The launch of the OnePlus Bullets V2 USB-C earbuds overnight has of course raised the question of a headphone jack on the companies next phone. It appears the question was answered in an interview with OnePlus co-founder Carl Pei who confirmed it would be absent.
The interview, via TechRadar, with Carl showed that OnePlus thought a lot about the decision to remove the jack from the ‘next OnePlus handset’ – it appears Carl didn’t want to name the handset.
The decision was based around some of the metrics they see in the user base of their OnePlus handsets, with Carl saying ‘We found 59% of our community already owned wireless headphones earlier this year – and that was before we launched our Bullets Wireless headphones’.
The launch of the USB-C Bullets V2 overnight has also paved the way for customers not enthralled with the prospect of using wireless headphones and option to remain wired with the addition of a Digital-Audio Converter (DAC) from Cirrus Logic inside the connector.
The trend to remove the jack has been ongoing for some time but until now, the move didn’t seem right according to Pei, saying ‘If we were to do that [remove the jack] two years ago, the percentage [of wireless headphones owners] would have been much lower and it would have caused a lot of friction for our users’.
The removal of the headphone jack has been pointed to in the need to make phones smaller, or include more hardware and in the case of the OnePlus 6T the ‘next OnePlus handset’ that will mean more battery life according to Carl ‘By removing the jack we’ve freed up more space, allowing us to put more new technology into the product. One of the big things is something our users have asked us for, improved battery life’.
So there you have it. No headphone jack, but more battery life with ‘new technology’ an interesting turn of phrase we’ll have to wait for the launch to have explained.
OnePlus still doesn’t sell their handsets, or accessories directly to Australia, though they did test the waters here with a soft launch last year. We’ll be keenly watching the OnePlus 6T launch which could take place as early as next month and fingers crossed, maybe Australia will be there.
