No, it doesn't. It's bullshit.

There's stuff like the Ulefone Armor 9 FLIP rugged smartphone which has the headphone jack and has even better ingress protection than the iPhone:

> the extra padding and protection that comes with an IP68/IP69K-rated, MIL-STD-810G certified outdoor smartphone

https://www.techradar.com/reviews/ulefone-armor-9-flir-rugge...

Apple removed the headphone jack for Airbuds and to get extra money. Their accessory division would be a Fortune 500 company, on its own.

You don't get to be a billionaire by giving money away (or not picking it up when users throw it at you).

> Apple removed the headphone jack for Airbuds and to get extra money. Their accessory division would be a Fortune 500 company, on its own.

Nothing makes this read stronger than the fact that Apple still does, in fact, offer a portable device with a headphone jack, the iPod Touch.

You can buy an iDevice that makes calls and texts, or one with a headphone jack. You can not have both in the same machine.

> A 3.5mm audio connector hidden behind a flap

I’m not saying your argument is invalid but…sure the iPhone could also have a waterproof headphone jack if we wanted port covers on it too. The phone you linked looks nothing like something I want in my pocket all day

The Pixel 5a has a headphone jack, is waterproof, and has no port covers. It has an actual IP rating, with all the added expense that comes with, and still is shockingly cheap. It has a great looking design and is very close in size to a contemporary iphone.

It can be done, Apple didn't do it because they didn't want to.

Many many phones had waterproof headphone jacks without flaps before the iPhone 7 added waterproofing like the Galaxy S5. Many still do, e.g Samsung A52.

> The phone you linked looks nothing like something I want in my pocket all day

I rather doubt most people would really be able to tell the difference.

I've noticed that headphone cords are the main reason that I break my phone.

I'm debating switching to non-cabled headphones to fix that and save money on replacement screens

> the main reason that I break my phone.

I'm not sure whether I'm more shocked you have multiple reasons/causes for breaking your phone or that you have enough data points available that you can reliably identify a "main reason" amongst those multiple reasons.

Seriously, have you considered taking better care of your possessions?

How the hell do cabled headphones lead to a broken screen? I've owned quite a variety of mobile phones over the last 23 years, have never used a case to protect any of them, have used cabled headphones with a bunch of them, and the only one I've broken is one that I deliberately dropped into a glass of vodka and coke back in the year 2000 because I was smashed off my tits and it seemed like a good idea at the time (it wasn't, even though I'd been planning to replace it anyway - in the interim the lack of a phone was a major PITA for several days).

You realize that no one has to buy Bluetooth headphones from Apple right?

You realize that Apple offers Apple only features for all its stuff, therefore pushing its own products very hard? :-)

You’re free to choose not to have Apple features and get regular old headphones.

Individual responsibility does not work against $3tn corporations.

I personally choose to not buy any Apple product, but that's not going to bring the demise of Apple.

So why does your personal choice have to bring the end of Apple?

Did Apple get to be 3 trillion by forcing people to buy stuff or buying selling things that people were willing to give it money for?

But by you choosing to not buy Apple Bluetooth headphones you have a worse experience.

> Did Apple get to be 3 trillion by forcing people to buy stuff or buying selling things that people were willing to give it money for?

A combination of the two. Sure, they had some legitimately good products to start with. So did Standard Oil.

Standard Oil was commodity that people needed. No one is forced to buy Apple products. It’s not even what the majority of people own.

The majority didn't own a car in the Standard Oil days (and it certainly wasn't a necessity of life). But it was an aspirational thing to own, and de rigueur for those of a certain social class.

The Samsung phones are waterproof, I have seen it accidentally tested.

I love my iPhone but, I really think it's no coincidence the headphone jack removal coincided with the release of airpods, just over a year and a half after the purchase of beats by Dre.

>Samsung phones

Yep, an S7 went swimming with me for about half on hour one day and after a quick pat down it worked just fine. I wouldn't mind the switch away from jacks so much if most phones & bluetooth earbuds supported higher quality codecs, but it seems relatively rare.

I put my s7 face down in snow and it took 24hrs or so to accept a charger. Thought the port was dead. Wireless charging could be good in that regard.

No it doesn't. The LG V35 was faster, thinner, lighter, had a headphone jack, and had the exact same IP rating as the equivalent iPhone of the time.