Removing the 3.5mm jack is making things worse.

For almost a decade now, we've heard one story: Removing the 3.5mm headphone jack from smartphones is a necessary step forward. Thinner phones, better water resistance, wireless is the future trend.

 

Although reluctant to accept the verdict, deep down, many people knew something was wrong. Many people use completely wireless technology and hate cables, but audio is something they still want the option of a wired connection for. These days, for those who still use wired headphones whenever possible, life without a 3.5mm audio jack is getting worse.

Missing a port leads to a host of daily inconveniences.

When a 'simpler' design creates more problems.

 

 

Many people always carry wired earbuds as a backup. The Sony WH CN720N earbuds are great, but they are wireless and the battery can run out when you don't have a power source. Wired earbuds are more reliable.

But to use earbuds with the Pixel 9a, you need an adapter. Not just any adapter, but a USB-C to 3.5mm converter, which takes up the phone's only USB-C port. So users can only listen to music or charge their phone.

This is the real problem with the post-jack world: doing two things at once has become ridiculously complicated.

The humble 3.5mm jack was never the enemy. It no longer takes up much space in flagships – technology solved that problem years ago. What the jack offered was simplicity. Just plug it in and listen. No batteries, no pairing, no hassle. However, we traded that for a solution that created entirely new problems.

The dongles are still very troublesome.

Fragile, unstable, and easily lost.

 

Adapters are available for every situation. You'll find many USB-C adapters that support both audio and charging simultaneously. However, they rarely perform as well as advertised and often involve trade-offs.

Let's consider the basic physics of the problem. Every modern smartphone has a USB-C port. This port currently performs three functions: charging the device, transferring data, and outputting audio. But it can only do one thing well at a time.

Want to listen to music with wired headphones while charging? You'll need a 2-in-1 adapter that combines both functions. It sounds simple, but in reality, these adapters are unreliable nightmares.

Sound loss, reduced power, static, and degraded sound quality are the most common problems you'll encounter. Some adapters work with certain types of headphones, others don't. Manufacturers implement USB-C in different ways, so compatibility is a gamble – you might find that an expensive adapter you bought works perfectly with Sony headphones but not with Audio-Technica headphones.

Wireless audio is a compromise, not an upgrade.

Lag, data compression, battery concerns.

 

Meanwhile, Bluetooth headphones —the solution we should be embracing—have their own problems. They need batteries, and batteries degrade over time. They lose connection in crowded airports. They suffer from codec compression, which reduces sound quality compared to a direct wired connection. Sure, you can improve the sound of Bluetooth headphones with audio apps, but that adds complexity and yet another app you need.

Wireless transmission compresses audio data, and no amount of marketing rhetoric can change that fundamental fact. Battery drain from constant Bluetooth connection is so severe that headphones often fail to deliver the advertised battery life.

And then there's the problem of losing them. Wireless headphones are compact, expensive, and often misplaced in hotel rooms, taxis, and airplane seat pockets. With wired headphones, the most you lose is the cable, and good wired headphones usually come with replaceable cables.

 

Of course, there are good Bluetooth headphones or earbuds available. Apple, Google, Bose, Sony, and Sennheiser are all examples of companies that have released some excellent wireless audio solutions, and many of these brands are used daily.

But the price you pay for convenience, sound quality, and battery life is quite high, and you can have a much better experience with wired audio. Except that it's currently extremely inconvenient because there's no dedicated audio port on your phone. And your expensive wireless headphones will still sound worse on Windows.

The smartphone industry has justified removing the headphone jack by claiming it saves space for a larger battery and better water resistance. Some companies have delivered on that promise, while others have simply used it for marketing purposes and wasted the extra space.

However, the removal of the headphone jack has created a new market. Manufacturers can now sell expensive wireless headphones as an essential accessory. Every flagship product launch now comes with a premium headphone version.

Why is the 3.5mm jack still important?

Popular, reliable, and never goes out of style.

We've abandoned a common standard that worked well for everyone in exchange for a fragmented ecosystem that hardly works well for anyone. The market is gradually realizing what we've lost, and some phones occasionally still include a 3.5mm jack. But we've accepted the problems that come with Bluetooth and are temporarily switching to Bluetooth.

The 3.5mm jack isn't perfect, but it's honest. It doesn't demand anything from you other than plug it in and listen. That simplicity is worth remembering – especially when you're on a long road trip, tired after a day of driving, clutching an expensive wired headset that you can't use, because the future turns out to be far more complicated than everyone promised.