It's been exactly a year since the iPhone 7 came out and smartphone manufacturers started massively dropping the headphone jack. During this time, dozens of new smartphones were released, hundreds of wireless headsets and millions of adapters. Why the rejection of the mini-jack is the biggest failure of the manufacturers, understood AndroidInsider. en.

Appearance A year ago, when manufacturers were just beginning to promote the concept of "insensitivity," many of them argued that abandoning the mini-jack would make smartphones even thinner. As it turned out in practice, his absence did not have the slightest influence on the appearance of even flagship devices, not to mention the state employees. Another theory, to which manufacturers justified the disappearance of the headphone jack, is water resistance.

Say, the fewer openings in the body of the device, the less chances of "choking" it. Strange thing, but the presence of the connector did not prevent Samsung to equip the Galaxy S8 with IP68 protection. The only obvious advantage of rejecting the connector is the ability to somehow increase the capacity of the battery, but only to use it preferred units.

No single alternative Anyway, but the manufacturers have not been able to offer us a universal alternative to a 3.5 mm jack. Because of this, a terrible mess goes on in the market, when some manufacturers promote USB-C as a replacement for a mini-jack, others put on Bluetooth, and a third, like, for example, Apple, and at all adapted a proprietary connector. Despite the obsolescence of the mini-jack, he is still worthy of remaining in the ranks, at least as long as a really decent analogue is not invented.

Bluetooth inadequacy To argue with the fact that the wireless transmission of sound over Bluetooth in recent years has reached a new level, it is meaningless. Manufacturers offer completely modern solutions, many of which sound quality sometimes even surpass the wired headphones of the average hand. And, nevertheless, Bluetooth also has disadvantages. For example, wireless headphones need constant recharging, periodically lose connection and in the long run lead to depletion of the battery of the smartphone itself.

False innovation Whatever the smartphone manufacturers say, they probably know for themselves that by refusing a mini-jack, they go nowhere. Best of all, this is confirmed by adapters that are bundled with each smartphone without a 3.5-mm connector. But even with the questionable convenience of such a solution, almost all of them. Of the five of my acquaintances who own smartphones without a headphone jack, dongle uses four, the fifth prefers Bluetooth.

AirPods - only one Perhaps, a strange argument, but it is he who perfectly describes the situation on the market. Only Apple has bothered to release truly innovative, energy-efficient and ultra-functional Bluetooth headphones, which I want to use. Thanks to the W1 chip Apple managed to increase the autonomy of the headphones so that they can easily be used for a week. Also AirPods are part of the "apple" ecosystem and have their own firmware. This means that Apple can always fix problems with connection loss, premature discharge and other troubles.