ATTENTION!!! MISSING 3.5 mm HEADPHONE JACK. PLEASE REPORT IF FOUND....

MISSING HEADPHONE JACK...

So, as you would have come to know till now, yeah it’s true, USB type C is going to be the new standard in android phones. 3.5 mm headphone jack was there for nearly 140 long years. Lightening port in iPhones and USB type C are going to replace your old trusty 3.5 mm headphone jack in coming years.

Guess. Who started it all? 

If you guessed it Apple just because it was absent on latest iPhone 7, you will surely be surprised to know that you got it wrong this time. No it wasn't Apple instead a Chinese smartphone making company Oppo.

Yes, Oppo's Finder launched way back in 2012 lacked a headphone jack followed by their another phone R5 in 2014 only to keep Oppo R5 freaking 4.85 mm thin.

After that it was only in 2016 that another Chinese company LeEco had courage to launch LeEco Le2 and Le Max 2. It was after then Apple's iPhone 7 included earpods with lightening connector and no place for headphone jack on iPhone.

Enough of history for now, so what does it all mean for upcoming devices and what is going to be company's approach towards this new trend in smartphone industry?

Well it seems like that whether it is these Chinese companies like Oppo, Xiaomi, Lenovo, Oneplus or tech giants like Apple, no one is really pushing it's customers really hard to completely switch to new technology. This can be understood by the fact that all such companies included an adapter to plug those old trusty headphones. It is due to a simple fact that their premium customers might switch to other high-end smartphone having a headphone jack for best experience of high quality expensive headphones.

FUN FACT:

Samsung, although being leader in android smartphones, decided to keep 3.5 mm headphone jack on all it's flagships phones till now, including the latest s8 and s8+.

The usual reason stated by companies like Leco is that sound output is going to be clearer on digital USB-C connection and users will enjoy better audio experience on their new CDLA technology. Interestingly, LeEco was able to clear their inventory on very first day of sale, gathering 1.22 billion RMB.

Apple also stated their 3 main reasons on dropping headphone jack during iPhone 7 launch event.

 First being the fact that now users can use their new earpods with lightening connector at the end and continue to use their headphones using an adapter, both included in box (Seriously Apple, does this even really qualify for being a reason??).

Second reason, headphone jack takes up lot of precious internal space, so ditching it, not only created space for dual lens camera system on 7 plus model but also for a new hepatic engine.

Third reason is that they believed that wireless is the future and thus they introduced airpods (wireless earpods) for just $160.(Only Apple can do this, just Apple things)

According to industry experts,  the real reason behind this move by Apple is to open a new revenue stream. Yes that's right, there is a lot going on than that you might have expected.
 Just because lightening connector is proprietary to Apple, any manufacturer who come up with 3rd party accessories with lightening connector, has to pay Apple for each item sold. As you might have guessed till now, these manufacturers pass on this royalty fees to customers in form of higher prices. 
In the end it is a customer who suffers and Apple makes money without getting involved in this transaction.

The real problem is not the fact that Apple is charging royalty fee for their patented port, but the fact that it is as high as $4-5 per item when compared to that of HDMI cable ($0.05).

So,what does it all comes down to?

 One simply does not get a real better audio experience from these new connectors. Losing the ability to charge your device while listening to music is frustrating for some users.

We hope that these shortcomings gets sorted out in coming years. Until then, I wish everyone 

A VERY HAPPY DONGLE LIFE !!!