OnePlus announced new USB Type-C Bullets earbuds today and now you know why. The company has confirmed that its upcoming flagship, believed to be called the OnePlus 6T, is going to ditch the standard 3.5mm headphone jack. The device will only have a USB Type-C port which will be used for charging and hooking up a pair of the company’s $19.99 Bullets earbuds.
OnePlus co-founder Carl Pei confirmed to TechRadar in an interview that the company’s upcoming smartphone is not going to feature a standard 3.5mm headphone jack. He said that the company feels that this is the right time to make this decision.
He acknowledged that this was a controversial decision and not one that it has done just for the sake of doing it or because others have ditched the headphone jack as well. “We believe now is the right time, as it’ll benefit the majority of our users while keeping the downside low,” he said.
Manufacturers have been removing the headphone jack to make more space inside the device for other technology such as in-display fingerprint sensors and bigger batteries. OnePlus has already confirmed that the next flagship will have a display-based fingerprint sensor and Pei says that “improved battery life” will be one of the gains from this decision. He didn’t say just how big of a battery the device will have but reports suggest that it’s going to be bigger than that of the OnePlus 6.
OnePlus is expected to formally launch the OnePlus 6T next month but the company hasn’t confirmed any launch details at this point in time.
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