After Apple decided to remove the headphone jack from the iPhone way back in 2016, the position of the much revered audio port has been under dispute throughout the industry. While most people were angry at Apple for removing it back then, many have since then come to terms with the inevitable demise of the jack. Other companies like Huawei and OnePlus have followed suit and have also removed the headphone jack from a lot of their top tier phones. However, one company that didn’t follow the trend of removing the headphone jack during the past couple of years and gained some much deserved credit and praise for it, was Samsung. They’ve always been strong advocates for the headphone jack and rightly so, it is convenient and useful.
Sadly, however, after years of poking fun at competitors for removing the jack from their phones, Samsung has finally succumbed to the rest of the world as well.
No jack for the Galaxy Note 10
During yesterday’s unveil event of the new flagships from Samsung, the Galaxy Note 10 and Note 10 Plus, the tech giant announced that it would finally be bidding adieu to the headphone jack. Samsung was one of the final bastions of the headphone jack and the company took pride in that. Having the headphone jack was one of the main selling points of the Galaxy devices for a very long time and it is really disappointing to see it go.
Why did Samsung remove the headphone jack?
Why did Samsung remove the headphone jack though? Well, the answer might not really surprise you since we’ve been hearing this same excuse for a very long time. According to a Samsung spokesperson, the 3.5 mm headphone jack was removed from the latest Galaxy Note smartphones to accommodate a bigger battery and a newer haptic feedback motor. The excuse is very much similar to Apple’s way back in 2016 and most other companies have come up with similar reasons as well. However, with the Note 10 it does not really make much sense as it is a pretty big phone and Samsung could have easily accommodated the headphone jack with it. During teardowns of most phones without headphone jacks, it has been found that there is enough space in them for one.
In the end, it is just another move into our future in which, sadly, there is no place for the headphone jack. Now, Samsung users will have to use the extremely annoying dongles if they wish to use their expensive headphones. You can’t charge your phone while using wired headphones either. Well, there is wireless charging but that doesn’t really help much in most cases.
Is the headphone jack officially dead?
Samsung was one of the last big names in the industry that still had the headphone jack. After the removal of the jack from the Note 10, is the age of the headphone jack finally over? Well, yes and no. The headphone jack has been such an integral part of audio consumption over the past few decades and getting rid of it in a snap just is not a viable option. Furthermore, there are no alternatives that can really replace it yet. Yes, Bluetooth is getting really good after 5.0 with the ability to connect multiple devices and minimal latency but it still isn’t quite as good as the 3.5 mm jack. It might never be that good because of the obvious physical differences but it just needs to be good enough.
The phone manufacturers also need to include an additional USB-C port for simultaneous audio and power. However, the chances of that happening are pretty slim.
The transition from the headphone jack to Bluetooth has been pretty hectic and disorganized and a rather slower move would have been much better for the whole industry. All this fragmentation has resulted in unnecessary compromises but sadly, that is the reality that we have to deal with. Things are always going to die and get replaced. All we can do now is live with the Bluetooth headsets that we have today and hope that the technology gets better in the future. The king is dead, long live the king.