How smartphone makers are going to screw us this year

Several smartphone manufacturers, including Apple, Motorola,and Lenovo, will be introducing new standards this year that could make millions of headphones obsolete.

The dropping of the 3.5mm jack in favour of the USB-C standard will render your favourite set of headphones useless without some type of additional adapter.

The option to purchase actual USB-C headphones is available, but there are currently very few products on the market and the majority are priced much higher than standard 3.5mm headphones.

The news get worse still for Apple owners, as all of the company’s new peripherals will have to be entirely proprietary ,as they use the Lightning port standard as opposed to USB-C.

So why are smartphone makers pushing so hard for the change?

There are some upsides to the USB-C standard, namely the increased quality USB-C brings by offloading the DAC and AMP components to the headphones themselves, providing the same listening-quality on all of your devices.

It could also be a case of “vanity”, as manufacturers can now market a svelte device without a gaping black hole at the bottom for your headphones.

Interestingly, some manufacturers have stood firm on the issue, including Samsung, who’s S7 still has a 3.5mm jack.

Time will tell if this will come back to haunt them or if USB-C is a passing fad, but it does leave us with one important question – why can’t we have a device that features both?

Will you still purchase a new smartphone if it makes your headphones obsolete? Let us know in the comments below and in our forums.