Leading up to the announcement of its upcoming flagship handset, the 6T, OnePlus is once again dropping details about the device. Last week, it confirmed that it will have a fingerprint sensor built into the display. In an interview with TechRadar today though, co-founder Carl Pei confirmed that the OnePlus 6T will not include a headphone jack, although there will be an adapter in the box.
Along with Samsung and LG, OnePlus was one of the last big defenders of the 3.5mm port, so many consumers are likely to be surprised about this.
When asked why now, when OnePlus has always boasted the headphone jacks in its handsets, Pei simply said, "Before it wasn"t the right time, now we have data to back up that it is the right time."
He said that OnePlus found that 59% of its users had wireless headphones already, before the firm even launched its Bullets Wireless earphones, although Pei didn"t clarify exactly how the firm came to that number. He did say, however, that he expects that number to be higher by now, and that this will be more of a frictionless of a transition now than it would have been two years ago.
And the reason for removing the headphone jack is simple and obvious; it frees up space to put "new technology" into the device. He didn"t specifically say what that new technology will be, but he did say that it will offer more battery life, so it seems that OnePlus will be squeezing in a larger battery. It could also be the fingerprint sensor in the display that"s taking up extra space.
Some fans are bound to be upset about this, as they have been when companies like Apple, Motorola, and HTC pulled the popular port from their own smartphones. But as always, they"ll have to get over it. If you really need a 3.5mm headphone jack, Samsung and LG are still onboard. Samsung seems to like it so it can mock Apple at its events, and LG has been focusing on its 32-bit Hi-Fi Quad DAC, doubling down on audio quality from its 3.5mm jack.