke my main one, because I needed something while my main one was being “repaired”. It turns out that this new cheap phone has a headphone jack AND a better stylus. It also had a solid 1000mah bigger battery and 10w extra of charging over my old flagship.
When the repair shop told me that the 20 cent ribbon connector couldn’t be replaced and that the repair would be $600 for a new screen and glass back, I decided to keep the cheap phone, which works damn well. It’s so nice to have a headphone jack to use again. All my other shit still has headphones jacks from my PC/laptop/SD to my car and stuff like kitchen stereos. I can use my Bluetooth earbuds, but they only have about 5 hours of playback and have a bad click in one bud after the first year of use.
I’m almost disappointed at how good this mid-range, $250 phone is compared to my $1,700 Samsung. I’ve been wasting money for years on flagships. Not going back after I got my data transferred to my new phone.
What cheap phone would that be ?
Moto g stylus 5g.
There’s really a lot of good value devices out there once you get past the barely functional underpowered cheapo range.
Also though… you spent $250 on a phone just while waiting for your main phone to be repaired?
Once I knew it was $600 to repair, I bought a cheaper phone. I had plans to buy a used version of my flagship and raid it for parts, but in the end, it just didn’t pencil out financially.
Plus, I hadn’t had a phone for a week+ and it was getting difficult to do work since my job requires 2FA on personal devices (a terrible idea, btw).
Seems a little early doesn’t it? I know the iPhone 15 and 16 have a USB type C, but don’t they still sell devices that have the lighting port?
Yup, iPhone SE 3 for example
I thought so.
I don’t think they do, iirc the watches and ipads both use type c
What about the iphone SE?
They still make the SE?
I think so, the SE 3. With that said i won’t swear to that because I hardly ever look at Apple. I have been an Android user for more than a decade now and so have very little reason to keep up with their products other than they flagship.
I mean if you’re buying the apple version sold on their website a 5x market value instead of an off brand one that’s on you.
It’s $10 and high quality. How much do you think you’re saving with a junk off brand one?
You got a point, and I looked on amazon. Most bundle 2 or 3 into one, and the price is around $10 with a few above and not many below. I did find a 2 pack for $5. so I guess 50% because that’s definitely the one I would buy.
And when it’s junk out of the box because random no-name Amazon cables are universally terrible?
Can confirm it is terrible. I bought a pack from Amazon and both of them have terrible DAC artifact noises. Should have gone with the Apple one.
Unironically, the Apple USB-C DAC is the best you can buy for that price. You’d have to go for something double or triple its price to get the same performance from any other dongle, specially at that size.
True
The off brand ones are noisy and sounds like shit, the apple one was worth the money over that shit.
The one with the lightning connector that none of their new devices have and there’s a million 3rd party options for old phones?
Gee what a surprise they don’t want to make them anymore!!! /s
I thought that was because everyone just bought $3 off-brand ones on Amazon.
*On TEMU or AliExpress.
Get in losers, we’re going to the future.
Audio jack needs to die.
On the contrary. If I’m paying double the price on a flagship compared to 8 years ago, then I want more features not less.
I still use a c to audio adapter most of the time when I’m out and about. My wired earbuds don’t need to charge, have much better sound quality than wireless, and if one side falls out of my ear it just swings down instead of falling into the dirt/water/snow. As far as I’m concerned the only benefit of wireless is that they can’t catch on anything, and that’s more a skill issue than anything imo
There’s been some loud folks over the years but generally no one cares. 450+ million AirPods have been sold and the experience is arguably MUCH better than wired headphones.
For me, the switch to wireless earbuds has been mixed. Not having the cord get tangled and caught on things is nice, but I’ve come to dislike how precarious AirPods can feel (to me at least).
I’m always worried about them falling out of my ear and landing in a gutter or a toilet; I have to be careful pulling them out of their case and putting them back because they’re easy to slip out of my fingers; I always have to remember to keep the case charged; if I want to take them off temporarily, I can’t just drape them around my neck (at least not without 3rd party accessories but then you have to take those off to charge so more hassle). I feel like I just can’t be as spontaneous with them as with wired ear buds.
