If the issue is money, we can just say "support aux bc a large population can't afford to swap," a lot of this thread seems to be poverty masquerading as purism. It's the purism I can't understand.
It seems to me that it is ALL tradeoffs but it's hard for me to see why people would have a preference for wired connection (EDIT: FOR MOBILE PHONES) except for financial constraints. If that's the motivator, the odds that you have an old, really nice pair of wired headphones that came with the stereo adapter for airplanes seems small. OR you fly so much that you bought the adapter to use your own headphones which also seems like not in the spirit. I suppose latency could be an issue in some cases, but that is constantly improving as bluetooth improves.
It seems like middle-man adapters (just like the tape deck adapter) and wireless charging are the answers here. Nobody wants to be the adapter guy, but the groups that we are talking about in these wired cases are becoming a minority position.
You can't still buy new cars with 8 track players, or with cassette decks, or for some makes even CD players. Not everyone can afford to make the upgrades, but does that mean we keep putting accessibility options for these things in new cars for the people who still use them? For a little while yes, but eventually no. And I think we're on the cusp of that. Outside of vinyl, it is strange to me to see vociferous opinions about phasing out particular technologies.
It seems to me that, if money were no object, it makes sense generally to go wireless. We don't all have to agree on that point, which I guess is the whole topic.
Money IS an object and not everyone can full replace for every new technology, but in the long run audio tech has gone through several wholesale changes. The pace of those changes are driven by what is profitable I suppose, so really it's a question of how long to hold back. It certainly seems like we are on the cusp of a changeover.
So more specifically then the perspective is that if you had to choose between new phone and car Bluetooth you choose new phone yes?
Not being judgey but rather trying to understand.
I brought my stereo in the car with me back in the day that I couldn't do the upgrade from cassette built in to new CD player but we all have different preferences for sound I suppose.
Which, let's be honest, is exactly the use case we are all talking about here I think. I also mounted my headphones to my "listening post" and casually slip my head between the always open ear cuffs to reduce wear and tear from putting them on and taking them off.
This is why I NEED the aux jack on a phone: minimizes the waste of swapping my listening post when I changed from walkman, to MP3 player, to iPod, to 1st gen iPhone.
I just want to hitch my working Clydesdales to my Toyota because I want to avoid the emissions, but it comes with a fucking engine instead and no place to mount the yokes! They don't need ANY gas and can even drive me home at the end of the night. Who has the money to go full electric when the wagon was working PERFECTLY fine.
It's bullshit to sell me all this garbage I don't need.
Corded earphones that go in the ear would give you the same problem. You can buy over ear Bluetooth headphones, and the ones I use for work have a charger where one battery is in and one is charging.
Shokz batteries last forever and still let you hear surroundings, so they are go-to for leaving the house. And for just audio, phone battery doesn't matter either.
No cables for Bluetooth, and I wouldn't wear earbuds anyway.
Additional bonus: my wife and I used to dance before kids and we can connect TWO sets of headphones for same audio without having to be touching, or we can listen to same audiobook while walking.
I agree with the fact that I don't need one anymore. Bluetooth connections (MULTIPLE simultaneous connections) is great for me.
Why are you guys still using corded headphones on mobile? Is everyone an audiophile but somehow also using mobile phone as a primary media device? Allergic to charging? Too cheap to upgrade your gear? What is the use case that makes this an unpopular opinion? I'm not saying use USB C instead, I'm saying ditch the physical connections altogether.
Edit: If the answer is "I don't have the money" that's a reasonable answer. If it's "wired is just better" that's a questionable statement.
The hard way. I like it.