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by user_7832 853 days ago
Possibly not for many phones, but don't forget, the innards of phones get rearranged a lot between generations at times, and the only thing that can easily change in volume is the battery.

Fo if you consider a phone with say an 8 hour battery life, I would imagine the extra space of a jack gives maybe 10? 20? minutes of battery life? while adding an extra layer of complexity viz. Bluetooth (wireless interference, potential pairing and charging issues etc).

To extend the analogy, would you be okay if laptop manufacturers removed LAN ports as wifi "works just as well"? (Wifi is likely probably much closer to ethernet, unlike BT/3.5mm.)

BTW, some devices like iPads that don't have cellular slots... have a plastic shim/object in that place. So sometimes it isn't empty space, it's worse - it's (marginally) extra weight.