We have seen a lot of things change in smartphones over the years. Clearly, the small screen phones are out of trend, bezels are slowly phasing out, and well, the 3.5mm audio jack is nearing extinction. As much as you'd hate it, OEMs are doing it in most phones these days and have a valid justification to convince consumers to accept the change.
For instance, Xiaomi says it removed the standard 3.5mm headphone jack from its 2017 flagship, Mi 6 smartphone, to accommodate a larger battery so users can run the phone for a bit longer. In addition, the company also managed to highlight the advantages of USB Type-C's audio performance to strongly back its decision to remove the 3.5mm jack.
"Smartphones are highly-integrated products and internal space is precious. By removing the headphone jack, we can save room for other components such as a bigger battery. Audio through USB Type-C is becoming more common, and will continue to provide excellent sound quality," Xiaomi told Android Central.
In comparison to last year's Mi 5 flagship, Xiaomi managed to increase the battery size in its Mi 6 by 10.5 percent without massively increasing the overall thickness from 7.25mm (Mi 5) to 7.45mm (Mi 6). The Mi 5 was launched with a 3,000mAh battery capacity, while the Mi 6 has a 3,350mAh unit. As noted by Android Central, the removal of the headphone jack also gave Xiaomi enough room to easily place the dual camera components.
So, it's not just the extended battery life, users are basically trading the 3.5mm jack for having a much-improved camera. If we take a look at Apple, which let go of the standard audio jack in its iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus, it doesn't seem to have affected its sales in any way. Despite the strong resistance from fans all over the world ahead of release, the change was accepted with grace (and a lot of pun-intended memes).
Following Apple's lead, Motorola did the same with its Moto Z and HTC is expected to fill the 3.5mm hole in its HTC U 11. It won't be too long before we actually see phones without the 3.5mm jacks. In all fairness, we experienced the audio quality in USB Type-C headphones, and boy, it is so much better. LeEco really made the 3.5mm jack's departure a meaningful one, which we are yet to see from other tech companies.
