The newest report from the Korean media could easily be filed under the “too early to be believable” rumor category, but when it's a rumor about Samsung possibly removing the headphone jack from its phones, it sure grabs our attention. And it looks like the Galaxy Note 10 may be the first Samsung flagship to come without a headphone jack, according to some industry sources cited by ETNews.
Headphone jack finally on Samsung's sacrificial altar?
There are no reasons cited for why Samsung will take this step, but the report does mention that the company could also wait till the Galaxy S11 before it bids goodbye to a traditional 3.5mm jack. It's believed Samsung will offer a USB Type-C to 3.5 mm converter in the box, which won't be surprising. Samsung has never shied away from offering the necessary connectors and converters right in the box. The company's flagships come with a standard USB to USB Type-C converter for transferring data from other devices, and until recently, Samsung was also throwing in a microUSB to Type-C converter in all markets.
A converter won't take the pain away of seeing the headphone jack disappear from Samsung phones, but it might soon become a necessity. Samsung has been packing its flagships with so much technology in recent years that it may soon run out of space for adding major features without substantially increasing a device's dimensions. It would be sad to see the headphone jack being sacrificed as a result, but with the rest of the industry already moving towards wireless and USB Type-C audio solutions, the Korean giant may have to join the party at some point. Whether it will happen with the Galaxy Note 10 or later on remains to be seen.
