Google Kills Headphone Jack in Latest Pixel 6A Just Months After Parodying Apple

Google on Wednesday unveiled its latest mid-range 5G smartphone, the Pixel 6A, and for the first time, this A-series model is missing a 3.5mm headphone jack.

pixel 6a colors
The lack of a headphone jack on the Pixel 6A follows a technology trend that Apple started with the iPhone 7 in 2016, and in that sense is relatively unsurprising.

Yet as recently as last August, Google was touting the inclusion of a headphone jack on the Pixel 5A with an ad that parodied some of the product intro videos that former Apple design chief Jony Ive used to make to highlight new ‌iPhone‌ features.

This isn't the first time Google has indirectly mocked Apple for dropping the headphone jack, only for it to later do precisely the same. Google poked fun at the ‌iPhone‌ 7's lack of headphone jack while unveiling its original Pixel smartphone in 2016, and then the Pixel 2 launched without one just a year later.

Samsung fell for the same short-sighted marketing approach in 2018 when it mocked the ‌iPhone‌ X's lack of a headphone jack in one of its "Ingenius" ads promoting the Galaxy S9. Five months later it introduced the Galaxy A8s, its first smartphone without a headphone jack, much to the amusement of ‌iPhone‌ users.

The Google Pixel 6A costs $449 and features a slight redesign in line with last year's Pixel 6 range, with a raised camera bump on the rear that houses a 12MP main camera and a 12MP ultra-wide lens. Powered by the company's custom Tensor chipset, the 6A comes with a 6.1-inch OLED 1080p display running at 60Hz and includes an under-screen fingerprint sensor.

Popular Stories

AirPods Pro 3 Mock Feature

AirPods Pro 3 Just Months Away – Here's What We Know

Friday April 18, 2025 5:16 am PDT by
Despite being more than two years old, Apple's AirPods Pro 2 still dominate the premium wireless‑earbud space, thanks to a potent mix of top‑tier audio, class‑leading noise cancellation, and Apple's habit of delivering major new features through software updates. With AirPods Pro 3 widely expected to arrive in 2025, prospective buyers now face a familiar dilemma: snap up the proven...
iphone 17 air dummy unbox therapy

iPhone 17 Air's Extreme Thinness Demoed in New Video

Tuesday April 22, 2025 10:22 am PDT by
Apple plans to release an all-new super thin iPhone this year, debuting it alongside the iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone 17 Pro Max. We've seen pictures of dummy models, cases, and renders with the design, but Lewis Hilsenteger of Unbox Therapy today showed off newer dummy models that give us a better idea of just how thin the "iPhone 17 Air" will be. The iPhone 17 Air is expected to be ...
ipad air windows 11 arm

M2 iPad Air Runs Windows 11 ARM via Emulation, Thanks to EU Rules

Tuesday April 22, 2025 5:01 am PDT by
A developer has demonstrated Windows 11 ARM running on an M2 iPad Air using emulation, which has become much easier since the EU's Digital Markets Act (DMA) regulations came into effect. As spotted by Windows Latest, NTDev shared an instance of the emulation on social media and posted a video on YouTube (embedded below) demonstrating it in action. The achievement relies on new EU regulatory...
iphone 16 pro models 1

17 Reasons to Wait for the iPhone 17

Thursday April 17, 2025 4:12 am PDT by
Apple's iPhone development roadmap runs several years into the future and the company is continually working with suppliers on several successive iPhone models simultaneously, which is why we often get rumored features months ahead of launch. The iPhone 17 series is no different, and we already have a good idea of what to expect from Apple's 2025 smartphone lineup. If you skipped the iPhone...
iOS 18

iOS 18.5 Includes Only a Few Changes So Far

Monday April 21, 2025 11:00 am PDT by
Apple seeded the third beta of iOS 18.5 to developers today, and so far the software update includes only a few minor changes. The changes are in the Mail and Settings apps. In the Mail app, you can now easily turn off contact photos directly within the app, by tapping on the circle with three dots in the top-right corner. In the Settings app, AppleCare+ coverage information is more...
iphone 17 pro majin bu sky blue

