Apple discounts dongles after new MacBook Pro leaves customers disconnected

It wouldn't be inaccurate to say that Apple has left a lot of its customers royally miffed in recent months. After dropping the 3.5mm headphone jack from the iPhone 7, the company has managed to irk fans once again by launching a new MacBook Pro that misses out on standard connectors like HDMI and USB-A ports, Lightning 2 and SD card slot.

In an attempt to reconcile with fans now looking at Christmas lists filled with dongles, Apple has dropped the price for all of its USB-C and Thunderbolt 3 adapters, as well as a handful of third-party peripherals.

The new MacBook Pro, which comes sporting the shiny, new-fangled Touch Bar, only comes with ports for the new-ish USB-C standard. This means anyone who plans on upgrading from an older Apple laptop will find their collection of power, data and AV cables quite useless on the new machine.

The price cut will be in effect until the end of the year, and sees some adapters reduced by as much as 50%. This includes USB-C to USB-A, Thunderbolt 3 to Thunderbolt 2 and USB-C to Lightning cables, as well as various multiport adapters. Power adapters appear to be excluded from the discount.

Apple's penchant for adopting and subsequently dropping new connectivity standards has turned its adapter product line into one of its most expansive, with the company now selling more than 20 different types.

In a statement explaining the discounts, Apple said: "We recognise that many users, especially pros, rely on legacy connectors to get work done today and they face a transition. We want to help them move to the latest technology and peripherals, as well as accelerate the growth of this new ecosystem.

"Through the end of the year, we are reducing prices on all USB-C and Thunderbolt 3 peripherals we sell, as well as the prices on Apple's USB-C adapters and cables."

Third-party USB-C peripherals have also had their prices dropped, although the biggest discounts appear to be reserved for US buyers. For example, SanDisk's SD Card reader has had its price cut in half to $29 (£23, €26) in the US, although in the UK the same peripheral costs £33 – a saving of just £4 on the usual asking price. Another one to blame on Brexit?