Despite making the 3.5mm audio jack one of the key aspects of its smartphones for the past years, OnePlus decided to finally follow the wave by ditching the acclaimed port on the OnePlus 6T. According to the company, the removal of the port would allow for a bigger battery and was something needed due to the implementation of an in-display fingerprint scanner. We don’t know if this latter requirement can be confirmed after all the galaxy S10 is here to prove that an in-display scanner won’t be affected by a 3.5mm headphone. In the end, the OnePlus 6T came without the port, and not even an official IP rating came to justify the decision.
However, the company’s flagship was a good reason to promote OnePlus Bullets Wireless – its first wire-free earphones. This particular product received a lot of positive reviews and includes some features such as fast-charging via USB Type-C and support for Google Assistant. OnePlus CEO, Pete Lau, used his official Weibo account, to express his particular opinion about the infamous 3.5mm audio jack. According to him, the removal of this legacy port will help spur development of wireless earphones technology. And with each passing generation, the technology will be further improved until it becomes a standard in the industry. He added that even though, Bullets Wireless is considered good, they can be really better in the future. Lau ended his post asking for suggestions on how to improve their earphones in the future.
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Currently, there’s no evidence pointing, but wouldn’t be a surprise to see the OnePlus 7 with a new pair of Bullets Wireless, maybe a 2nd generation. Unless the Chinese firm keeps it for the OnePlus 7T. If this is indeed the case, then we expect to see a technology that is even better than the last year’s edition, after all, that’s basically what Lau is promising with the absence of 3.5mm audio jack. With the announcement of Qualcomm’s aptX Adaptive Audio for wireless audio devices last year. The technology may be equipped in the next OnePlus wireless earphones.
The new technology brings lower bitrates at the minimum and maximum levels when compared to the current bitrate for aptX and aptX HD, but the new aptX Adaptive standard is equal in quality. It can also detect the source of the audio and automatically adjust for the best experience. So if you’re watching a Netflix movie, the new technology will be able to identify that it’s a movie and will adjust the audio accordingly.