(Posting this here rather than [email protected] as it’s a quite general question)

I had a look at the GSM Arena phone finder, and it the choice is getting smaller and smaller every year (only 43 phones from 2023, reviewed by the site, had a jack)

The remaining ones are mostly

  • Xiaomi Redmi
  • Zenfones
  • Sony
  • Samsung entry range

So, has everyone switched to Bluetooth / USB-C dongles, or are there still a few people holding to the jack until the very end?

  • BlazeOPEnglish
    3·
    7 months ago

    Thanks for the article. It still shows that medium-range Samsung such as the A34 and A54 don’t have it anymore, while the A52 and A72 still had it.

    you list three large brands already

    • RedMi have reliability and quality issues
    • Zenfones and Sony prices are quite pricey: Zenfone 9 is 500€ on Ebay in Europe and a Sony Xperia 5 V is 700€

    Indeed, some Nokia phones have jack, but the issue comes from the CPU: the G42 has a Snapdragon 480, while the X30 has a Snapdragon 695, but no headphone jack. Also, the G42 has battery issues

    However, the Nokia G42 5G cannot stand out from comparable phones in any of these areas. The battery life and WLAN speed are also mediocre rather than leading.

    https://www.notebookcheck.net/Nokia-G42-5G-smartphone-review-With-this-eye-catcher-you-can-even-swap-the-battery.740282.0.html#toc-6

    The Nokia G21 mentioned in the article have low performance (which makes sense, it’s an entry level device): https://www.gsmarena.com/nokia_g21-review-2389p4.php

    entry range Samsung phones (though I really wouldn’t call $500 phones “entry range”).

    The Samsung I was referring to is the A25, 200€ on Amazon, and the A09, 109€.

    The 500€ you are referring too is the A55, 370€, but no headphone jack.

    not everyone is buying flagship phones.

    I’m not either, and that’s what I’m telling you: on top of the flagships, the medium range phones don’t have jack anymore either (as shows your article)

    • Samsung A55: no jack, the A52 had (S line is the flaghip)
    • Pixel: 7a: no jack, 5a had (7 is the flagship)

    Having to buy the entry range device, which last longer and provide a worse experiences, probably doesn’t compensate getting a jack.

      • BlazeOPEnglish
        1·
        7 months ago

        I don’t consider €350+ phones entry level.

        Neither do I? I mentioned the 200€ and 109€ as entry level

        That’s mid-range for me.

        Agreed

        if people would’ve bought flagships with headphone jacks during the transition

        They didn’t really gave them a choice. As per your article, between 2019 and 2020, Samsung dropped the jack on the S-line. People who upgrade phones regularly tend to stick to a brand they know due to convenience, so indeed most of the people wouldn’t have dropped years of satisfying Samsung experience for a jack, especially as phones came with Bluetooth earbuds.

        The loud majority who does care can protest the change by buying from other brands that do sport headphone jacks.

        I tried, I have been researching this topic extensively in the last few months, and when you add on top of that I prefer phones less than 160 mm high, the possibilities are very limited.

        Which I get from a manufacturer perspective: smaller phones sell less (as their audience tends to keep them longer), and most of the people don’t care about the jack. But thinking that a specific demographic can influence the whole market doesn’t seem realistic.

        Now that I think about it, even the Fairphone dropped the jack…