iPhone 17 Pro Allegedly Coming in Sky Blue Color Used for MacBook Air

Tuesday April 22, 2025 4:08 am PDT by
Apple will unveil the iPhone 17 Pro in a new Sky Blue color, the same color that debuted on the latest M4 MacBook Air models Apple released in March. That's according to the leaker Majin Bu. Concept mockup from Majin Bu Writing on his website, Bu claims that "sources close to the supply chain confirm that several iPhone 17 Pro prototypes have been made in various colors, with Sky Blue...
maxresdefault

iPhone 17 Pro Launching Later This Year With These 12 New Features

Sunday April 13, 2025 7:52 am PDT by
While the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are not expected to launch until September, there are already plenty of rumors about the devices. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models as of April 2025: Aluminum frame: iPhone 17 Pro models are rumored to have an aluminum frame, whereas the iPhone 15 Pro and ...

Top Rated Comments

Leon Ze Professional Avatar
39 months ago
Has Google dethroned Samsung as lead Ad Mocker?

OR

It proves Apple are truly the real leaders in the technology space.
Score: 17 Votes (Like | Disagree)
MajorFubar Avatar
39 months ago
I'm old enough to remember Apple getting rid of the 3.5" floppy drive and the shock it generated. Didn't take long for everyone else to follow. When the headphone jack disappeared from the iPhone it probably mostly affected those people using GarageBand on their iPhones, because BT headphones have too much latency. So from that point on you had to use dongles if you wanted to both charge your phone and use a headphone adaptor. Most other people had already moved over to BT headphones I reckon, and were almost completely unaffected.
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
44267547 Avatar
39 months ago

Tim Cook cares more about money than functionality.
Conflating Tim Cook and technological changes why the headphone jack was removed is not mutually exclusive, and shows your intended snark that is clearly misguided and totally irrelevant. That’s not going to fly.
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
BootsWalking Avatar
39 months ago
Now that Google has copied Apple's removal of the headphone jack maybe they can now try and copy Apple's amazing ARM processors as well ?
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
RadioHedgeFund Avatar
39 months ago

I'm old enough to remember Apple getting rid of the 3.5" floppy drive and the shock it generated. Didn't take long for everyone else to follow. When the headphone jack disappeared from the iPhone it probably mostly affected those people using GarageBand on their iPhones, because BT headphones have too much latency. So from that point on you had to use dongles if you wanted to both charge your phone and use a headphone adaptor. Most other people had already moved over to BT headphones I reckon, and were almost completely unaffected.
The market was going that way anyway with Firewire and the Floppy. Apple just got there first (and was with Firewire really its last remaining supporter)

The 3.5mm headphone jack was more of a commercial decision to push lightning more (and those sweet mfi payments) as well as push people towards the bluetooth headphones of the brand it just acquired from Dr. Dre. It was less 'brave' and more 'we can get even richer'.

Still, if you're missing one and want a 'Pro' phone with actual features you might consider to be professional like a 3.5mm jack, an actual telephoto lens instead of a fixed zoom, bottomless manual controls, records 4K120 on all its lenses, has the software to match all this and uses terminology grown-ups use then I hear Sony has you covered ('https://www.sony.co.uk/electronics/smartphones/xperia-1m4').
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
wonderings Avatar
39 months ago

Samsung also made Apple snark years back.

The whole ‘removal of the 3.5 mm Jack’, was blown way out of proportion. Consumers were already using Bluetooth devices when it was removed on the iPhone 7 in 2016. All Apple was doing was paving the way for the future, some understood that, and others refused to adapt. For me personally, the AirPods made that transition much more seamless given how easily they connected and the simplicity of use.
Not sure it was blown way out of proportion. I think it would be safe to say the majority of people were using wired headphones still. Now they are basically forced to buy new wireless headphones that are not cheap if they want to continue using their new phone as they did before. Smart move on Apples part, but it was simply done to push more sales into their AirPods and Beats headphones. These tech companies are thinking of how much money they are making, don't deceive yourself in thinking that Apple and anyone else is really doing this for the betterment of mankind.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)