obsolete (adjective) No longer in use.
And once more it turns into an argument about definitions.. I thought it was clear from context, but I'm using "obsolete" here to mean "old fashioned" or "outdated", a perfectly viable way to use the word "obsolete" if you ask me.. And I mainly used it because as I mentioned, this discussion was settled with the previous fairphone.. Perhaps a better word to use is redundant and/or outdated.
The fact that I can go to literally any electronics store and choose from dozens of different 3.5mm jack headphones
The jack has been THE standard for decades, arguably centuries.. Frankly, I am surprised how fast the smartphone world switched. But of course it doesn't disappear over night, but that doesn't make it any less outdated/obsolete or whatever word you want to use here.. And there will still be viable headphones with the 3.5 mm audio jack, just not in the smartphone world.. That's why I wrote "the standard is obsolete when it comes to modern smartphones"..
The 3.5 mm jack is going to disappear from the smartphone world completely. Will it still be useful in some other cases? Sure, I don't see a viable replacement in some parts of the audio world. But in the smartphone world, where every single mm has an impact, it is, in my opinion, simply obsolete, especially when you already have other interfaces built in that essentially can do the same thing already.. It's just additional space being used that is not needed..
Yes, with time more and more people will buy USB-C headphones, it will become a standard
It already is a standard and it has been a standard for almost 10 years by now..
phones makers, following Apples stupid idea, started doing it first.
Of course they did, nobody wanted to be first to challenge a standard that was always the norm with portable devices, but no smartphone manufacturer wants a plug in their device that is unnecessary or redundant, which is why most followed once the first major player made the move.
Why start removing jack where they are used the most?
Because at the end of the day, it's useless space.. And I get it, switching a standard, especially a standard that is so widely used, is always annoying for some time-period. But the switch started 7 years ago..
People complain because with phones they are losing function
No, people complain because it's a change and change is annoying.. There is no actual loss of function, the audio jack doesn't have any function that USB doesn't have.
In my opinion, it's obsolete or outdated standard when it comes to modern smartphones.
Of course adapters are not an optimal solution, but again, USB headphones are a thing.. I definitely see the argument for wired headphones over wireless headphones, but I don't see a reason why we should use 3.5 mm audio when we can simply use USB, which is an interface that is already the standard..