In 2016, Apple completely axed the headphone jacks on the iPhone 7 in favor of wireless headphones. To help ease customers’ concerns with this transition in technology, the company included free Lightning-to-3.5mm dongle adapters with every subsequent iPhone 7 and, later on, iPhone 8 purchase. These made it possible for users to still hook up and make use of their wired headphones.
That won’t be the case anymore.
Today, during their grand unveiling of a new generation of iPhones, Apple also slipped in the news that their 3.5mm dongle adapters will no longer come packaged free of charge with phone purchases. Instead, in true capitalistic fashion, they will be sold separately for $9 a pop.
As The Verge reports, the change affects this next run of iPhones (iPhone XS, XS Max, and XR) as well as the iPhone 8. Further forcing the issue of wireless headphones, Apple plans to stop manufacturing iPhone models which still feature headphone jacks (that’s the iPhone X, the iPhone 6S, and the iPhone SE).
So tl;dr: Apple would really prefer you ditched your wired stuff.
