The headphone jack had to die, and Apple fans have known the 7 was going to ditch the 3.5mm port well in advance of the official announcement. That hasn’t stopped lots of people from being mad about it—and a few others from finding a quick and dirty solution.
Earlier today, Redditor DungJohnson posted images of a prototype case for the iPhone 7 which brings back the headphone jack and adds a second Lightning connector. He claims the internals are “heavily modified electronics from an iPhone 6 battery case.” Since the iPhone 7 isn’t out yet, the case is being tested and fit on an iPhone 6s. It’s not yet known if all three ports can be used at once—or if some new functionality in the 7 will render the case incompatible—but it seems likely this could solve The Headphone Problem.
Dung and his brother intend to sell the cases and have set up a website with renderings of the final design. December is the targeted release with pricing at $49, according to the site. However, Dung told Gizmodo over Reddit private message that they’re also “planning on doing a Kickstarter and going from there.”
For my money, a plug-and-play case is a far more elegant (and some might say *courageous*) solution than an ugly, highly-losable dongle.