In short: The OnePlus 6T will lack a 3.5mm headphone jack, OnePlus co-founder Carl Pei confirmed in an interview with TechRadar. “Things that provide user value can also add friction,” the executive asserted, adding that the company’s own estimates suggest 59-percent of its customers already bought into the wireless audio segment and own at least one pair of wireless earbuds. Mr. Pei said OnePlus has been considering the option of removing the popular audio port from its devices for some time now but believes its newly confirmed timing to be optimal. As a direct result of the decision, the OnePlus 6T — whose name still hasn’t been officially revealed — will offer better battery life compared to its predecessor.
Background: OnePlus is also believed to be banking on its Bullets Wireless headphones to help transition its customers to wireless audio solutions. The original pair of earbuds was met with mostly positive reviews and the Chinese consumer electronics manufacturer is already working on a successor, as first indicated by a recently spotted product certification issued by the United States Federal Communications Commission. As part of the same interview, Mr. Pei confirmed that the Bullets Wireless V2 are on the way, adding that the OnePlus 6 successor will be bundled alongside a USB Type-C adapter allowing users to still connect their old 3.5mm headphones to the device.
The impact: Much like the company’s decision to embrace display notches, the removal of the headphone jack from the OnePlus 6T is likely to cause some backlash from the vocal portion of its tech-savvy customer base. While Mr. Pei acknowledged that scenario as a likely outcome of the newly confirmed development, OnePlus appears to be confident in its ability to continue growing moving forward even if it continues to conform to industry trends, i.e. break with the tradition that originally saw it gain popularity among tech enthusiasts. With the company now securing a distribution partnership with T-Mobile US, the OnePlus 6T is likely to be its best-selling device ever, headphone jack or not.