For me, it's not the cost or the ability to charge my phone, but the fact that the adapter can get lost. I can't leave it plugged in because I use my headphones with non-iPhone devices too.

I perpetually loose my headphones anyway. If I had an adapter too, I'd find myself unable to listen to anything twice as often.

The old jack was also more solidly connected than the current inclement weather port (sorry, can't remember ifit's lightning, thunderbolt, or wizard strike).

> get an adapter, with the additional downside that you can no longer charge the phone while using those headphones.

Shouldn't such an adapter have a female USB-C connector and pass that through to the male one, with the headphone jack being branched off? Do those not exist, or are they prohibitively expensive? Did the Apple "dongle" mentioned in sibling comments do it that way? (Sure oughta, IMO.)

The official Apple one, at least, does not do that. I don’t know if there are others which do.

Then one would think someone else has exploited such an obvious(?) market opportunity. (BTW, I deliberately didn't write "with a T-branch for the audio jack" or similar, because the stem of the T should obviously be the male USB-C going up into the phone, so the audio and the incoming USB-C go out to the sides. Then you can still stand the phone upright on top of them.)

Did they stop including the dongle in the box? I haven’t bought phone in a couple of years so I honestly don’t know.

I can understand the complaint about charging. Although the fanboy answer is of course wireless charging.

They've stopped including it, but they sell it for $9 with free shipping.

The next thing to go will be the physical SIM card tray - takes up a similar amount of space which is better utilized for battery capacity or other features, and also makes for easier waterproofing if removed.

They stopped including it a while ago, I think they stopped with the XS.

Or, if you get a wired->BT adapter like the FiiO uBTR, it’s another device you have to remember to keep charged.

(Btw there are 3.5mm to lightning adapters that let you charge while listening, just not made by Apple)