Samsung's Next Flagship Smartphone May Not Feature a Headphone Jack (sammobile.com)

Samsung's next flagship smartphone, which may be released sooner than later due to the Note 7 fiasco, may not feature a 3.5mm headphone jack. In fact, Samsung may be one of many manufacturers to make the jump from the 3.5mm headphone jack to USB-C for audio. The USB Implementers Forum published the Audio Device Class 3.0 specification that brings USB Audio over USB Type-C. What this means is that "mobile devices including smartphones, tablets and ultraportable laptops could ditch the headphone jack in the very near future without worrying about having to bake audio support into USB-C or a new, proprietary port," writes Chris Smith via BGR. SamMobile adds: "Removing the dedicated audio plug will also allow OEMs to create smartphones that are slimmer and have better water resistance capabilities."

Comments

Re:Sigh not more of this bullshit

[ProzacPatient]

I like being able to charge my phone AND listen to music. It's not a niche use. Millions of people do it every day. I don't want wireless headphones. At least nail down wireless charging before you jam every possible output/input through one port.

It is as if Samsung wants everyone to abandon them. All of my portable electronics are Samsung but because of non-sense like this along with non-removable batteries and a lack of SD card slots I'll probably be making the jump to LG next time I'm in the market for a new device, but for right now I'm sticking with a Note 4 because, in my opinion, it's the last decent phone in the Galaxy lineup.

Re:Sigh not more of this bullshit

[Archfeld]

I agree. Hopefully they will ADD a USB port and not just leave us hanging. I would like to see an additional port on the opposite edge of my current charging port. Almost every USB implementation includes 2 available ports and they could utilize the existing boards without having to expand the size. I am also not really actively seeking a phone that is thinner overall, make it smaller to better fit in a pocket and flexible to better withstand the squashing effect.