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Xiaomi India’s product lead, Jai Mani, has provided insight on why phone makers are dropping headphone jacks: he says that they are “actually pretty big” and that the increasing size of other smartphone components and the latest design trends (e.g., bigger cameras, smaller bezels) justify their removal. Mani also suggests that while customers do not outright ask for thinner phones, it’s what they desire.
People often say that nobody is asking for thinner phones. I agree with that–you rarely see people requesting it. However, I’ve been spending a lot of time offline recently and design is an important factor in the offline purchase decision. If you ask people to pick up five different phones and tell you which one has the nicest design, thickness/hand feel tends to be the number one deciding factor for them. There are a lot of popular phones that really don’t look good specs-wise, but once I actually pick them up, it’s much easier to understand the appeal. A lot of it has to do with industrial design – thickness in particular.
People often say that nobody is asking for thinner phones. I agree with that–you rarely see people requesting it. However, I’ve been spending a lot of time offline recently and design is an important factor in the offline purchase decision. If you ask people to pick up five different phones and tell you which one has the nicest design, thickness/hand feel tends to be the number one deciding factor for them. There are a lot of popular phones that really don’t look good specs-wise, but once I actually pick them up, it’s much easier to understand the appeal. A lot of it has to do with industrial design – thickness in particular.