Of course everyone’s ears are different, but for me, my Jabras lock in. They aren’t going anywhere. They are designed to be twisted into place, causing a literal lock into your ear. I can force them out without touching them, but it takes work to do it, they aren’t falling out on their own, and if they start to come loose, I’ll know instantly because the seal is broke and I can hear that they aren’t settled in right.
I liked my AirPods but I switched to Pros because I have to go to the office and deal with coworkers making noise sometimes and the experience is 100x better. They sound almost as nice as my Sennheisers, but block out annoying people and never feel like they’re about to fall out.
I still use my regular pods for sleeping, but the batteries are kinda dying. They only last 2-3 hours on a charge now… but they’re like seven years old.
I really like my wired-wireless earbuds. They wrap around my neck and the magnets keep them in place like a necklace when not in use, the microphone/controls are closer to your mouth so the sound quality tends to be better
But of course, we can’t have nice things anymore, so they seem to be phasing them out
I can’t take any headphone with a battery seriously because it’s on borrowed time the moment it’s manufactured.
Why spend more than £50 on a headphone with a battery that won’t hold charge in 2 years? It’s not like they make the battery easy to change.
Convenience is why. And I don’t think it’s very difficult to see that. It’s not some mystery even though some people continue to pretend it is.
Audio latency with Bluetooth screws up things like music lessons in Duolingo.
A few weeks ago I was gardening with Pixel Buds on and one dropped into a pile of leaves. I spent ten minutes looking for the thing. Then the other day the same one dropped into the garbage disposal while I was doing the dishes.
I don’t mind the cheap Bluetooth headphones I have that wrap around my ear slightly. I can run in those without them dropping out.
When I want audio quality I use some over-ear Bose headphones.
I have no idea how people are ok with just the little buds for all use-cases.
Did you manage to extract it from the garbage disposal?
Yep. It felt like the beginning of something from a horror movie, but I still have both hands.
Hopefully you unplugged it from the wall and drained the capacitors before reaching down. xD
Glad you still have hands!
I did not. It only fell to where the spinning blades are, I wouldn’t have expected that to have any live electrical components.
Any professionals or enthusiasts who give a shit about sound quality used wired headphones. At the same time, I wouldn’t be using the lightning to 3.5mm adapter. I’d use an external DAC. There are lightning to USB-B cables for this purpose.
I was against wireless headphones for so long because I love my open-ear cans, but I could not agree more with the experience being infinitely better with AirPods when using a phone. I still use my nice cans when I’m listening to anything at home, but when I’m out and about, not having a cord is glorious.
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The fact that it sold out proves that no one wants it?
You can sell out on anything, no matter how unpopular it is, if you don’t make enough of them. How many of these things did they actually make?
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Apple made the transition a little easier for those who weren’t ready to give up on their wired headphones by including a $9 adapter. However, it looks like it could now be confined to the annals of history, as the Lightning to 3.5mm jack adapter has sold out in the US and other countries, suggesting Apple may have quietly discontinued it
It says “sold out” and “discontinued”. The latter is currently just speculation.
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Speculation in the sense that the article says it’s "suggested’, and the source cited is “Mac Rumours”.
Not sure why you’re being so weird about it.
Imagine simping for a 3 trillion dollar company that did this for the sole purpose of making more money on wireless earbuds. SMH.
And that’s why I still listen to music on my Zune HD instead of my iPhone.
nobody really wanted a headphone jack
My phone has a jack. It’s why I bought it. I use a pair of corded earbuds for calls and music.
Why be all Joe Rogan about people who want a headphone jack? What’s it get you to call people whiny and children?
That’s certainly a good possibility.
Could it instead be related to them discontinuing the lightning port on all devices, and usb-c to 3.5mm adapters are available for $2 on temu so they’re not bothering? Is that alternate reality also possible?
A follow up, if wired headphones actually are unpopular, why are there pages and pages of sellers in all marketplaces selling usb-c to 3.5mm adapters?
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I did buy a pair of wireless headphones, but the earbuds are staying wired. The headphones have a large, easy-to-replace battery that lasts a couple of weeks easily - while earbuds don’t. Some people might be inconvenienced by having to charge another device. Plus, Bluetooth doesn’t have the same audio quality - not as important for me, but might be for some people.
Homies throwing a tantrum like a three year old, what prompted this?
