First, when I want to use my headphones with any device other than the iPhone 7, but I only have my Lightning earphones on me, I am stymied. If I had been home when I found myself in this predicament this week, I would have been fine. But I was out, and it was annoying. I’ve spent some time looking for an adapter that could connect these Lightning earphones into a standard headphone jack, but I’ve found nothing yet.
The second predicament comes when the phone’s battery needs to be recharged but I’m still talking or listening through the Lightning earphones. Guess what? The phone will die if I keep that up. I had to cut off two phone calls in the past few days because of this. Belkin will soon start selling an adapter that lets you simultaneously charge and talk on your iPhone 7. But this dongle will realistically only be useful for the new iPhone (for now), unlike, say, a USB-A to USB-C adapter. And, of course, you’ll have to pay extra money for it — $40, to be exact. I could also buy Apple’s iPhone Lightning Dock with a headphone jack, or Apple’s Smart Battery Case that supports Lightning. But the former costs $49, and the latter costs $99.