OnePlus 6T to skip headphone jack as OnePlus announces Type-C Bullets variant

OnePlus on Thursday announced new Type-C Bullets earphone that will ship with its upcoming smartphone, OnePlus 6T.

Upgraded USB Type-C wired earphones will be available in India for ₹1,490. (OnePlus)

OnePlus 6T may come with a new and improved design but it will not be without trade-offs. The company has announced it will unveil an upgraded USB Type-C wired earphones for ₹1,490 in India along with its upcoming smartphone later this year. OnePlus' focus on Type-C wires headphones has triggered speculation that OnePlus 6T is set to lose 3.5mm headphone jack.

Interestingly enough, OnePlus had backed retaining 3.5mm headphone jack on its smartphones. Ahead of OnePlus 6 launch this year, co-founder Carl Pei in an interview to Forbes had said, "The more important question we ask is "how important is the headphone jack to our users?". The answer we've had back is overwhelming. Every year I do a Twitter poll and the number of people taking part increases each time, this year there were over 19k votes, and 88% said they like physical headphone jacks."

Not that OnePlus said that it will never remove 3.5mm headphone jack, but that company is known to launch features based on feedback from their fan base. As far as OnePlus 6T goes, the phone is likely to come with a new screen design with tinier notch, dubbed as waterdrop notch. OnePlus may go for higher edge-to-edge screen ratio on its ratio, but a lot of other companies like Vivo (Vivo Nex) and Samsung (Note 9) have achieved that without removing 3.5mm headphone jack.

Another important feature expected on OnePlus 6T is in-display fingerprint sensor. In-display fingerprint sensors are rare in smartphones currently, a handful of devices from Vivo such as Vivo X20 Plus UD, Vivo X21 and Vivo Nex and OPPO R17 come with an in-display fingerprint scanner

Previous iterations from the smartphone maker required a physical fingerprint scanner to unlock the device. Pictures of the upcoming OnePlus smartphone recently appeared on Chinese social media website Weibo that also suggest the device could feature a tiny waterdrop notch.

New Type-C Bullets earphones
The new type-C "Bullets" would be based on delivering a superior sound and would be a step up from "Bullets V2", the company said in a statement.

The earbuds would sport a metal design and aramid fibre has been added to the wire to make the device more durable and resistant to stretching.

Type-C "Bullets" are compatible with any Type-C USB port and pair easily with OnePlus devices, thus allowing users to adjust the sound enhancement configuration for a more customised sound. There is improved sound quality, thanks to a built-in high-end professional digital-to-analog converter by Ciruss Logic, the company added.

The device has a higher dynamic range, higher signal-to-noise ratio and low noise floor when compared to the standard 3.5-mm jack that uses analogue. Type-C headphones ensure minimal loss of quality for a superior audio outcome.

(with inputs from IANS)