The OnePlus 11 offers a great mix of powerful hardware and innovative software that makes it one of the best premium Android smartphones of 2023, but does it also have a headphone jack? While most smartphones used to have the headphone socket as a standard feature in the early days of the smartphone revolution, it has become increasingly rare in the past few years. The decline of the 3.5mm port started in 2016, when Apple launched the iPhone 7 without the then-ubiquitous feature, much to the surprise of people everywhere.
While most Android brands initially mocked Apple for doing away with the headphone jack, nearly all have since followed suit, resulting in the feature becoming almost extinct in modern flagship smartphones. Unfortunately for users, that trend continues with the OnePlus 11 as well, as the device does not have a 3.5mm jack to plug in wired headphones. That means users will have to either use wireless earbuds to listen to music or podcasts on the OnePlus 11, or use a USB-C to 3.5mm adapter.
No Headphone Jack In The OnePlus 11
While the lack of a headphone jack will undoubtedly be disappointing for some potential buyers, it is not exactly unexpected. Recent OnePlus flagships, like the 10 Pro and the 10T did not have a headphone jack either, meaning the company was never expected to bring it back on its latest smartphone. The last flagship OnePlus device to have the headphone jack was the OnePlus 6 in 2018, before the company decided to get rid of it in the OnePlus 6T later that year.
It is worth noting that even as the headphone jack has gone the way of the dodo in flagship smartphones, it remains an integral part of many mid-range and entry-level devices. Like the microSD card, it is one of those features that can still be found on lower-priced devices, while people paying the big bucks for premium devices miss out on it. While many people still want to use wired headphones, that's not an option most premium smartphone users have anymore, at least not natively.
Meanwhile, even though the headphone jack remains absent on the latest OnePlus flagship, the company brought back one feature that was much-requested by its fan base over the past several months. The company released the OnePlus 10T without the alert slider – a staple feature of OnePlus flagships since the OnePlus One – much to the dismay of buyers. Thankfully, with the OnePlus 11, the handy alert slider is back, allowing people to once again switch between silent, vibrate, and ring modes without having to unlock their phone.
Source: OnePlus