Xiaomi revealed its flagship for 2017 at an event in Beijing last week. The Mi 6 will be showcasing the best of what Xiaomi has to offer to the masses around the world this year. While the phone flaunted all the flagship specifications, one aspect that has irked the Xiaomi fans is the absence of the 3.5 mm headphone jack from the top or bottom of the phone.
While the move is reminiscent of Apple’s move to ditch the headphone jack in favour of adopting wireless technology for the common smartphone user, Xiaomi’s reason for following the suit is slightly different.
The company claims that removing the headphone jack released more space inside for adding in other components. Xiaomi state that the smartphone is a very complicated device with multiple integrated components and parting with the headphone jack led them to put in other undisclosed components.
Now it could be wrong but the obvious reason for getting that additional space inside the phone’s chassis could be to accommodate the dual-lens camera module. A dual-lens sensor is quite big and needs some space to fit inside a smartphone. Apple could only fit the dual-lens module in the iPhone 7 Plus as it had additional real estate as compared to its smaller brother – the iPhone 7. Since Xiaomi wanted to squeeze the dual-lens camera into a device with a 5.15-inch screen, it had to get rid of something from the last year’s Mi 5 form factor. The headphone jack sat on top with the camera module on the Mi 5, so the only way they could have put the camera was by striking off the headphone jack.
However, this decision could affect the purchase decision of a buyer while considering the Mi 6. Having a single port for listening to music, charging and transferring data could hamper the multitasking ability of the modern smartphone easily. Though it can be avoided if you prefer to the wireless way or Xiaomi decides to pack in adapters to let you use your existing headphones with the phone.
Now that’s an amusing reason to state as a phone manufacturer if you want to indicate – you didn’t copy the latest iPhone, you just got "inspired".
