Sad that NP3 drops the 3.5mm jack

CMF1_hacker · 2025-07-24T22:10:58+00:00

My old phone with a 5x periscope had a 3.5mm jack and now my favourite headset is obsolete? What gives NOTHING TECHNOLOGY LIMITED? [upl-image-preview uuid=bdb4d3d5-a8d2-45b7-adda-34428ce6b750 url=https://cdn.nothing.community/2025-07-24/1753395023-517969-img-20250724-2308228602.jpg alt={TEXT?}] [upl-image-preview uuid=fab248bd-1837-4e42-83d4-2e18e1d1997a url=https://cdn.nothing.community/2025-07-24/1753395184-226169-img-20250724-231233031.jpg alt={TEXT?}] Bedtime mode is on it seems :/

CMF1_hacker

Sad, now I have to listen to my favourite track to fall asleep aloud on loop rather than with my ICELANDAIR headset :/

Anonymous931

CMF1_hacker my favourite track

These are all your views? 😁

CMF1_hacker

Anonymous931 nah, I listen to Austrian Radio (ÖRF FM4) and picked that track up here:

I usually listen to that go to sleep and/or engineering programmes until my kids wake me up at 02:00 usually

Ergonom

No headphone jack in phone is a regular thing in 2025 because it takes too much place and can be easily replaced with usb-c to jack 3.5 dongle which often gives more audio quality than phone’s jack.

georgios1

Ergonom It is actually a clever marketing strategy not to have a 3.5mm jack to boost Bluetooth headset sales. There are smartphones nowadays that come with a Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset AND a headphone jack (Redmagic 10 Pro, Sony Xperia 1 VII, Asus Rogphone 9 Pro etc) so it is a manufacturer’s choice not to put it in

Anonymous931

Ergonom No headphone jack in phone is a regular thing in 2025 because it takes too much place

Really? Well that’s certainly one way to reason and defend OEM’s greediness, so kudos for that, it’s always amusing to see proper gymnastics to defend OEM’s choices of REMOVING stuff that was there always on physically much smaller and THINNER phones just until a couple of years ago.

But ok, let’s say it’s just like how you say… Would you be kind enough to explain this then:

So here we see just released (June 04) Sony Xperia 1 VII, which is in dimensions comparable to the Nothing Phone (3) but it is also 0.8 mm thinner (8.2 vs 9 mm in the Phone (3))…

🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁

…and it has a 3.5mm jack!

What kind of reality-bending spacetime twisting defying of physics is Sony doing to be able to put an AUX in, but Nothing (and many other OEMs) simply can’t in their PHYSICALLY LARGER phones?

Explain, please, I’m curious.

Oh, and while we’re at it, take a look at this too; so 2024 and newer, 9 mm thick/thin or thinner to be as the Nothing Phone (3) and thinner, 8 GB RAM or more, and a headphone jack included:

194 different phones to fit that criteria (193 without that Xperia 1 VII above), they all somehow, magically, have enough place to fit a 3.5mm jack in? 🦄

Ergonom so even bluetooth can give more audio quality

Funny. But no. Check the whole extensive review where the guy, an expert in sound engineering, clearly explains multiple times how Bluetooth can never compare in quality to a wired connection:

GBene

There are Bluetooth and USB adapters if you need to use that headset so bad

Ergonom

georgios1 For good audio quality you need to use external dac/amp anyway, because integrated one in almost all phones sucks and being added just for 3.5mm jack to work. Many wired iems and especially headphones need more power than phone’s integrated dac/amp can output through jack 3.5, so even bluetooth can give more audio quality. Also dont forget that bluetooth/usb-c headphones will always have more functionality like equalizers, ANC modes, software updates for better audio quality and etc.

KamiKaze

Anonymous931 The reason phones yeeted the headphone jack is crapple and water resistance complexity as opposed to just making the port water resistant less points of failure and more suppliers for water resistant usb c ports. It’s not impossible since everything till the s10 had it but it is harder and the daughter board takes up space, A lot more than a usb c port. But regardless of all that apple still set the status quo for the industry standard. Plus conflict of interest manufacturers often make wireless solutions. Stuff with batteries that degrade over time.

