So apparently a report on the Samsung Galaxy S8 will not feature a 3.5mm headphone jack.... Why is this becoming a trend? Who as a consumer is actually pushing for this change? It seems so incredibly backwards, yet a company who had seemed to pride itself in its superiority over Apple products, stoops to their level.

Maybe they want to make a standard out of this. But Samsung "mocked" Apple for their decision during Note7 launch. I think the idea is shit. You could ship your devices with wireless headphones if you want, but what if they broke, get lost, or just want to test any other good corded headphones?

I also preferre a headphone jack but the reason to remove it is space, structural integrity and waterproofing.

Every opening in the shell that they remive is one less weakness and one less hole where water can leak in. Fixed sim cards and wireless charging are for the same reasons.

The wireless antenna is already the so removing the external connector leaves room for more battery and a solid frame makes for a stronger phone.

@Voxera How "strong" does a cell phone need to be? In most cases, the glass will crack from a drop and even if structural flexing is a concern, just make the phone thicker and put in a larger battery. I don't need a thinner phone, I need a phone thats charge will last more than a day.

@Voxera But S7 it's already reported to survive quite a long time in the water. I mean, it could be nice to have a more tough phone, but not with this disadvantages. Who keeps their phone in the fish bowl at night? And even if someone does, I'm sure the S7 even with headphones port could handle that: https://youtu.be/4vn3JOnun3Y

It's because without headphone jack they can make the phone thinner and put a larger battery in it.

@Jifuna but who wants it thinner? Which consumer is pushing for this? Just make the fucking thing bigger if you want a bigger battery

Frankly I think people can stick to mid level phones since all the people really buying these things only use it for Facebook anyway. Then put time into actually not fucking up the OS with fluffer apps. In fact why not make actual contribution to android core and stop bringing out more phones, sell the crap they have and settle on a single mid range phone that works and a single high range phone. ok fuck it, so far off topic. Just pisses me off watching people chase the next best thing not considering what you currently have is probably good for another few years. Whether it has a jack is not so much a worry, because the simple solution is to just not buy it.

Well. I just stated the reasons that manufacturers removes external connectors.

Personally I haven't even bought a phone since nokia 5110. I get one from work every third year or so and the first thing I do is get a sturdy easy to hold casing so it does not slip out of my hands. As my daugther asked my a few weeks ago: why does all phones try to feel like a wet soap ;)