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

Posted by BeauHD on from the all-good-things-must-come-to-an-end dept.

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."

8 of 446 comments (clear)

  1. Sigh not more of this bullshit by redmid17 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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.

    1. Re:Sigh not more of this bullshit by ProzacPatient · · Score: 5, Interesting

      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.

    2. Re:Sigh not more of this bullshit by MouseR · · Score: 5, Funny

      Not being tied to your phone by the short headphone cable could protect you from your exploding phone.

      Smart thinking.

  2. We don't need slimmer phones by caseih · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Phones are already so thin as to be barely usable with average hands. Why do they keep thinking they need to be thinner? Please help me understand.

    1. Re:We don't need slimmer phones by ninthbit · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Right? Thicken the phone back up with some more battery and leave my headphones alone. I don't give a flying fuck about water proof/resistance. Shit, doesn't a phone going in a pool help their sales?

    2. Re:We don't need slimmer phones by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      You don't need a slimmer phone. Samsung and Apple do.

      They are purposefully kneecapping their hardware so that they can continue to "improve" the hardware in subsequent revisions, giving people a reason to upgrade (if they built a phone that people actually wanted to the quality you'd expect from a premium device, everyone would have the same phone for 5-10 years and that's bad for business). It's guaranteed Apple will release the 7S (or iPhone 8) and tout the new and improved battery life like it's some sort of miracle.

      Likewise, slim devices are subject to more mechanical stress than a fat phone. This too is great for hardware manufactures because it means the phone will more reliably fail once the warranty is expired. Good luck keeping an iPhone 7 around for 5 years (or longer).

      It's not about you. It's about planned and forced obsolescence, and nothing else.

  3. Are consumers REALLY asking for this? by DaveM753 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It seems to me that this is an example of corporations quite clearly forcing consumers into something they don't want. They only way to stop them is to NOT buy these devices.

    I have 2 older iPods, a smartphone, a surround sound a/v receiver, CD players, MP3 players, ancient transistor radios, etc., and NONE of them work with USB headphones. All of them work with standard audio jacks. I'm not investing in new headphones, dongles, cables, etc.

  4. We don't want this.... by jef41305739 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Dear Samsung. Please stop with the thin war and start the "real 24 hour battery" war. Phones have been plenty thin for years.... thicken them back up and put a fatter battery in there. What have people dealt with more than anything? A freaking dead battery. I want a phone that will run like a raped ape on a flight from Dallas to Sydney on a single charge and still be above 35% battery. We want our head phone jacks.. I charge my phone and use my headphones at the same time about every night. My wired headphones have lasted for +8 years now. Are there any 8 year old wireless headphones still rocking it or have they had battery issues? Which then brings up an environmental arrangement... this ramps up the number of old batteries that will get dumped in landfills over time. We all see the removal of the headphone jack for what it really is... a way to force people to purchase something they didn't need in the first place... a dick move like that is something like Apple would do. Just how waterproof are you wanting a phone to be? Are you hoping to corner the "action camera" market? Regards. Jef