Banjer While it is true all phones need a DAC even the ones that do come out with headphone jack use the integrated DAC in the SoC even the Sony phone someone brought up uses the integrated aqstic DAC from qualcomm. Personally, tho as someone with mid range headphones DACs really don’t matter as much as the actual headphones themselves.

It is true dongle DACs are technically superior in terms of SiNR and measure better but imo it might as well be audiophile snake oil.

Regarding amps you only need them if you have something that requires higher power or high impedance. For most consumer stuff the integrated DAC Amp in the SoC is perfectly adequate. Up to about 75-100 ohms id say past that you’re looking at audibly degraded quality.

Banjer

@Ergonom

Every single smartphone out there has a dac on board, since that is the only way they can produce sound via the analogue speakers, whether they have a 3.5 mm port or not.

Ergonom

Banjer even so, if these dac/amp is enough for phone speakers this doesnt mean that it will be enough for most of headphones.

Amudhan_Sundararajan

KamiKaze The reason phones yeeted the headphone jack is crapple and water resistance complexity as opposed to just making the port water resistant less points of failure and more suppliers for water resistant usb c ports.

Let’s be real — this whole “headphone jack removal for IP rating” excuse is just corporate nonsense at this point.

Sony Xperia Z1 — a phone from 10 years ago — had both a headphone jack and IP rating. Even today, Sony’s Xperia phones continue to offer both. Gaming phones like ROG and Red Magic also pull it off just fine. So no, it’s not a space issue, it’s not a water resistance issue — it’s just not trying hard enough.

What’s really happening here is the same playbook Apple started — remove features, sell overpriced accessories. Remove the jack, then push wireless buds that have a short lifespan and degrade over time. More money, less functionality. Classic.

And no — that’s not fine. It’s lazy and anti-consumer. If Nothing is genuinely about breaking the status quo, then why follow Apple’s worst trend? Removing useful hardware for profit while pretending it’s for “design” or “durability” just doesn’t fly anymore.

Come on — don’t pee on people and call it innovation.

Anonymous931

KamiKaze The reason phones yeeted the headphone jack is crapple and water resistance complexity as opposed to just making the port water resistant less points of failure and more suppliers for water resistant usb c ports. It’s not impossible since everything till the s10 had it but it is harder and the daughter board takes up space, A lot more than a usb c port.

Again, identical in size but thinner phone than the Nothing Phone (3), also brand new on the market:

Plus quite a lot of others with those same parameters (same in size but thinner than the NP(3), better water and dust protection, and a headphone jack).

KamiKaze Now even budget phones don’t come with headphone jacks.

Also thinner than the Phone (3) 👆😁

KamiKaze

Amudhan_Sundararajan I’m not defending it but regardless its still a status quo which means component suppliers for water resistant headphone jacks will be in short supply because of industry trends. It’s not impossible like sony does but the headphone jack is a dying breed. I don’t know anyone that doesn’t own wireless earbuds.

Even me personally despite owning headphones still use wireless. And for my wired iems i just purchased a integrated usb C DAC cable for convenience. Idk imo I don’t think that many people still use wired. And that’s coming from someone who uses wired iems and headphones. And for that specific niche dongles exist now. Yes it would be nice to have a headphone jack. But most of the people that want a headphone jack on phones in this day and age would be audio enthusiasts.

Most of which wouldn’t be fine with the anemic amps that phones come with and would likely just buy a dongle because those have gotten quite good over the years.

Most of the population started moving on back in 2020. Now even budget phones don’t come with headphone jacks. I would much rather have a upgraded usb c port with usb 3.2 rather than just tacking on a headphone jack for the sake of saying we still have one.

