When Apple unveiled the iPhone 7, people took issue with its lack of a headphone jack.
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Accessory-maker Belkin to the rescue then, with it’s new £35 Lightning Audio + Charge RockStar – awful name, likely an essential buy for many just to use the included headphones and charge.
Apple killed the 3.5mm audio port with the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus.
At the time of this writing, pre-ordering most versions of the iPhone 7 in Apple’s USA store – Black, Silver, Gold and Rose Gold – will get you some sort of delivery date.
Apple’s critics were pretty vocal with their disappointment in the company for removing the 3.5mm headphone jack from the iPhone 7-a decision Apple made in part to free up more space for other internal components.
The Lightning Audio + Charge RockStar will go on sale October 10th It supports charging up to 12W and 48kHz 24-bit audio.
The Lightning Audio + Charge RockStar adapter costs US$39.99 and will ship soon. The best solution that Apple can offer is to buy one of the many iPhone cases that will flood the market.
These are the options we’ve seen so far, but there are sure to be more on the way.
As well as receiving sounds from your phone, these typically act as transmitters too – a bit like the iTrip devices which allowed you to stream music to your vehicle stereo, so there’s a bonus in being able to turn other devices into Bluetooth players too – using an a adaptor such as the AGP Portable Wireless Bluetooth Transmitter and Receiver. You simply pair the headphones over Bluetooth and begin playback.
You can fix this problem for $40 thanks to Belkin.
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The scrapping of the long-standing, universal 3.5mm phone connector, commonly known as the headphones jack, has already boosted sales of wireless headphones, which according to Apple is the way forward.
