1w ago

Aux doesn't belong on smartphones anymore.

I see a lot of people complaining that the Fairphone 6 doesn't have an Aux jack.

Just use an adapter cable.

A 3.5mm Aux jack takes up a significant amount of space just to connect a few wires that could be connected through USB-C anyway, that space could be used for a bigger battery.

Even if there was a good enough reason to keep Aux it should be 2.5mm Aux and not the usual 3.5 as it does exactly the same thing but uses less space

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So what you're me offering is limited use cases and additional equipment to achieve something that I can currently do with an AUX port.
This is not an upgrade or improvment ... that's just enshitification.
If this isn’t acceptable, then I’d argue that phones should have two USB-C ports, instead of one Aux and one USB-C
That is slighlty better, but a lot of headphones don't actually support sound via USB-C and I'm also not aware of cheap, wired earbuts that use USB-C.
- Sometime in the not so distant past I could have said: "but a lot of radio's don't actually support CD's and I'm also not aware of cheap, radio's that use CD's, or a place to buy Cheap CD's"
  At some point we had to ditch tapes for CD's or Digital media.
  We can't just stay stuck in the past because it's convenient in the short term.
  
  CD were an actual improvment. They could store more data with less space, didn't need to be rewound or move physical tape to "scroll" to a song you want to hear, etc. They were actually better in pretty much every way.
  Bluetooth isn't. It's offering one improvment in one area by trading off others.
  Moving to USB-C could be very minor improvment, as you're really just preserving the functionality while standardising the connector. Now, I am not against that. But that would require all headphone manufacturers to move to audio-via-USB and all the phone manufacturerers to add a 2nd port.
  Seems like a lot of work and money for very little benefit.
  
  The jump from Aux to USB-C is a even bigger improvement than Tape to CD. All manufacturers etc. eventually had to switch from tape to digital, yes it's a lot of effort, but it needs to happen at some point.
  I'm not arguing for a 2nd USB-C port, I think one is enough, but if you MUST have two ports, than USB-C offers so much more that Aux can't
  
  The jump from Aux to USB-C is a even bigger improvement than Tape to CD.
  The use case of the AUX port is to listen something via a wire. USB-C doesn't offer any improvements here (othen than having to carry one less cable in the longrun, maybe).
  I think one is enough, but if you MUST have two ports, than USB-C offers so much more that Aux can’t
  Sure, it might enable totally new features. But those are not really relevant when we're discussing the removal of the aux port. That's like trying to make an argument for CDs over tape by pointing out that you can use CDs as a mirror. Sure you can ... but not really the "imrpovment" I was looking for.
  
  Aux can only carry two audio channels, if I wanted to plug my phone into a 5.1 Surround sounds system or something alike, Aux would be limiting.
  USB-C has 24 pins, so it won't have that issue.
  
  Yeah, I'm open for having a USB-C port replace the AUX port if the other industries play along and no use-cases/features are lost in the process.
  But until that happens, AUX belongs on smartphones.
  
  I hope the EU pushes USB-C as the standard for more devices, I have 3 wireless shavers, they all use different charging ports. There is no reason they couldn't have all been USB-C
  
  I think razors, thoothbrushes, etc are exempt from the standard because their connectors have to be water resistant, which USB-C isn't. So probably not happening for now.
  
  Perhaps, but there are many waterproof USB-C devices that you can swim with, so I don't think it should be much of an issue.
  
  Have you tried swimming while charging said device? Mobiles like my Pixel 7 will disable it's USB port if it detects water. I doubt anything could have waterproof usb port outside of sealing the port with external mechanism.
  
  Look on Aliexpress for adaptors for the shavers, that's made my life so much easier until I get new ones with usb-c.
  I also have 3 wireless ones that shoulda been usb-c but bought em far before the new mandate.
  Also I thought the rules did apply to more than just phones though I may be mistaken.

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