Galaxy Note 10 said to ditch the headphone jack and physical keys

Some new information has surfaced regarding Samsung’s upcoming flagship. It’s about the Galaxy Note 10 headphone jack, or lack thereof. The report claims that Samsung will remove the 3.5mm headphone jack from the Galaxy Note 10. Not only that, it’s also said to ditch the physical buttons.

So if the information turns out to be accurate, the Galaxy Note 10 won’t have a headphone jack. It also won’t have buttons for power, volume and Bixby. Though I’m sure not a lot of people are going to miss that last one.

Don’t keep your fingers crossed for the Galaxy Note 10 headphone jack

Citing a source familiar with the company’s plans, Android Police reports that Samsung will likely not include a 3.5mm headphone jack with its next flagship smartphone. The company is perhaps the only major Android vendor still selling flagships with the jack. It’s not like Samsung is entirely opposed to the idea. There are a couple of recent mid-range handsets that don’t have it. The Galaxy Tab S5e doesn’t have one either. Let’s not forget that Samsung didn’t include a 3.5mm headphone jack with the Galaxy Fold as well.

It’s important to note (pun intended) here, though, that none of those devices would sell as many units as the company’s next Galaxy Note. Thus a lot more people will have an opinion about this move. You can already tell that it’s going to be polarizing. Samsung will get an earful from fans who have long appreciated its staunch support of the standard. The company could try to placate them by offering pre-order customers a free pair of Galaxy Buds. It already did that quite liberally with the Galaxy S10 so perhaps that was a glimpse of things to come?

As for the other buttons, the report mentions that there may not be any physical volume, power and Bixby buttons on the device. There may be prominent/raised capacitive or pressure-sensitive areas in their place to act as a sort of fake buttons. The scribe doesn’t know if Samsung intends to carry these changes over to the Galaxy S11 next year. It also backs up our recent confirmation that Samsung will be offering the Galaxy Note 10 in two different sizes.

Samsung could try to sell customers on these changes by arguing that this frees up additional space to make the device thinner and lighter. No headphone jack would particularly free up space for a larger battery. The idea of a slimmer Galaxy Note 10 with a 6.75-inch display and S Pen sans headphone jack and buttons may not seem that bad to them. Korean media has actually been talking about this possibility since about eight months ago.

Do keep in mind that this isn’t set in stone just yet. Even the site itself classifies its report as a rumor. It’s possible that this information may be based on a prototype of the Galaxy Note 10 that may or may not end up being the final version. We’ve been hearing about Samsung dropping the headphone jack on a flagship phone for years now. It’s yet to happen but I think it’s about time we start contemplating the inevitability of that decision.