Hreb

They could try, but it would be an enormous red flag for future antitrust cases against Apple.  Antitrust law doesn't look kindly on a private company inserting itself into a transaction between partner companies and their customers.

Classic Innovator's Dilemma.  Apple didn't want to sell a low-priced product in this segment, so instead they choose not to be competitive in this segment at all.

jSnively said:

I wish more people talked about how good the dang DAC is in those little $10 dongles. It's kind of amazing for what it is

Needless to say my $10 dongle does not have an impressive DAC.  Quite obviously the opposite.  Maybe I needed a $15 dongle instead?
It would be super niche, but I wonder if it's feasible to make a cheap lightning dongle that gives you lightning for charging + spdif out for digital audio?  I have no shortage of DACs, just a shortage of good ways to use them with my iphone.

Not even a mention of the Mac Pro?  I'm very interested to see whether we get either a Rocket Lake or a Alder Lake Intel Mac Pro, or if Apple decides to go directly to Apple Silicon on the Mac Pro.  Either way I think we'll find out in December.