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It was 2016. Phil Schiller stood on a stage, looked at a room full of journalists, and used one specific word to describe why the iPhone 7 didn't have a headphone jack: "Courage."
People lost their minds.
The internet exploded into a mess of memes, angry Twitter threads, and genuine confusion. For decades, the 3.5mm jack was the undisputed king of audio. It was universal. It just worked. Then, suddenly, Apple decided it was trash. If you bought an iPhone 7, you were staring at a smooth bottom edge with nothing but a Lightning port and some speaker grilles. No hole for your favorite Bose headphones. No way to charge and listen at the same time without a clunky adapter. It felt like a betrayal.
But looking back from nearly a decade later, that iPhone 7 phone jack controversy wasn't just about a hole in a chassis. It was the moment the entire smartphone industry shifted. Apple didn't just remove a port; they forced the world into a wireless future that most of us weren't actually ready for yet.
The technical reality of the missing iPhone 7 phone jack
Why did they actually do it? If you ask the engineers, it wasn't just about being "courageous." The iPhone 7 was the first model to carry an IP67 water resistance rating. Removing a massive physical hole that goes deep into the logic board makes sealing a phone a whole lot easier.
Space is at a premium inside a smartphone. Like, extreme premium. By removing the bulky 3.5mm jack—which is surprisingly deep once you consider the internal housing—Apple gained room for the Taptic Engine. That’s the little vibrating motor that made the "fake" solid-state home button feel like a real click. They also managed to squeeze in a slightly larger battery.
1,960 mAh.
That was the battery capacity. It sounds tiny now, but for the time, every milliamp-hour counted. Yet, for the average user, these internal gains felt like a poor trade for losing the most reliable piece of tech they owned.
The Dongle Life and the Lightning problem
Apple knew the transition would be rough, so they did something they almost never do now: they gave you a free adapter in the box. The "Lightning to 3.5 mm Headphone Jack Adapter" became the most hated and most essential accessory of 2016.
It was tiny. It was white. It was incredibly easy to lose.
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If you left it on your bedside table, you were stuck in silence on the train. If you wanted to use your phone as an AUX source in an older car while charging it on a long road trip? Forget about it. You had to buy a third-party "Y-splitter" that looked like a science project. This friction was the birth of a new era of accessory sales. Some called it "dongle hell," and honestly, they weren't wrong.
Digital vs. Analog: What actually changed?
The 3.5mm jack is analog. Your ears hear analog waves. Somewhere between your Spotify app and your eardrums, that digital signal has to be converted. In older iPhones, a tiny chip called a DAC (Digital-to-Analog Converter) lived inside the phone.
When the iPhone 7 phone jack vanished, that DAC moved.
It moved into the headphones themselves or into that tiny $9 dongle. This meant that the quality of your audio was no longer just about the phone’s internals; it was about the quality of the cable you were plugging in. For audiophiles, this was a disaster. For the casual listener, it meant their cheap EarPods now had a Lightning connector that only worked with one brand of device.
The AirPods gambit
We can't talk about the iPhone 7 without talking about AirPods. They were announced at the same event. They looked like electric toothbrush heads. Everyone joked about how they would fall out of your ears and disappear down storm drains.
But Apple's plan was brilliant and slightly evil. By breaking the analog standard, they created a vacuum. They filled that vacuum with a $159 wireless solution that paired instantly. The W1 chip inside those first AirPods made Bluetooth—which was notoriously finicky back then—actually usable for normal people.
Within two years, AirPods weren't a joke anymore. They were a status symbol. The removal of the jack was the ultimate "push" marketing strategy.
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What most people get wrong about the iPhone 7 audio
There is a persistent myth that the iPhone 7 has "dual speakers" where the headphone jack used to be. If you look at the bottom of an iPhone 7, you see two rows of holes. One is the speaker. The other? It’s mostly cosmetic to maintain symmetry, though it does house a microphone and a barometric vent.
The "stereo" sound actually came from the earpiece at the top of the phone working in tandem with the bottom speaker. It wasn't a true dual-firing bottom setup.
Another misconception: "Apple did it to make the phone thinner."
Nope.
The iPhone 7 was 7.1mm thick. The iPhone 6s before it? Also 7.1mm. It had nothing to do with thinness and everything to do with internal volume and component layout.
The industry ripple effect
Samsung mocked Apple. They ran ads. They made fun of the "courage" line.
Then, they did the exact same thing.
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The Google Pixel followed. Then OnePlus. Then everyone else. Today, finding a flagship smartphone with a 3.5mm jack is like finding a needle in a haystack—unless you’re looking at Sony or specific "pro" niche devices. Apple took the heat for a transition that every manufacturer wanted to make but was too afraid to start. They wanted to sell you their own $200 wireless buds, too.
How to deal with the lack of a jack in 2026
If you are still rocking an iPhone 7 (which is increasingly rare given software support has ended) or any modern iPhone, you’ve likely settled into a routine. But there are better ways to handle audio than just buying the cheapest Bluetooth buds you find.
- The Apple Dongle is actually good. Believe it or not, the official $9 Apple Lightning-to-3.5mm adapter is highly rated by audiophiles. It has a surprisingly clean DAC that outperforms many expensive Android counterparts.
- Bluetooth receivers exist. You don't have to throw away your high-end wired headphones. Small Bluetooth DACs like those from FiiO or Qudelix can clip to your shirt, pair with your iPhone, and let you plug in your wired 3.5mm gear.
- Lightning Headphones are a dead end. Don't buy headphones that have a native Lightning connector. They won't work with your laptop, your iPad (most of which are USB-C now), or anything else. Stick to the adapter or go wireless.
The iPhone 7 was the end of an era. It was the moment the "universal" part of consumer electronics started to fracture into proprietary ecosystems. We gained water resistance and better haptics, but we lost a bit of simplicity.
If you're looking to get the most out of an older device or just frustrated with the current state of phone audio, focus on your "signal chain." High-quality Bluetooth codecs (like AAC on iPhone) are great, but if you want the best sound, that tiny $9 dongle is still your best friend.
Stop looking for a "workaround" to get a physical jack back into the chassis. It's not happening. Instead, invest in a dedicated portable DAC if you care about music, or embrace the convenience of a high-quality pair of TWS (True Wireless Stereo) earbuds. The transition is over. The wires lost.
Practical Steps for Better iPhone Audio
- Check your settings: Go to Settings > Music > EQ. Many people have a "Late Night" or "Bass Booster" setting on that actually distorts the audio through adapters. Set it to "Off" for the purest sound.
- Clean your port: If your Lightning headphones or adapter keep disconnecting, it’s usually not a broken wire. It’s pocket lint. Use a wooden toothpick (never metal!) to gently scrape the bottom of the Lightning port. You will be shocked at what comes out.
- Inspect the adapter: The Apple 3.5mm adapter is notoriously thin. If you see "necking" (where the white plastic stretches and shows the silver shield), it’s about to die. Reinforce your next one with a tiny bit of heat-shrink tubing or spring from a ballpoint pen.
- Go Wired for Zero Latency: If you play rhythm games or edit video on your iPhone, Bluetooth lag will ruin your experience. Always keep an adapter in your bag for these specific tasks, as even the best wireless buds have a few milliseconds of delay.
The iPhone 7 phone jack might be a piece of history now, but the lessons it taught us about how companies force consumer behavior are still very much alive. We traded a universal port for a world of convenience and proprietary chargers. It's a trade we're still making every time a new phone drops.