(Posting this here rather than !askandroid@lemdro.id as it’s a quite general question)
I had a look at the GSM Arena phone finder, and it the choice is getting smaller and smaller every year (only 43 phones from 2023, reviewed by the site, had a jack)
The remaining ones are mostly
- Xiaomi Redmi
- Zenfones
- Sony
- Samsung entry range
So, has everyone switched to Bluetooth / USB-C dongles, or are there still a few people holding to the jack until the very end?
I’ve switched to Bluetooth for almost all audio, on desktop and mobile. I don’t own anything that’s limited by Bluetooth in terms of audio quality. I usually carry the little USB C to 3.5mm dongle with me, but I can’t remember when I last used it.
A Dutch tech website published an article about phones and headphone jacks recently. The conclusion seems to be that the expensive phones lack the headphone jack, and that’s what the media and (Dutch/Belgian) consumers are focused on. Availability brands, models and prices will vary in your region, of course, but at least here there doesn’t seem to be a lack of headphone jack phones.
In your opening post, you list three large brands already. There’s also HMD/Nokia, which also includes a headphone jack in most of their phones. You also call out the entry range Samsung phones (though I really wouldn’t call $500 phones “entry range”). It seems like you’re forgetting a third possibility: not everyone is buying flagship phones.
Thanks for the article. It still shows that medium-range Samsung such as the A34 and A54 don’t have it anymore, while the A52 and A72 still had it.
Indeed, some Nokia phones have jack, but the issue comes from the CPU: the G42 has a Snapdragon 480, while the X30 has a Snapdragon 695, but no headphone jack. Also, the G42 has battery issues
https://www.notebookcheck.net/Nokia-G42-5G-smartphone-review-With-this-eye-catcher-you-can-even-swap-the-battery.740282.0.html#toc-6
The Nokia G21 mentioned in the article have low performance (which makes sense, it’s an entry level device): https://www.gsmarena.com/nokia_g21-review-2389p4.php
The Samsung I was referring to is the A25, 200€ on Amazon, and the A09, 109€.
The 500€ you are referring too is the A55, 370€, but no headphone jack.
I’m not either, and that’s what I’m telling you: on top of the flagships, the medium range phones don’t have jack anymore either (as shows your article)
Having to buy the entry range device, which last longer and provide a worse experiences, probably doesn’t compensate getting a jack.
I’ve never heard Redmi being much worse than other brands in terms of reliability and quality. I don’t like the software, though, but luckily many of those phones are popular with the custom ROM scene.
Fair enough. Still, I refuse to accept the constant upwards spiral in phone pricing, and I don’t consider €350+ phones entry level. The Pixel 7a and A55 still costs €375 for me and I refuse to pay that for a supposed entry level phone that’s already being replaced with a newer model. That’s mid-range for me.
I guess, but as with all things commercial, this change was market driven. I doubt it was for practical reasons, but if people would’ve bought flagships with headphone jacks during the transition, I don’t think Samsung would’ve killed them off. I think people in general prefer cheaper and easier water resistance with a slightly larger battery over a headphone jack.
The loud majority who does care can protest the change by buying from other brands that do sport headphone jacks.
Neither do I? I mentioned the 200€ and 109€ as entry level
Agreed
They didn’t really gave them a choice. As per your article, between 2019 and 2020, Samsung dropped the jack on the S-line. People who upgrade phones regularly tend to stick to a brand they know due to convenience, so indeed most of the people wouldn’t have dropped years of satisfying Samsung experience for a jack, especially as phones came with Bluetooth earbuds.
I tried, I have been researching this topic extensively in the last few months, and when you add on top of that I prefer phones less than 160 mm high, the possibilities are very limited.
Which I get from a manufacturer perspective: smaller phones sell less (as their audience tends to keep them longer), and most of the people don’t care about the jack. But thinking that a specific demographic can influence the whole market doesn’t seem realistic.
Now that I think about it, even the Fairphone dropped the jack…