[magduf]

We've had waterproof phones with headphone jacks for ages, so that's not an issue unless you're incompetent.

I've never seen a phone where the battery extended down to near the headphone jack.

If I put a dongle permanently on my headphones, how do I use them on another device that has a standard 3.5mm jack?

Thickness is only an issue for Apple fans. No one else actually cares if a device is 0.2mm thicker.

[mikepurvis]

I mean, it's not like it's empty space in there. Looking at the insides of an iPhone X, it's clear that something would have to give to make room for a new and quite sizeable connector: https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/iPhone+X+Teardown/98975#s182...

In any case, I fundamentally agree that it's not worth the tradeoff; I use an iPhone 5S and find it perfectly serviceable (and charmingly small and light). But some people do value those things, and/or only use wireless headphones or headphones with a single device.

[Rebelgecko]

Supposedly, previous iPhones had a lot of empty space near where the headphone jack would have been. Enough space for this guy[1] to drill a hole and install Apple's DAC in it.

[1]:https://strangeparts.com/bringing-back-the-iphone-headphone-...

[mikepurvis]

Ha, I can only assume that on account of the obvious controversy, this was done by the engineers so they'd have an option to reverse course if the executives had a last-second change of heart. Once it was clear they really did have that space to work with, they filled it up with stuff.