A video and photos of an iPhone 7 Lightning-to-headphone adapter allegedly taken from a Foxconn factory in Vietnam have surfaced online, supporting the rumors and speculations claiming that the adapter will be included with this fall's flagship device update.
Apple Insider reports that the adapter shown in the pictures features a Lightning end that is not significantly larger than an existing cable. The headphone jack enclosure is almost the same size as the female end of the connector itself.
The video and one photo feature an iPad mini that is running iOS 9 giving an error message that states the inserted adapter is not an authorized accessory. The photoset and the report from the website tinhth.vn claims that this warning is not displayed when the adaptor is connected to an iPhone running the iOS 10 beta.
The report claims that upon insertion of the adapter into the iPhone, the audio is automatically routed away from the existing headphone jack and to the Lightning plug. However, it is still unclear if the claims are true. There is no demonstration of audio being played through headphones connected to the Lightning-to-headphone adapter at no point in the video.
The Lightning cable is at this moment a digital-only serial bus. Its associated communications protocol is designed for a digital-only serial bus as well. This means that all eight pins on the cable can be used for signal. The current audio devices using Lightning need a digital to analog conversion chip.
The chip present in the Lightning cables can negotiate with the device as to which pins on the cable perform various tasks. At the moment, it is unclear if there is an improved chip in the adapter that would perform both analog and digital tasks and how much extra room is inside the cable for a digital to analog conversion chip.
According to BGR, the Lightning-to-headphone adaptor in Apple's iPhone 7 is pure purely speculative at this point. However, the video and photos are credible, since the dongle features a style aesthetic characteristic to Apple.
