In recent years Apple made the brave (or stupid, your opinion) decision to get rid of the standard jack for, like, all headphones. Now they might be getting rid of the dongle that saved it.

If you’re reading this you’re old enough to remember doomsday – the day that Apple revealed their newest iPhone would come without a headphone jack. A brave move for a company that had just launched a music streaming service the year before, somehow despite backlash and criticism Apple moved forward with the plans and have stuck with it to this day – launching a number of wireless earbuds and headphones along the way.

The one saving grace for Apple’s choice was that they included a dongle with iPhones that could be plugged in to convert their lightning port to a headphone jack. It solved the issue of connecting your 3.5mm jack which has been the standard for years Apple but then made your lightning port inaccessible. It was a fix but not a great one, but Apple might be taking that away from poor, poor iPhone users as well now.

Rumours have circulated that Apple might get rid of the adaptor dongle that comes with their new iPhones after a supplier for the adaptor, Cirrus Logic, have reportedly confirmed that the dongle won’t be packaged with Apple’s new iPhones coming out next month.

Apple say that they want to eventually go truly wireless and this might be their next step. The problem is, although it may eventually be convenient and even the standard for headphones to be wireless, Apple have decided to adopt this themselves whilst the rest of the industry are sticking strong on jack sockets.

It’s hard not to see the decision as Apple making people’s favourite and often expensive headphones and earphones redundant so that they are forced to buy their expensive alternatives. For example the comically designed Apple Airpods, wireless earphones that are so small they’re highly unlikely to last long enough for Apple’s typical degradation to nullify them before you lose them and have to fork out for another pair.

However this could just be rumours and if so, you’re alright for now Apple.