Apple has no plans to release an iPhone 5 dock, according to an email from Senior Vice President of Worldwide Marketing Phil Schiller. Published by 9to5Mac, the email was sent in response to a customer inquiry about the dock.
“We do not plan or making a dock for the iPhone 5,” the email reads. “Most people who use docks use them with speaker or clock systems.”
Previously, Apple has released a white plastic dock for each new iPhone form factor, as well as for past iPods and iPads.
Each dock has placed the device on a gentle recline, and enabled it to connect with wires for charging, syncing, and audio/video out purposes; two of these features are increasingly handled wirelessly. Third-party alternatives to Apple’s docks were common years ago, but subsequently disappeared from the marketplace.