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Samsung Drops Headphone Jack On Galaxy S20.

TungstenC

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Can't wait to see a teardown of the S20 to see how much free space is inside.

The new S20 is roughly the same size as the S10(with the hp jack) but with a larger battery.

When I was looking for an upgrade the hp jack on the S10 is one of the main deciding features, sad to see it go away.
 

AudioJester

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Locally they are sellingbthe S20 with the V2 buds included. No need for a headphone jack? Probably the bulk of the market prefer this option?
 

August

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I believe that removing the 3.5mm headphone jack is not necessary. The removal of the headphone jack was mainly to sell their TWS. The sales scale of TWS has far surpassed that of wired headphones, and every manufacturer hopes to get a slice of it.
 

Severian

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These new S20s look awful to me. I've never been a Samsung fan but last year's S10e finally hit the right balance of features and design (it doesn't have the stupid curved display!) so I bought one and have been very happy with it. I plan to sit out this year's phones and wait for the 5G hardware to improve.
 

Berwhale

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What a shame. I was just going to look at them to see if they make for a good upgrade. No more.

Perhaps it would be wise to test the USB-C headphone adapter bundled with the S20 before discounting the rest of the device? What if it measures similar to the MEIZU Hifi Pro?
 

Berwhale

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I have a Galaxy Note 9 with a headphone socket. However, my primary means of listening to music on the phone is via a Radsone ES100 Bluetooth DAC/Amp. Yes, the inclusion of the headphone socket is useful on the odd occasion I plug headphones in at home, but it's far from essential (and I could just as easily plug the headphone into the Apple USB-C adapter I also own).

Surely the other characteristics of a phone, such as software, speed, screen size/resolution, storage, etc. are at least as important and the inclusion of a 3.5mm socket?
 

Tks

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I have a Galaxy Note 9 with a headphone socket. However, my primary means of listening to music on the phone is via a Radsone ES100 Bluetooth DAC/Amp. Yes, the inclusion of the headphone socket is useful on the odd occasion I plug headphones in at home, but it's far from essential (and I could just as easily plug the headphone into the Apple USB-C adapter I also own).

Surely the other characteristics of a phone, such as software, speed, screen size/resolution, storage, etc. are at least as important and the inclusion of a 3.5mm socket?

The thing is, all that doesn't impede upon the inclusion of a audio jack. The software is storage, RAM, and CPU gated. Speed is CPU/GPU/RAM gated. Screen size and resolution are the top layer of the phone acting as the display thus no interaction or PCB realestate taken up aside from a ribbon connector, storage perhaps but not when you have microSD cards the size of a corn flake.

Also, lets say it has an effect with respect to PCB footprint (and thus gates something like CPU die size in the extreme case). The fact that a jump in performance isn't monumental, also stands to reason there isn't a monumental reason to get rid of the jack.

The only reason the jack has been removed is because Apple set the precedent for others to follow. And now that there's a gentlemens agreement (aside from lower-tier phones, and of course LG for now), manufacturers simply aren't concerned with what consumers want, especially if there is no massive setback in terms of sales. To which there obviously isn't as you can see people are more than willing to use wireless interfaces, or just doggles.
 

Berwhale

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The thing is, all that doesn't impede upon the inclusion of a audio jack. The software is storage, RAM, and CPU gated. Speed is CPU/GPU/RAM gated. Screen size and resolution are the top layer of the phone acting as the display thus no interaction or PCB realestate taken up aside from a ribbon connector, storage perhaps but not when you have microSD cards the size of a corn flake.

Also, lets say it has an effect with respect to PCB footprint (and thus gates something like CPU die size in the extreme case). The fact that a jump in performance isn't monumental, also stands to reason there isn't a monumental reason to get rid of the jack.

The only reason the jack has been removed is because Apple set the precedent for others to follow. And now that there's a gentlemens agreement (aside from lower-tier phones, and of course LG for now), manufacturers simply aren't concerned with what consumers want, especially if there is no massive setback in terms of sales. To which there obviously isn't as you can see people are more than willing to use wireless interfaces, or just doggles.

You are looking at this backwards. The 3.5" headphone socket is a legacy feature. The continued inclusion of legacy features is considered during the product development process. At some point, the cost of retaining the feature will be weighed against the benefit of keeping it and the impact of removing it. Samsung don't need reasons to get rid of the headphone socket, they need reasons to keep it.
 

Piotr

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Yes everything mobile goes Bluetooth. I think this is justified especially having aptX HD and equivalents.
It's such a relelief to get rid of all those cables...
 

Severian

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I too use a Radsone ES100 (and have a pair of Sony ANC headphones that I use on my public transit commute to boot), but the 3.5mm jack on my S10e has still come in handy on many occassions.
 

Tks

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You are looking at this backwards. The 3.5" headphone socket is a legacy feature. The continued inclusion of legacy features is considered during the product development process. At some point, the cost of retaining the feature will be weighed against the benefit of keeping it and the impact of removing it. Samsung don't need reasons to get rid of the headphone socket, they need reasons to keep it.

By that metric, you're simply redefining the device itself. You can see it as smartphones being less and less phones, rather than internet devices, and cameras.

Also, your calculus while not incorrect in terms of notation implies something is taking the place of this salvaged "real-estate", to which it isn't. Worse yet, a new interface isn't replacing it to be specific. Which essentially means one less way of interacting with the device in terms of communicating with another piece of hardware (but as I said, you can use doggles, but that's just eating up a connector used to charging or data transfer between a phone and PC for example for syncing).

If people are okay with slowly having the manufacturers steer consumer expectations in what the demand on the market should be. So be it, I'm not a fan of paying more for less, personally.

Wonder how long with wireless pad charging, and wireless headphones we're off from removing all buttons and connectors on smartphones.
 

Berwhale

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By that metric, you're simply redefining the device itself.

Yes, that's how manufacturers sell 'new' phones.

taking the place of this salvaged "real-estate"

Still looking at it backwards.

manufacturers steer consumer expectations

This is called marketing, it's not new or restricted to phones.

Wonder how long with wireless pad charging, and wireless headphones we're off from removing all buttons and connectors on smartphones.

It won't be soon enough for the phone manufacturers, but you can be sure that they will market the hell out of it when they get there.
 

Frank Dernie

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I was annoyed at first when the headphone socket started being deleted but I don't listen on my phone in a nice environment, bus, train, plane so convenience and comfort beat ultimate SQ and I have blutooth choices now, even with noise canceling so I very rarely find the absence annoying any more.
 

deafenears

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Isn't it also required for better waterproofing and dust proofing?

Also, dropping a socket so devices can be made to be slimmer?
 

martin900

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Such a shame, I alway had Galaxy S phones from S3 to S10 but this is a deal breaker.
That said, do they have analog signal 'hidden' somewhere in the USB-C connector or are every USB-C to 3
5mm adapters DAC's?
 
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