Fair enough, adapters do exist, but as you point out, there are situations where that is not ideal. On a long flight, for example, where I might want to charge my phone and also listen to something, or (in my case) someone who does some amateur audio engineering work on the side, where having the ability to simply wire in a device to play some audio is a big plus. My biggest problem is that phones from five years ago could do both wireless and wired headphones just fine, no adapters needed. What have we gained as consumers by the loss of one of those options?
I think regularly taking long flights and tinkering with audio equipment are both niche enough use-cases to justify looking for phones that cater to your niche (I.e. have a headphone jack). As for why that is now niche, you often hear suggestions of improved waterproofing and/or more internal space for other things (or being thinner).
Fair enough, adapters do exist, but as you point out, there are situations where that is not ideal. On a long flight, for example, where I might want to charge my phone and also listen to something, or (in my case) someone who does some amateur audio engineering work on the side, where having the ability to simply wire in a device to play some audio is a big plus. My biggest problem is that phones from five years ago could do both wireless and wired headphones just fine, no adapters needed. What have we gained as consumers by the loss of one of those options?
I think regularly taking long flights and tinkering with audio equipment are both niche enough use-cases to justify looking for phones that cater to your niche (I.e. have a headphone jack). As for why that is now niche, you often hear suggestions of improved waterproofing and/or more internal space for other things (or being thinner).