Yesterday Apple had it’s World Wide Developer’s Conference (WWDC) and as with many other Apple events, tech media is excited to see what’s next. But as far as Apple events go, one could argue that one of the most influential ones was the 2016 iPhone 7 event, where the company announced it’s ‘courage’ in removing the headphone jack from iPhones and making us all reliant on Airpods and other wireless audio devices instead. It’s the event where most would agree that Apple “killed the headphone jack”. But as I look at the tech landscape six years later, I have to admit one thing: Apple didn’t kill the headphone jack, Samsung, Google and everyone else did.

Now the removal headphone jack is something we’ve ranted about all too often on this site and honestly by now you probably know the main reasons why we do it. If you don’t, here’s a quick run-down:

• It’s useful and convenient

• There hasn’t actually been any advance in technology due to it(phone’s aren’t thinner, we didn’t get any new tech to supersede it)

• It was only done so that wireless headphones could be come a viable market

• 90% of those wireless earbuds /headphones aren’t even as good as comparable wired headphones/earbuds.

Simple put, the headphone jack move was just companies wanting to milk us for more money, and unlike in most cases, not giving us a shiny new thing to replace them with. Wireless headphones weren’t new tech after all, and while the tech has improved due to more demand, the average wireless headphones, including the $120+ Airpods actually can’t compare to even a decent pair of $10 earphones. But we’ve talked about all this before. And the killing of the headphone jack has long been something people blamed Apple for, including me. But while Apple definitely opened the door for killing the headphone jack, it seemingly stepped aside a little and let everyone else pile in through it while it only gently stood close to the entrance.

Apple killed the headphone jack in all it’s mobile devices, the whole iPhone and iPad family. Most of these are premium devices at the higher end of the smartphone and tablet market, and as such when everyone else decided to copy Apple and take headphone Jack’s of their premium smartphones, we mostly complained but knew where it was coming from. After all even the tech industry is tends to be a game of copy cat, and seeing how much money Apple made on its Airpods sales, every other smartphone maker decided to do the same. The 2017 Google Pixel 2 removed the jack, so did phones by Huawei, OPPO and some other Chinese manufacturers. As the years went by more and more  companies did the same, often cutting the jack and introducing new wireless buds on the same event. Samsung gave in late 2019 with the Galaxy Note 10, and we knew it was essentially a feature now not a flaw for flagship smartphones to not have a headphone jack. The few companies that kept them were using them as a differentiation feature, like Sony and LG. But the general status quo had been reached. Then as companies do, they got greedier.

This year, Samsung unveiled it’s new A53 and A33 devices, which had some minor improvements over last year’s phones(that we loved), including high refresh rate screens, faster processors, water resistance and all of the sudden, no headphone jack. It was a slightly unexpected move from Samsung, especially since these were the company’s more budget friendly phones, but it was a move the company made regardless. Clearly, high end users buying $800+ S-series phones weren’t enough for their Galaxy buds Wireless earbuds offerings. The company wanted more, and so it axed the headphone jack from it’s much more accessible A-series phones and even offered its Galaxy buds as a pre-order perk for those who value their music. To say it’s a cruel move would be an understatement. After all with the ubiquitous nature of A-series phones they tend to be found everywhere and not just in Western nations. These are the phones that almost everyone buys, and now Samsung is trying to use them to push more wireless earbuds on customers who are far less likely to afford them. I mean are you willing to add another $100 to your $350 phone purchase because you need to hear music more often? No? Well the A53 or A 33 probably aren’t the phones you should buy this year. Here’s the problem though, neither are their competitors.

Google revealed it’s Pixel 6A budget device about a month ago at Google I/O, and while it looks as premium as it’s Pixel 6 older brothers, it doesn’t have a headphone jack either, aka what could have arguably been called the defining trait of the Pixel A series. The same goes for OnePlus’ Nord  2 from last year. Both these phones are supposed to be budget alternatives to their big flagship brothers, costing a fraction of the price while being far more economical. And yet, all these devices are the new incentive to buy a new pair of wireless headphones, which in this case can cost half the price of the phone to begin with. Again, to call it evil would be an understatement, but it’s almost a certainty that none of these companies will relent.

And if it ended at just cheap smartphones it would be better, but unfortunately it doesn’t. If you’re a fan of high end, thin laptops, for whatever reason it seems you should treat the headphone jack as a luxury too. Or at least that’s what Microsoft and Dell think, with the Surface Pro X and Dell XPS 13 Plus both losing the jack for….. reasons. For Microsoft we at least know this was because the Pro X was meant to work in tandem with the Surface Buds & headphones, but Dell’s thermal management based answer still doesn’t cut it for us. Either way PCs are ditching the headphone jack too, which is a little ironic because in contrast, Apple has actually improved all its new MacBooks’ headphone Jack’s, making them support high impedance headphones similar to how LG’s phones did in past.

And that brings us back to the question : did Apple really kill the headphone jack?  Honestly, from this end it doesn’t look that way. If anything Apple showed the headphone jack could bleed, and everyone else was the shark in the water that rushed to devour it. Worse off with the pandemic having made sales for smartphones slow down, it seems all these other companies are desperate to turn a profit elsewhere, even if it means partially killing the value of their value for money devices. And I’d argue that makes them deserve more of your ire than Apple ever did. And is there anything people can do about it? Well yes, just don’t buy the A53 and A33. Lest year’s 52 series is still viable, but even beyond that, buying an older Galaxy S10 can net you similar(if not greater value). And if that doesn’t work, Chinese brands like Redmi, Vivo and OPPO offer pretty great packages as well. Regardless in the end Apple didn’t kill the headphone jack. It definitely stabbed it, but while we can charge the iPhone company with attempted murder, I think Samsung, Google and friends deserve the real jail time here

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