Amudhan_Sundararajan

@KamiKaze I get your point — but let’s be real. This whole “it’s the industry status quo” thing only exists because companies like Apple decided to kill the headphone jack, and everyone else just followed like sheep.

Let’s not pretend demand isn’t there. If people really didn’t care about wired audio anymore, there wouldn’t be a booming market for USB-C IEMs, external DACs, or dongle DACs. Heck, if wired audio was dead, high-end audio brands wouldn’t be bothering to make gear for mobile at all.

And sure, wireless is convenient. I use TWS too. But if you’re into mobile gaming or audiophile listening, you definitely feel the pain. I can’t tell you how many times lag in Bluetooth audio cost me a clutch play in a game. There’s a reason most competitive gamers still use wired gear — because latency and reliability still matter.

Also, let’s talk practicality. When you’re traveling — train rides, long flights, wherever — you wanna listen to your IEMs and charge your phone. Good luck doing both at the same time without a splitter or some sketchy workaround. This isn’t just about “niche audiophiles,” this is basic UX stuff.

Companies removed the jack not because of space or water resistance. We had IP-rated phones with headphone jacks a decade ago. (Hi, Sony.) They did it because removing it drives wireless audio sales. It’s a business move, plain and simple. And that’s fine — just own it. Don’t dress it up as innovation or necessity.

If there’s real demand, supply chains will adjust. But when every brand takes the lazy way out and follows Apple, users aren’t left with much choice. That’s why people “moved on” — not because they wanted to, but because they had to.

So yeah, it is what it is. But let’s not gaslight people by pretending this is all in our best interest.

P.s. Nothing phones don’t have USB 3.2.

KamiKaze

Amudhan_Sundararajan There isn’t demand like you think there is for the general population. Like I said most people adjusted to living without the headphone jack 4 years ago myself included. I’m someone that owns multiple pairs of IEMs. Not to mention HD 6xx and edition XS’s. Supply chains would adjust if there’s a demand. You fail to understand that my argument is that demand for it for most of the public outside of niche forums like this died out long ago. That’s the thing about public perceptions our opinions on forums like these aren’t representative of the general sentiment of wants of the population at large. Most of the population moved on. The headphone jack isn’t going mainstream again anytime soon. The most you’ll get is moondrop making another phone, And like I said that’s a niche inside a niche.

Audiophiles that listen on Android based DAPs vs full setup. Regarding what you said about gaslighting was in regards of the audiophile niche, I don’t know anyone in the hobby that would listen from a integrated DAC with low amplification.

Honestly the audiophile niche has changed a lot over the years you get dongle DACs nowadays that perform close to full on desktop DAC amp setups, As such idk why you’d you’d use it. Sure it’s nice to have in a pinch beyond that meh. Regarding usb 3.2 I said that specifically because none of the nothing phones have supported it.

Anonymous931 Again like I said in my initial post wasn’t that it can’t be done. It’s just increasingly harder as demand for the jack drops. Space constraints are a thing however. If you’ve ever opened up a phone for repairs you’d see how much larger the headphone jack daughterboards are relative to usb c ones. Water resistance is harder not impossible as the demand drops number of suppliers to fullfill said niche also drops. And yes despite what you may think. What apple did in 2017 did make this the status quo and everyone outside of very specific niches just adapted to living without it.

The only people still up in arms about are tech enthusiasts and audiophiles which account for what less than 1% of the general population? Not really realistic. The xperia phone you pointed out are extremely niche products made for people who want the ui of the Sony Alpha series of cameras, Guess what videographers use along with their cameras. The other phones that do have headphone jacks are either gaming phones or in the case of moondrop a good DAC strapped on to a crappy phone. In all three cases these are niches in a niche.

Amudhan_Sundararajan

KamiKaze You keep saying the demand “died out” and it’s just a niche now — but you’re neatly dodging the entire mobile gaming demographic, which is massive, not niche.

