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Yes, the Samsung Galaxy S9 has a headphone jack

Yes, the Samsung Galaxy S9 has a headphone jack

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Photo by James Bareham / The Verge

Samsung officially announced the Galaxy S9 today, and yes, as indicated by previously leaked images, there is a headphone jack. While many companies have opted out of including a headphone jack — the iPhone X, Pixel 2, and Huawei Mate 10 Pro — some, like Samsung, have continued to include the headphone jack and be... just fine.

Sure, Samsung could have readily ditched the 3.5mm connector, but why? As said before, wireless audio is fine, not great. No one is asking for headphone jacks to be removed, and, “dongles are stupid, especially when they require other dongles,” as we’ve pointed out here at The Verge many times.

The thing is, headphone jacks work, period, and they’re extremely useful. Should we live without the headphone jack on phones just because we can? That’s probably up to you and your personal ability to put up with #donglelife. But, a lot of Galaxy S9 owners are probably going to enjoy the small delight of popping headphones right in without some sort of adaptor. Like, really enjoy it.

Sure, the argument can be made that ditching the jack is an anticipation of better gear to come, as parts continue to get more compact in smaller footprints. But really, for the foreseeable future, it doesn’t feel all that necessary to get rid of it altogether. What are we being groomed for when the best wireless option is Bluetooth, which is actually a horrible alternative? (Walled gardens is the answer to this rhetorical question.)

On top of retaining the headphone jack, the Galaxy S9 also has new speakers that produce surround sound and are 40 percent louder, a new camera system with a mechanically adjustable aperture, and AR Emoji, which is Samsung’s take on Apple’s Animoji.