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I have no complaint when it comes to headphones, as I have a couple decent Bluetooth pairs for different activities.

Where this becomes annoying however, is in my car, which does not have CarPlay and terrible Bluetooth. It does have an Aux input, but I of course want to keep my phone charged while playing. So I have to have my $40 third-party adapter which allows both simultaneously.

This is a serious shortcoming for such a common use case, Apple.

I don't agree. I had a car without BT, which I wanted, and plugged a $20 BT adapter into the AUX jack. It plugged into the car charger via a USB charging cable. Worked perfectly. Best thing I ever bought for my car. I could listen to my phone and charge it at the same time, when needed, without plugging a 3.5mm jack into my phone, or a charger if I didn't need to charge it. It was literally life changing.

Apple is moving forward. If the audio equipment isn't up to par, and this is important to you, then you force the manufacturer to fix it or reimburse you, and you take that in consideration when you buy your next car, or invest in what's necessary to use the new technology, now -- just like I did. Apple has always catered to the new ... Every month new and better Bluetooth products come onto the market, car companies integrate better audio. You have many options available to you to solve Apple leaving you behind, just as they always have. Many Apple customers don't have this problem, and that's why Apple can do it.
 
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I am waiting until fall 2019 to see how this all plays out. Heck, I might be able to pick up a brand new iPhone 7 Plus 128 GB Black for about half the price to keep me going for another 3 years. Although, I don't need it.
 
Super Pathetic on so many levels. Apple sucks balls! Removing a standard is not innovation. Also keeping your crap proprietary lightning port instead of switching to USB C like all other apple products is retarded. So glad I've switched to Android.

Everything about this post is childish. Good luck on Android.
 
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I wouldn't have a problem with this at all if the adapter just had a pass-through for charging. I know third party options exist, but come on.

I was one who thought they never wanted/needed wireless headphones. However, after two weekends in a row of constantly yanking my headphones out of my iPhone while mowing the lawn, I decided to pick up a pair of BeatsX on sale. I couldn't be happier. They sound just as good as my Shure SE215s and the battery life is good. I'll still use wired headphones most of the time for now (and still can since I am still on the iPhone 6) but I think Bluetooth headphones are getting better. If only they supplied a choice of either AirPods or BeatsX boxed with the iPhone, as well as a pass-through adapter, I don't think there would be any room for criticism.
 
Soo,then I won't need my present adapter when I upgrade to next phone. Good,there can never be too many adapters,as I usually forget or drop them somewhere,.
 
Not used the one that came with my 7 plus at all..not needed anymore with air pods and beats
 
I still wish the 7 had a standard headphone jack. It's happened many times where I have to choose between listening to something on my phone and charging it. I end up just draining that battery down to the bottom before plugging it in. What makes it worse are those fake speaker holes that replaced it, staring me in the eyes when I plug it in to charge it.
I agree 100%. I think removing the headphone jack should have come with or after wireless charging. That's way you could do both, but have an option of how. I ran into this problem last week when I upgraded the iOS. The adapter I was using for my 11 year old vehicle would no longer work with my phone. I was quite upset as I didn't even know where my headphone dongle was.
 
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Impressive. Went Bluetooth about 4 years ago and haven't looked back.

Good on Apple for having the converter for another year.
I can safely assume that you don't care the sound quality of your music. There's nothing wrong with that if it's good enough for you listening over Bluetooth headphones. They have the convenience over the wired ones. But when I'm working out I care less about the sound quality. But when I have to sit down and relax jamming to my music gotta have my wired ones.
 
Apple really has to choose the lesser of two evils.

1. Make a proprietary connector that does everything you want it to do, design it to be as future-proof as possible, and be in total control of that connector. On the flip side, it will be more expensive and less convenient for your customers due to the proprietary nature.

2. Use the standardized connector which will be less expensive and more convenient for customers. On the flip side, it requires giving up control and accepting whatever requirements and rules that the standard-setting organization forces on you, said organization being primarily controlled by Intel, and paying royalties and fees for every device sold. Also, there is no guarantee that future revisions of the standard will include features you want.

Is there a 3rd choice? Between these two, I would also make a proprietary connector if I was in charge at Apple. USB-IF is a mess of an organization.

And yet they have no problem using that same standardized connector in their laptop computers and removing their propriety power connector.
 
I wonder what Steve Jobs would have to say about adding a dongle into the mix if he were still alive today...

But he's not, so let's stop bringing this hypothetical into every thread.

I see nothing wrong with Apple execs making decisions keeping in mind what one of its founders, Steve, would approve. He may not have been a nice guy but he usually knew how things should be designed and work. Maybe this hypothetical question doesn't fit every thread but I think it's relevant enough enough for this one. Dongles aren't fun.
 
And how's about dumping the useless Lightning-connected headphones!? Seriously. They're only able to be used on an iOS device and nothing else; making them the most useless, least compatible headphones ever made.

Provide a cheap Bluetooth solution, up the price of the phones so you can include AirPods, or just stick with standard 3.5mm headphones and the adapter.

The 3.5mm jack has made audio easy for every electronic device that has audio for decades. We shouldn't need to start worrying about adapters when using new products (old products; fine). Change has to happen but the transition to wireless is trying to come sooner than the tech is ready and without an agreed upon standard; outside of Bluetooth which currently has limitations and issues compared to 3.5mm.

The standard needs to be set, but Apple seems to believe its already done and they are forcing an early transition. Samsung and others are walking back on the lack of jack due to customer response. Apple has a big ego and so they won't walk.back. But they can be forced to be better than the crap workarounds they want customers to deal with now.

Simply put, Apple wants to make more money. So they are creating a need for high end headphones to go with your high end phone. And Apple wants to be the company you buy your headphones from. Continuing support of 3.5mm significantly slows down Apple's ability to make more money from their customers.
 
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