As an audio enthusiast, the 3.5mm headphone jack is all too familiar to me. The reason why I like it is also very simple, it has accompanied me from school to work, and I am full of feelings for this interface. Even today, I still have a pair of wired headphones on my desk, and I wonder how many other people like me still use wired headphones to listen to music.

     From the cassette tape I used at school to the later iPod player, and then before the iPhone 7, over the years, my hands have long formed muscle memory for "inserting headphones", but since the iPhone 7 conference in 2016, all mobile phone manufacturers are like to discuss. One by one, the 3.5mm headphone ports were cut off, so that to this day some people have to hang a "little tail" on the back of their phones to connect to their wired headphones.

     You may not know, this headphone enthusiasts called "extremely advanced headphone port" first appeared in the 1960s, it is characterized by rugged, easy to connect, high versatility, and low manufacturing costs. In the early era of various interfaces, it is because of these advantages that it has unified almost all audio device interfaces.

     Later, tape walkmen, CD players, iPods, and even many active speakers all use the 3.5mm interface as the standard interface for audio transmission, and it has become the most popular audio interface so far. Later things we all know, with the simultaneous launch of iPhone 7 and AirPods, basically announced the end of the 3.5mm interface era.

     I don't know if you have ever thought about why mobile phone manufacturers are so persistent in cutting off the headphone port? It's easy to say, but it's also to sell more of their own Bluetooth headphones. By creating a market for true wireless headphones, phone makers have one more product to sell. In recent years, the output value of wireless headphones has grown steadily, from 21 billion yuan in 2016 to 82.2 billion yuan in 2020, and China's Bluetooth headset market shipments in 2021 are as high as 120 million units!

     The more true wireless headphones are sold, the less market share wired headphones have. From the beginning of AirPods, the entire headset industry has been reshuffled, and the market of many old headset manufacturers has been robbed by the emerging true wireless headphones. This is like today's car market, many people can only passively accept new energy, even if it can not drive you far.

     It is not an exaggeration to say that the 3.5mm headphone interface carries generations of listening memories, the kind of plug and play, do not need to consider battery life, delay and connection stability experience, is not today's Bluetooth headset can give you. However, in the face of this irreversible trend, you and I as consumers can only passively accept it. But fortunately, with the rapid development of Bluetooth technology, today's Bluetooth headset experience is becoming more and more perfect, and the connection can also be stable as wired. In my opinion, the 3.5mm headphone interface has completed its mission and can be honorably withdrawn from the stage of history.