Android Police has a report on the Galaxy Note 10 that Samsung fans probably won’t be happy with. David Ruddock claims the Galaxy Note 10 will be Samsung’s first flagship to remove the headphone jack, taking one of the last wired audio options off the flagship market.
Further Reading
Galaxy S10+ review: Too many compromises for the sky-high price
Samsung isn’t just stripping away the headphone jack, though; the report claims the phone will also lack physical buttons. The volume rocker, power button, and Bixby button “will be replaced by capacitive or pressure-sensitive areas, likely highlighted by some kind of raised ‘bump’ and/or texture along the edge,” according to the report. This is something we’ve seen HTC do with the U12+ last year.
Physical buttons can be a failure point for a phone. The cutouts weaken the case and make devices more susceptible to bending. Plus, like a headphone jack, they’re an ingress point for dust and water. Still, Samsung was able to score an IP68 water and dust resistance rating on the Galaxy S10 with both of these features.
The last tidbit from the report is the news that the Galaxy Note 10 will come in two sizes. Look for a launch sometime around August.
With Samsung bowing out of the market for headphone jack users, that would leave the LG G8 as pretty much the only flagship smartphone that still has a headphone jack. There’s always a dongle, we suppose.
