The iPhone is obviously the biggest key to Apple’s success over the past decade, but it has played a huge role in Samsung’s success in so many ways. Several of the company’s various subsidiaries are of course parts suppliers for Apple, and Samsung pulls in billions of dollars each year as a result. But looking back further to the early days of Samsung’s smartphone efforts, the company also has the iPhone to thank for the success of its own smartphone business. Samsung smartphones were a jumbled mess when the company first entered the market. But then it literally wrote the book on copying iPhones and modeled its own smartphones after Apple’s handsets. Then a bit further down the road, Samsung catapulted itself to the top of the market thanks in large part to marketing and advertising campaigns that mocked the iPhone and positioned its Galaxy phones as the cool alternative.
Samsung doesn’t copy iPhones anywhere near as often as it used to, and it has also dialed back its anti-Apple marketing efforts quite a bit. Old habits die hard, however, and Samsung still loves taking the opportunity to mock the iPhone. That’s exactly what Samsung did back in 2016 when Apple unveiled the iPhone 7 without a 3.5mm audio jack, and it has mocked Apple ruthlessly since then. Now, we’re hearing yet again that Samsung has built a next-generation Galaxy smartphone prototype that lacks a 3.5mm audio port.
In a Bloomberg report that we covered earlier this morning, the site rehashed a number of rumors we’ve been seeing for months about Samsung’s next-generation smartphone lineup. While there really wasn’t any new information to be found in Bloomberg’s report, it’s always nice to see more confirmation of the details surrounding the hotly anticipated Galaxy S10 and the upcoming new Galaxy F flagship phone with a foldable OLED display.
Among the details this new report rehashes is one in particular that is just brimming with irony. Samsung, which spent so much time ripping into Apple’s decision to ditch the dedicated headphone jack, is testing a version of the Galaxy S10 that has no dedicated headphone jack.
Now, this shouldn’t come as much of a surprise. It was only a matter of time before Samsung followed Apple’s lead and ditched the 3.5mm headphone jack. This legacy port is considered by most to be a waste of space inside smartphones in this day and age since wireless headphones are now purchased by the majority of consumers. Space is at a premium inside modern smartphones, and the area occupied by the 3.5mm audio jack can be put to better use these days.
Samsung is said to be testing multiple Galaxy S10 prototypes and there’s no telling if a version with no dedicated headphone jack will make it to market this year. Eventually, however, this is a move Samsung will make just like every other major smartphone vendor.