Let’s talk numbers:
According to Statista, over 2.8 billion people worldwide played mobile games in 2024. That’s not a niche — that’s a third of the planet. Even in India alone, there are over 500 million mobile gamers. You really think none of them miss wired audio, especially when Bluetooth latency can mean the difference between a win and a loss?

Even Nothing themselves sponsor gaming events and push low-latency features — then drop the jack and tell you to go buy Buds Pro? Come on.

This isn’t just about audiophiles (which you conveniently narrowed the entire debate to). Gamers, musicians, commuters, travelers — all kinds of users still benefit from wired options.
You’re right that “most people adjusted,” but here’s the kicker: they adjusted not because they preferred to, but because they were given no choice.

You also mentioned that you personally use dongles and USB-C DACs. Guess what? The average user doesn’t want to carry a dongle or worry about compatibility. They want to plug and play.
And let’s not pretend like DACs are free. A good one costs more than the TWS most users are “adjusting” to.

And this idea that forums don’t reflect real-world demand? Not entirely true. Brands watch enthusiast forums like this one to gauge demand and feedback from power users. If there’s a consistent outcry across communities, it’s often a sign of broader dissatisfaction that gets buried in sales numbers.

So yeah — the headphone jack may not be “mainstream” right now, but don’t pretend the demand isn’t there just because it’s inconvenient to acknowledge. People aren’t “over it” — they were just pushed out of the choice.

Anonymous931

KamiKaze There isn’t demand like you think there is for the general population.

You can reason everything like that, and it eventually turns out to that there is no demand to get what we used to getting for the same amount of money; there is no demand for headphone jacks, there is no demand for removable batteries, there is no demand for expandable storage, there is no demand for better photo post-processing software, there is no demand for more durable phones in which their glass back won’t break after one drop on the floor, there is no demand for more internal storage, there is no demand for longer-lasting batteries…

…in the end - as phones are getting more and more expensive each year - there is, apparently, no demand for cheaper phones too if we follow that “there isn’t demand” logic. People are simply addicted to pay more and more.

Nice way to instantly, from the very start, defend and present your thought process as the correct one and position yourself as the self-proclaimed authority to the point of not even needing to provide any relevant source for that claim of yours - there is just simply no demand, EOD 👍 Except OEM’s demand to get more and more money by selling PR bs, of course, but that’s a different story…

KamiKaze

Amudhan_Sundararajan You’re still glossing over semantics by saying people were pushed out of the choice. That’s the same as saying they’ve long since adapted. People did the same way companies removed the jack whether you like it or not. And yes forums don’t reflect real world sentiment, All forums are composed of are vocal minorities.

Secondly you brought up gamers. That too mobile gamers those statistics you brought up those count people who play bloody candy crush 😂 . If we’re talking about things that actually need a competitive advantage like FPS for instance they rank 6th on the list.

So again niche, now that might seem large on the surface but then you further have to eliminate the casuals who could give a rats ass whether they have 50ms of latency or not. Making the niche you described even smaller, why not make it even smaller by the people who don’t want to use iems while gaming. How big do you think this ‘market’ is once you narrow down using conditional probability.

Which is what I said previously niches inside niches. They’d be nice to have yes. Would they use it often. Doubt it, It’s the same reasoning samsung used to remove the bluetooth from the spen because barely anyone used it. It all boils down to one simple thing do enough people use it enough to justify putting it back. And of course cost and space savings are also a factor. Not to mention reduced complexity of the pcb design by forgoing analog outputs apart from the speakers.

Oh and funny thing guess what happened to chargers coming in the box. Everyone uses them even now unlike wired headphones but companies still removed it including nothing.

And people reluctantly agreed to it and now nobody cares anymore it’s the same with the headphone jack. Consumers have already shifted their usage paradigms or expectations to match what the status quo is.

You can argue all you want on whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing it doesn’t really change reality or matter since the current status quo will not change regardless.

Anyway kind of unrelated but since you brought up the cost of dongle DACs but you can get good dongle DACs for around 5 to 10 euros nowadays. Something that’s top of the line that is capable of driving planar magnetic headphones for around 100. It’s the thing with all tech good stuff becomes cheap. The cheap stuff becomes good really good even.

