It’s been more than a year since Apple launched the iPhone 7 without a headphone jack, prompting millions to lament the fact that they couldn’t charge their handset and listen to music at the same time. The company is finally offering a solution for this in the form of a third-party dongle called the Belkin 3.5mm Audio + Charge RockStar.
This is actually the second version of Belkin’s iPhone Rockstar. The original one featured 2 Lightning ports so people could connect their Lightning cable and EarPods with Lightning Connector, allowing them to further connect their Lightning to 3.5 mm Headphone Jack Adapter for their wired music listening needs.
The new 3.5mm Audio + Charge RockStar does away with all these complications by simply providing for a 3.5mm headphone jack and Lightning port. It’s priced at $34.95 and available via both Apple’s and Belkin’s site. The former supports all headphones, AUX cables, and speakers using the 3.5mm connector and outputs up to 48kHz of 24-bit audio.
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The accessory is compatible with MFi-certified Lightning to USB cables and any Apple device which runs on iOS 9 or above including the iPhone 7, iPhone 8, and iPhone X. Belkin is promising 12W of pass-through charging to power up at maximum speed.
While it would have been nice to have the dongle at hand when the iPhone 7 first came out, it’s better late than never. There’ll be plenty of fresh iPhone 8 and iPhone X users who’ll be on the market for a Apple-certified solution to their charging and audio woes.