If you ask many people when the headphone jack began to disappear from smartphones, they will surely point to the iPhone 7 of 2016. It is undoubtedly the best known example, the one that promoted many manufacturers of Android phones to follow suit.
However, Apple was not the first. turns out Oppo was the first major brand to ditch the headphone jack with the Oppo Finder, four years before the iPhone, and again with its mid-range Oppo R5 in fall 2014. Here's why Oppo was first to remove the 3,5mm port and why Apple's move ended up resonating more with the public.
Why did Oppo remove the headphone jack?
In a nutshell, Oppo removed the headphone jack to show off. At 6,65mm thick, the Finder was billed as the world's thinnest mobile phone when it was announced, and Oppo did away with the headphone jack to achieve that slimness. History repeated itself two years later with the even slimmer R5, which at 4,85mm thick barely outstripped the micro-USB port used to charge it, and a 3,5mm port would have been difficult to fit. to fit in.
The R5 lost the slimmest smartphone crown to the 5mm Vivo X4,75 Max (which included a connector), but it was clearly an attention grabbing device at a time when flagships like the Galaxy S5 and the iPhone 6 were comparatively bulkier.
To its credit, Oppo included an adapter with the R5 so users could use existing headphones with a 3,5mm jack. Sadly, for those who couldn't stand cables, the R5 arrived long before Bluetooth headphones were really ready to become mainstream. It was a conscious sacrifice in the name of aesthetics.
Apple and its reasons for removing the headphone jack
Apple's reasons for removing the headphone jack were more practical. Although you probably remember that the company justified the removal as a matter of "value," the tech giant also noted that removing the legacy port freed up valuable internal space. Apple could incorporate a more powerful Taptic Engine (haptic feedback) or a larger battery, for example. Whether you believe this argument or not, the iPhone X and future Android phones have made the best case by packing a ton of features into designs that are still relatively slim.
And so, Oppo was the first mobile phone brand to eliminate the traditional headphone jack.
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