Galaxy S21: Samsung didn’t bring back the headphone jack and here’s why

This story is part of THESE, where our editors will bring you the latest news and the hottest gadgets from fully virtual CES 2021.

Samsung Galaxy S21, follow-up from last year Galaxy s20, arrived earlier than the company’s flagship phones. Thursday, last day of THESE, Samsung hosted a virtual Unpacked event (here is everything announced), in which the latest Galaxy S smartphone was unveiled, about a month earlier than last year’s announcement. Rumors were circulating for months about the new device, powered by leaks galore. Would the Galaxy S21 come with a stylus
? Would it have a sleek new design? Would it replace the Galaxy Note line?

And the eternal question: would it include a headphone jack? We now know the answer: no, the Galaxy S21 does not have a headphone jack.

We guessed it before the Unpacked event, based on the leaks. But if we’ve learned anything in the time since Samsung has released its latest flagship Galaxy S (the same day coronavirus disease has been officially named COVID-19) is that anything is possible.

Leaked teasers for the Galaxy S21 showed a design similar to the S20 range, with an in-display fingerprint reader and a center punch-hole front camera. But one thing we haven’t seen in the leaked images is a headphone jack, which we told us was probably not in the cards for the S21. Latest leaks showing Samsung specs for the three models of the S21 also did not include the mention of a headphone jack.

The had been certain unsubstantiated guess about Samsung’s reintroduction of the headphone jack as a sort of experiment in 2021. The idea here is that a headphone jack might be enough to differentiate the flagship Galaxy from other high-end phones like Apple and Google, which also forced users to convert to either wireless earphone or dongle lifestyle in recent years.

It was an interesting theory, especially if you remember Samsung’s initial reaction to Apple’s initial removal of the headphone jack from its 2016 handset, the iPhone 7. Apple’s move turned into a punch. when Samsung’s Galaxy Note 7 launched that same year. And Galaxy Note 8 ads have gone further, poking fun at the iPhone’s unwieldy dongle setup. But the tide has changed and, when Samsung unveiled its Galaxy Note 10 in 2019 he also left the headphone jack on the cutting room floor. Last year’s Galaxy S20 also lacked a headphone jack, the first in the Galaxy S range to remove it.

Read more: IPhone 12’s Lightning port could be the next thing Apple kills

History repeated itself with the Galaxy S21. When Apple decided not to include a charger or headphones in the box with its iPhone 12, Samsung scoffed at the decision as well. But now Samsung followed suit and nixed them too. A leak from tipster Evan Blass the day before Galaxy Unpacked also showed a Samsung’s “what’s in the box” page which only listed a USB-C cable (no charging brick), an eject pin, and a quick start guide, citing environmental reasons. And not including the headphones in the box was further evidence against including a matching headphone jack.

One of the reasons phone makers like to lose their grip is thinner bezels. Slim is in it, and a smaller bezel footprint allows for a bigger screen without adding to the phone’s overall size.

Another, perhaps more cynical, reason: The company’s wireless headphones should sell better when their phones don’t have wired headphone jacks. Apple AirPods sold like gangbusters, probably thanks in large part to the iPhone’s excised grip. And Samsung has its own line of wireless headphones, the Galaxy buds, Galaxy Buds Plus and Galaxy Buds Live, and now there is the Galaxy Buds Pro, too. So it makes sense that Samsung would stick with its decision to say goodbye to the headphone jack.