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.
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
Apple is set to release iOS 18.2 in December, bringing the second round of Apple Intelligence features to iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 models. This update brings several major advancements to Apple's AI integration, including completely new image generation tools and a range of Visual Intelligence-based enhancements. There are a handful of new non-AI related feature controls incoming as well.
...
We're officially in the month of Black Friday, which will take place on Friday, November 29 in 2024. As always, this will be the best time of the year to shop for great deals, including popular Apple products like AirPods, iPad, Apple Watch, and more.
Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with some of these vendors. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment,...
The first Geekbench 6 benchmark results for the M4 Pro chip surfaced today. Impressively, the results that are available so far show that the highest-end M4 Pro chip is faster than the highest-end M2 Ultra chip in terms of peak multi-core CPU performance.
Here is a comparison of the results:
Mac mini with M4 Pro (14-core CPU): 22,094 multi-core score (average of 11 results)
Mac Studio...
The iPhone SE 4 that's set to come out early next year is expected to debut Apple's first in-house 5G modem, according to Jeff Pu, an analyst who covers companies within Apple's supply chain.
In a research note this week with Hong Kong-based investment firm Haitong International Securities, Pu said Apple is expected to roll out its custom-made 5G modem starting with the next-generation...
With the second beta of iOS 18.2 that's available for developers today, Apple has further fleshed out the ChatGPT integration that's available with Siri. In the Settings app, there's now a section that shows the ChatGPT daily limit, and offers an option to upgrade to the paid ChatGPT Plus plan.
The beta includes an Advanced Capabilities section with a "Daily Limit" reading that shows up as...
Apple's new M4 Pro and M4 Max chips are impressively fast in terms of CPU performance, topping the M2 Ultra, but what about graphics performance?
The first Geekbench 6 results for GPU performance are now available for the M4 Pro and M4 Max, and the Metal scores reveal some impressive year-over-year gains. Based on the Metal scores that are available so far, the M4 Pro and M4 Max are up to...
After a busy October in which Apple announced new Macs and Apple Intelligence launched, the calendar has now turned to November. Below, we outline what to expect from Apple this month as the slower-but-still-busy holiday season approaches.
After seeding the first betas of iOS 18.2, iPadOS 18.2, and macOS Sequoia 15.2 with additional Apple Intelligence features last month, Apple will likely...