Thinking like this is how we end up with gadgets that can be barely be called pocket computers.

Thank God that the computer industry came of age before iOSsification began. Need to connect to wired headphones? Buy a dongle. Need more storage? Pay for iCloud. Want to program on your iPad? Jump through a million hoops and end up using a remote desktop solution.

I can understand the upgrade required for extra storage and AI subscriptions, but what revenue is earned from the elimination of the headphone jack? I can only see the marginal costs of adding one in, but for consumers who want it, it'd be a sales tactic.

Bluetooth earphones are devices with a really limited lifespan.

You can use like 2 charges in a day easily and that a lifespan of one to 2 years.

For a lot if vendors it isn't a notable difference, for apple with the air pods it's MASSIVE

This is the real answer why manufacturers don't serve this part of the market

I recently bought a NOS Samsung Note 10 Lite. A quarter the price of the S24, has the wonderful S-Pen and a headphone jack. And even though the battery is ostensibly not user replaceable, it is an easy job that can be done in five minutes without risking breaking anything else.

Similarly, I now have a Samsung Galaxy A52, which has a headphone jack and a microSD slot (but no user-replaceable battery).

I'm not particularly price conscious, so I feel like Samsung lost out on an opportunity to sell me a flagship phone because those no longer have these features I care about. Luckily, this much cheaper phone still has the two that are most important to me. When they stop offering them at all, I'll be done with Samsung.

You just explained something that I've been noticing more and more lately. A decade ago, the early adopters and nerds would have the flagship phones, and everybody else would have the cheap phone. Today the power users are using the absolute cheapest phones and the general public has the flagships.