They formerly came with cable, charger, and wired ear buds appropriate to the phone.
Airlines distribute 3.5mm jack ear buds, if any at all.
It’s already a potential failure point expecting people to remember to carry an accessory allowing them to listen privately even if one is provided with the device on an incredibly common connection type.
But now they’re not included, you have to buy specialty USB-C ear buds or expensive airpods. More points of failure.
Haven’t even touched on the asshole factor of individuals just not giving an F and listening to their devices on speaker without regard to their fellow humans.
Every single flight I’ve been on there has been at least one individual VoIP calling, video watching, or gaming on their cell phone speaker that needed to be told to stop by the cabin crew.
It only takes one asshole in a crowded subway car to ruin it for everyone. I like to read on the subway, but they're basically telling me that if I want to drown out their tiktok videos, I need to bring something with me with my own audio to listen to over headphones, just to not hear them.
Bring back the headphone jack. Dumping the 3.5mm jack is what brought this on.
It is simple as that. I do not want to worry about the headphones being charged and losing another charging case and making more room for another thing to charge where i charge everything else.
I do not want that at all.
It was the dumbest thing to make me need batteries for headphones. And I don't do any of this stuff that is in the article. But BRING BACK THE JACK.
People have been loud and obnoxious since long before Audio jacks were a thing, and they’re going to continue being loud and obnoxious long after your grandkids ask “what’s an audio jack?”
Your glasses are nostalgia-tinted. The jack or its absence didn’t prevent or cause this.
I am still salty about this. I was generally neutral about Apple until the headphone thing, and now I just loathe the iPhone for forcing the bullshit of Bluetooth headphones in the world.
Hot take, but people that want 3.5 jacks back are just a (very) vocal minority. I've never met a single person IRL that prefers wired over wireless, I sure don't miss getting my cable snagged on things or just having it dangling around. I have a nice set of wired Sennheisers for my PC and then decent wireless buds I use when I'm out.
The headphone jack is not gonna come back. Buy an adapter if you care that much or just use wireless buds like 99% of people these days. Mine last a full 10 hour shift with battery to spare, a normal 8 hour shift isn't gonna kill the batteries on your buds unless you buy 10$ garbage.
Edit: also the 3.5 jack or cable generally stopped working or got fuzzy/bad connections long before the buds themselves started to go. Had to replace headphones so many times cause the jack got shitty or the cable wore out due to use. Sure the batteries in wireless buds will lose capacity over time but my current pair is over 2 years old and I only charge the case once a week with 40 hours of use per week.
It's almost like that 99% is because they don't have an alternate option.
I've had phones from the '90s that still work, so not sure what $5 headphones you were using or what you were doing with them. I'm fairly confident that no matter what price point none of your pod things will function 20-30 years from now. Is that mean you haven't lost them by then.
This is just stupid. The point is having options. It's not like having a 3.5mm jack stopped you from having wireless buds. What do you mean “prefer wired over wireless” when everyone had the choice of both since fucking forever
Most recent Androids don't have an audio jack either. Samsung dropped it from their flagship products back in 2020, and that change made it slowly throughout their line. The Google Pixels don't have headphone jacks, the Moto Edge I use doesn't have a headphone jack, etc.
Honestly, if you have a a phone made in the last few years that does have a headphone jack, I'm curious to know what kind.
Obvioisly if someone's on speaker phone it's because they want you to join in the conversation. It's your duty to gather round and give your loud & uninformed opinions
Take your phone off speaker phone. It isn't a difficult concept. Entitled assholes. Keep your voice down so you don't irritate the hell out of others. I don't want to hear about your intestines. (BTW not aiming this at the op just at those that can't figure this out.)
In theory a great idea. But more and more people are walking around with guns and more and more people believe violence is the answer to everything and more and more people are just completely unhinged because they have main character syndrome. I'm not risking getting shot.
Kids and idiots base their phone usage off vapid camera-ready idiots on reality TV whose entire usage is to play for an audience. They don't understand that holding their phone like a slice of pizza
The harder to hear might be true for the people they are talking to. But for the one holding the phone that we are talking about it is actually easier because of how the speakers are aimed. Personal experience on this.
But if they would take it off speakerphone then the speaker is at their ear.
I'm Norwegian, and travelled to the US in 2004. I remember people on the bus using their phones like this. On public transport. Never saw that in Norway back then.
I don't know about this. In my experience, the speakerphone speaker is way higher quality and easier to hear than the normal phone one. I just don't make phone calls
"Oh!" Matt fumbled in his pouch and got out his phone. "Hello?"
"That you, son?" came his father's voice.
"Yes, Dad."
"Did you get there all right?"
"Sure, I'm about to report in."
"How's your leg?"
"Leg's all right, Dad." His answer was not frank; his right leg, fresh from a corrective operation for a short Achilles' tendon, was aching as he spoke.
"That's good. Now see here, Matt-if it should work out that you aren't selected, don't let it get you down. You call me at once and-"
"Sure, sure, Dad," Matt broke in. "I'll have to sign off-I'm in a crowd. Good-by. Thanks for calling."
—Space Cadet, Robert A. Heinlein, written in nineteen fucking forty eight!
I had a flight back home from Vegas not too long ago and there was a loud woman who could not shut up near me. Even with my earbuds in I could still hear her going on about nonsense. And when we were trying to deplane there was a couple near me as well who were very vocal about how frustrated they were that it was taking so long for people to get off, because they just had to go smoke a cigarette 🙄
The 3.5MM jack isn't coming back, but having USB-C adapters would be a good compromise. I don't see any major phone maker shipping them though, and you know Apple would charge $40 for it. Even Anker's is like $18, and they are the current "good, but not crazy expensive" accessory brand.
It could come back immediately if a law was passed requiring it but we're too busy fighting about social issues to actually expect the government to do it's job.
Are you actually saying that social issues are less important then a headphone jack? Like, I would prefer a headphone jack, so much so that I simply buy phones that have them, but it's not that important.
They could also bring back 24-pin serial connectors, the old ps/2 mouse and keyboard connectors and physical keypads.
They’re not going to.
The vast majority of people are going to be buying one version of Bluetooth headsets or another anyway. The wired headsets they’re not shipping were mostly just e-waste, and the jack represented another point of liquids ingress on your phone.
You jest, but I've spent a year+ homeless, often around fentanyl/meth addicts/dealers.
I've heard conversations very similar to this, albeit with more slang, many times, either just on speaker phone, or with the volume turned up so loud without the speakerphone on that you can hear the whole convo anyway...
I've heard this many times, on buses packed with people, at encampments, in shelters, at bus stops on the street, etc.
They don't look around bewildered and surprised afterward. They act jubilant, cocksure.
I was flying back from Jersey and on one of the flights a passenger in the front had to be told three times by a flight attendant to silence her phone. The last time we were in the middle of takeoff.