KamiKaze

Anonymous931 Yeah it’s called accepting the status quo. Regardless of your feelings towards the matter the status quo still exists and has been this since 2020.

I’ll admit I don’t have any sources beyond educated guesses and anecdotal experiences from my immediate friend circle. But neither do you for that matter. Even in the audiophile niche, I’ll bring it up since I’m already in it, But among people I know nobody would use a onboard jack unless it actually measured well.

Which is basically 0 phones on the market nowadays apart from the DAC with the phone bolted on by moondrop MIAD 01 for reference. No not even Sony they just use Qualcomm aqstic ie the snapdragon integrated DAC amp.

But regardless of any of those things the main factor is consumer behaviour has already changed a long time ago regarding TWS usage. Same thing goes for consumer expectations for having the charger in the box.

Amudhan_Sundararajan

KamiKaze I’ll admit I don’t have any sources beyond educated guesses and anecdotal experiences from my immediate friend circle.

Ah, so now we’ve entered the “I don’t have data but trust me bro” phase of the debate. Love that. Should we replace market research firms with your Discord server while we’re at it?

Meanwhile, back in the actual world where companies make decisions based on data, the wired headphones market is currently worth $44.86 billion (2024) and projected to hit $194.17 billion by 2032 (Data Bridge Market Research — you can search it yourself since links aren’t allowed here). But hey, let’s ignore a multi-billion dollar industry and instead base product decisions on whatever random anecdote someone’s buddy swears by.

You keep saying “consumer behavior has shifted.” No kidding — when companies collectively rip out a port across nearly every device, what choice do people even have? You frame it like the masses rose up and demanded, “Please take away this perfectly functional port and sell us $100 earbuds with batteries that die in two years!” Come on.

Let’s be real:
People didn’t stop wanting the headphone jack.
They were gaslit into accepting its removal.

And the “nobody uses it anymore” excuse? Absolute nonsense.

Millions of people still use wired headphones daily — not because they’re stuck in the past, but because they work. No latency. No charging. No random Bluetooth dropouts when your neighbor sneezes too loud.

Still using a laptop or PC from the last decade? Congrats, you have a headphone jack. And yes, people hold onto those devices for 5–10 years, especially outside the tech bubble.

Still gaming on mobile, especially competitive stuff like PUBG, CoD, or Genshin? Enjoy your 200ms lag on TWS. That’s why every gaming phone worth anything — ROG, RedMagic, Infinix GT, etc. — still includes a headphone jack.

Amazon wired headphone listings have tens of thousands of reviews each, and that’s just from people who bothered to rate. So let’s not pretend there’s no demand just because your personal circle moved on to AirPods.

And about your DAC purity argument — that’s adorable. The average user isn’t sitting around comparing signal-to-noise ratios. They just want to plug in and go. You think people shopping for midrange phones are crying into their pillow because their 3.5mm jack doesn’t use a discrete ESS chip?

You mention Moondrop MIAD 01 like it’s a one-off niche — when it’s literally proof that there’s still demand for high-quality wired audio, even now, in the “TWS era.” If the market were truly dead, a company like Moondrop wouldn’t even bother.

Also, stop equating “status quo” with “good.” The status quo also includes phones shipping with no charger, no microSD, and no meaningful innovation year after year, all while prices go up. People tolerate it because they have to — not because they’re thrilled to carry five dongles around like some modern tech janitor.

Let’s face it:
Removing the headphone jack wasn’t about saving space, improving water resistance, or pushing audio quality.
It was about removing choice to sell more accessories.

And now you’re here defending it like it’s some great evolutionary step. Meanwhile, the rest of us are still reaching for our wired gear when we need reliability, longevity, and compatibility — the things that actually matter.

But sure, keep telling yourself it’s “niche.” Nothing screams niche like a market about to cross $190 billion.