The iPhone 7 wasn’t even the only 2016 handset to ditch the headphone jack — or the first. But it’s only Apple that had to thoroughly explain its “courage” to ditch the aging audio standard while facing increased backlash from potential buyers. A year later, people already assume that all new iPhones going forward will not have a 3.5mm jack. It’s not like Apple is expected to change its mind.
Other companies have gotten the message, and are about to pull the same move. Of those, Google might be the most prominent, as the Pixel 2 is already rumored to lack a standard audio port. Yet, nobody is complaining.
The Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL will not launch sooner than late September or early October, but we have plenty of details about them, including 3D renders that show us their purported designs. And neither model is expected to feature a traditional headphone hack.
Of course, these aren’t official renders, and it’s not like Google will tell us anything before the phones actually launch. But, Google’s Nexus phones were never tightly kept secret. Neither was the first Pixel series. So it’s likely the renders we saw earlier this week show us the real thing or a pretty close version of the phones.
It’ll be interesting to see how Google will motivate its decision to kill the headphone jack. And how it’s supposed to make things better for the Android device owners who purchased expensive headphones in the past, and which will not work without dongles.
Apple last year added one such dongle in the iPhone 7 box. It also released wireless headphones as a second fix for the problem.
But, again, nobody is starting petitions urging Google not to remove the headphone jack from the Pixel 2 phones. Nobody is protesting.
I can only wonder whether Google would have ever killed the jack without Apple doing it first.
