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Google Kills Headphone Jack in Latest Pixel 6A Just Months After Parodying Apple

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Google on Wednesday unveiled its latest mid-range 5G smartphone, the Pixel 6A, and for the first time, this A-series model is missing a 3.5mm headphone jack.

pixel 6a colors
The lack of a headphone jack on the Pixel 6A follows a technology trend that Apple started with the iPhone 7 in 2016, and in that sense is relatively unsurprising.

Yet as recently as last August, Google was touting the inclusion of a headphone jack on the Pixel 5A with an ad that parodied some of the product intro videos that former Apple design chief Jony Ive used to make to highlight new iPhone features.

This isn't the first time Google has indirectly mocked Apple for dropping the headphone jack, only for it to later do precisely the same. Google poked fun at the iPhone 7's lack of headphone jack while unveiling its original Pixel smartphone in 2016, and then the Pixel 2 launched without one just a year later.

Samsung fell for the same short-sighted marketing approach in 2018 when it mocked the iPhone X's lack of a headphone jack in one of its "Ingenius" ads promoting the Galaxy S9. Five months later it introduced the Galaxy A8s, its first smartphone without a headphone jack, much to the amusement of iPhone users.

The Google Pixel 6A costs $449 and features a slight redesign in line with last year's Pixel 6 range, with a raised camera bump on the rear that houses a 12MP main camera and a 12MP ultra-wide lens. Powered by the company's custom Tensor chipset, the 6A comes with a 6.1-inch OLED 1080p display running at 60Hz and includes an under-screen fingerprint sensor.

Tag: Google Pixel

Top Rated Comments

Leon Ze Professional Avatar
Leon Ze Professional
51 months ago
Has Google dethroned Samsung as lead Ad Mocker?

OR

It proves Apple are truly the real leaders in the technology space.
Score: 17 Votes (Like | Disagree)
MajorFubar Avatar
MajorFubar
51 months ago
I'm old enough to remember Apple getting rid of the 3.5" floppy drive and the shock it generated. Didn't take long for everyone else to follow. When the headphone jack disappeared from the iPhone it probably mostly affected those people using GarageBand on their iPhones, because BT headphones have too much latency. So from that point on you had to use dongles if you wanted to both charge your phone and use a headphone adaptor. Most other people had already moved over to BT headphones I reckon, and were almost completely unaffected.
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
4
44267547
51 months ago

Tim Cook cares more about money than functionality.
Conflating Tim Cook and technological changes why the headphone jack was removed is not mutually exclusive, and shows your intended snark that is clearly misguided and totally irrelevant. That’s not going to fly.
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
B
BootsWalking
51 months ago
Now that Google has copied Apple's removal of the headphone jack maybe they can now try and copy Apple's amazing ARM processors as well 😜
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
W
wonderings
51 months ago

Samsung also made Apple snark years back.

The whole ‘removal of the 3.5 mm Jack’, was blown way out of proportion. Consumers were already using Bluetooth devices when it was removed on the iPhone 7 in 2016. All Apple was doing was paving the way for the future, some understood that, and others refused to adapt. For me personally, the AirPods made that transition much more seamless given how easily they connected and the simplicity of use.
Not sure it was blown way out of proportion. I think it would be safe to say the majority of people were using wired headphones still. Now they are basically forced to buy new wireless headphones that are not cheap if they want to continue using their new phone as they did before. Smart move on Apples part, but it was simply done to push more sales into their AirPods and Beats headphones. These tech companies are thinking of how much money they are making, don't deceive yourself in thinking that Apple and anyone else is really doing this for the betterment of mankind.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
R
RadioHedgeFund
51 months ago

I'm old enough to remember Apple getting rid of the 3.5" floppy drive and the shock it generated. Didn't take long for everyone else to follow. When the headphone jack disappeared from the iPhone it probably mostly affected those people using GarageBand on their iPhones, because BT headphones have too much latency. So from that point on you had to use dongles if you wanted to both charge your phone and use a headphone adaptor. Most other people had already moved over to BT headphones I reckon, and were almost completely unaffected.
The market was going that way anyway with Firewire and the Floppy. Apple just got there first (and was with Firewire really its last remaining supporter)

The 3.5mm headphone jack was more of a commercial decision to push lightning more (and those sweet mfi payments) as well as push people towards the bluetooth headphones of the brand it just acquired from Dr. Dre. It was less 'brave' and more 'we can get even richer'.

Still, if you're missing one and want a 'Pro' phone with actual features you might consider to be professional like a 3.5mm jack, an actual telephoto lens instead of a fixed zoom, bottomless manual controls, records 4K120 on all its lenses, has the software to match all this and uses terminology grown-ups use then I hear Sony has you covered ('https://www.sony.co.uk/electronics/smartphones/xperia-1m4').
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
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