If you’re planning to pick up Apple’s next iPhone after it’s likely unveiled next month and you don’t already own a pair of wireless earbuds or headphones, now might be the time to invest in some.
A new report from MacRumors suggests that the next iPhone will not include an adapter to turn a normal pair of headphones into ones that will fit into Apple’s Lightning charger port. Since the launch of the iPhone 7 in 2016, Apple has not included a headphone jack on its phones, but has offered a small adapter so people can keep using their normal headphones with their new phones. The producer of the adapter, Cirrus Logic, reportedly confirmed to an analyst at Barclays that it would not be supplying the adapter to Apple to include with its next phones. (The company wasn’t immediately available to confirm to Quartz, nor was Apple.)
This minor act of generosity (real generosity would’ve just been to keep the headphone jack) is apparently at an end. Instead, on Apple’s next iPhone, you’ll either have to use the (not-so-great) headphones included with the phone, buy an adapter yourself (for $9), or just bite the bullet and upgrade to a nice pair of wireless headphones. Apple’s own $160 AirPods happen to be an excellent choice. We previously said they were the most Apple-like product the company had released in years—in a good way.
It should come as no surprise that the first US company to be valued at $1 trillion would want its customers to either spend an extra $9 or more to fully enjoy their new phone, which itself will likely cost at least $1,000. It’s the little things that can add up in a big way.