OnePlus 5T is now official and so is its headphone jack.
After a series of teasers on its official Twitter page, OnePlus finally confirmed the existence of the upgraded version of this year's flagship. Company CEO Pete Lau wrote a blog post on Thursday titled "The OnePlus 5T – Let's talk about the headphone jack," going in depth about the feature's usage and the reason behind its retention.
Apparently, it had something to do with the audio quality. "When we surveyed the OnePlus community, 70% of users told us that their priority was sound quality," he wrote. "On the whole, wireless earbuds aren't there yet to provide the same quality of audio."
While there are some wireless headphones out there that offer the same quality as wired ones, he noted that it is not the case for those that cost under $200. As Lau explained, "the options are limited." So, to allow users to enjoy the excellent range of audio choices in the market, OnePlus decided to keep the headphone jack.
Indeed, removing the headphone jack has stirred quite a controversy. When it became a trend, consumers did not take it positively. Many expressed their anger at being forced to purchase an easy-to-lose dongle adaptor or buy new accessories which usually cost more than the wired variety.
OnePlus did acknowledge the potential wireless audio technology has. It also advised those who prefer wireless accessories to take advantage of OnePlus 5T's Bluetooth capability. However, the smartphone maker said their main priority is their users. With 80 percent of them still relying on wired tech, they do not see the need to jump on the bandwagon just yet.
Still, the company did not fully rule out going in the other direction in the future, saying that their decision is best "for the time being." This means they may also remove the beloved port anytime.
OnePlus is among the few brands that have not moved yet to either USB C-based or wireless audio. Apple, Google, HTC, Motorola, and others have all ditched the headphone jack for their 2017 flagships.
OnePlus 5T has no official launch date at the moment, but it will likely be announced before the year's end.
