Here’s an iPad mini (2021) Connected to Apple’s iPod Hi-Fi (2006) [VIDEO]

In a recent YouTube video, Niles Mitchell from Will It Work? successfully connects a 6th-generation iPad mini from 2021 to the iPod Hi-Fi — a speaker dock Apple launched over 15 years ago in 2006, without losing any functionality.

The iPod Hi-Fi uses Apple’s proprietary (and long-discontinued) 30-pin connector for docking, charging, and audio playback, while the iPad mini 6 features a single USB-C port for connectivity.

“You’ve been able to use them with modern iPhones if you have Apple’s 30-pin to Lightning adapter,” Mitchell told iPhone in Canada in an email.

However, compatibility with Apple’s Lightning devices has been rendered basically unusable on recent iterations of iOS (the YouTuber wasn’t sure which update in specific broke it), and there is mounting pressure on Apple to ditch Lightning on all of its devices and make the switch to USB-C.

As such, Mitchell set out to adapt the iPod Hi-Fi’s legacy 30-pin connector to USB-C so that he could dock and play music from his iPad mini 6, as well as other USB-C Apple devices like the iPad Air 4 from 2020.

Mitchell first used an adapter to split the iPod Hi-Fi’s 30-pin connector into a USB-A port for power delivery and a female 3.5mm audio port for playback.

Using separate 3.5mm and USB-A-to-USB-C extension cables, the iPod Hi-Fi was connected to a 2-in-1 male-USB-C-to-female-USB-C-and-3.5mm adapter from UGREEN. The adapter was then plugged into a USB-C dock, which connected to and physically supported an iPad mini 6.

Check out the full video below:

Mitchell’s solution, while long-winded, actually works and provides a stable and reliable connection while preserving all of the iPod Hi-Fi’s functionality, from charging and audio playback to remote control (with the controller that comes packaged with it).

What do you think of Mitchell’s solution? Would you like to see Apple introduce an updated speaker dock with out-of-the-box compatibility for both Lightning and USB-C devices?