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

maxresdefault

Apple Releases iOS 18.4 With Priority Notifications, Ambient Music, New Emoji and More

Monday March 31, 2025 10:03 am PDT by
Apple today released iOS 18.4 and iPadOS 18.4, the fourth major updates to the iOS 18 and iPadOS 18 operating system updates that came out last year. iOS 18.4 and iPadOS 18.4 come two months after Apple released iOS 18.3 and iPadOS 18.3. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. The new software can be downloaded on eligible iPhones and iPads over-the-air by going to...
iOS 19 Mock WWDC25 Feature

iOS 19 Expected to Run on These iPhones

Monday March 31, 2025 5:28 pm PDT by
iOS 19 will not be available on the iPhone XR, iPhone XS, or the iPhone XS Max, according a private account on social media site X that has accurately provided information on device compatibility in the past. The iPhone XR, iPhone XS, and iPhone XS Max all have an A12 Bionic chip, so it looks like iOS 19 will discontinue support for that chip. All other iPhones that run iOS 18 are expected...
iPhone 17 Pro 34ths Perspective

iPhone 17 Pro Launching Later This Year With These 10 New Features

Sunday March 23, 2025 10:00 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. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models as of March 2025: Aluminum frame: iPhone 17 Pro models are rumored to have an aluminum frame, whereas the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro models have a titanium frame, and the iPhone ...
AirPods Pro Firmware Feature

Apple Releases New Firmware for AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods 4

Monday March 31, 2025 11:27 am PDT by
Apple today released new firmware updates for all AirPods 4 and AirPods Pro 2 models. The new firmware is version 7E93, up from the 7B21 firmware that was installed on the AirPods Pro 2 and the 7B20 firmware available on the AirPods 4 and AirPods 4 with ANC. It is not immediately clear what new features or changes are included in the new firmware, but we'll update this article should we find ...
top stories 2025 03 29

Top Stories: WWDC 2025 Announced, iPhone 17 Pro and iOS 19 Rumors, and More

Saturday March 29, 2025 6:00 am PDT by
Apple's big developer event is a little over two months away, and rumors about what we can expect to see in Apple's next major operating system updates are becoming increasingly frequent. A public release of iOS 18.4 is also imminent with a number of updates and improvements, although we won't be getting the major Apple Intelligence Siri upgrades that had reportedly been planned for this...
iOS 19 visionOS UI Elements

Apple Codename Provides Clue About iOS 19's Rumored New Design

Sunday March 30, 2025 6:40 am PDT by
Multiple sources have claimed that iOS 19 will introduce a new design with more translucent buttons, menus, notification banners, and more, and there is now another clue that points towards this glass-like appearance. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman today said the new design project is codenamed "Solarium" internally. A solarium is a room with glass walls that allow in plenty of sunlight, so this...
macOS Sequoia Feature

Apple Releases macOS Sequoia 15.4 With Mail Categorization and More

Monday March 31, 2025 10:04 am PDT by
Apple today released macOS Sequoia 15.4, the fourth major update to the macOS Sequoia operating system that launched in September. macOS Sequoia 15.4 comes two months after the launch of macOS Sequoia 15.3. Mac users can download the ‌‌macOS Sequoia‌‌ update through the Software Update section of System Settings. It is available for free on all Macs able to run macOS 15. With...
Magic Mouse Green

What to Expect From the Magic Mouse 3

Saturday March 29, 2025 10:15 am PDT by
Apple is reportedly working on a new Magic Mouse. Below, we recap what to expect. The two key rumors for the Magic Mouse 3 so far include a relocated charging port, along with a more ergonomic design. It was briefly rumored that the Magic Mouse 3 would also feature voice control, but that was misinterpreted information. Relocated Charging Port While the Magic Mouse switched from...

Top Rated Comments

Leon Ze Professional Avatar
38 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
38 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
38 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
38 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
38 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
38 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)