I am in the same bucket. I have such a number of 3.5mm devices. A couple of pairs of cheap over-the-ear headphones that I use for running and walking. A few pairs of noise-blocking earbuds: work desk drawer, home desk, normal backpack. A decent pair of headphones.
There is no way I'm replacing all those with much more expensive bluetooth devices, all of which I need to keep charged. And I'm also not buying six dongles or carrying an adapter with me everywhere.
I just don't get the obsession with getting rid of the jack. I'm sure some people don't need it. And I even get it with Apple; they have a strong sleekness bias and it lets them sell more expensive AirPods. But is everybody else just cargo-culting Apple?
All of the big companies know that most people aren't willing to base their purchase on whether or not a phone has a headphone jack, and therefore they don't have much to lose from ditching it. They can use that space for more battery or for whatever else they want to put there. The inside of a modern smartphone is a pretty space constrained place.
Buying 6 dongles would also only cost $54 ($9 each) which isn't a ridiculous price for an accessory in my opinion, especially if you're buying a high end phone that's going to cost you $700+ anyways.
Personally, I just carry one dongle attached to my keychain and keep one in the car. It hasn't been an issue for me yet.
The space argument makes sense in theory, but one very dedicated person added a headphone jack back to his iPhone 7, and it was possible only because there was a suspiciously empty space where the jack used to be:
I'm also not persuaded by the "most people won't base their purchase" argument, as that applies just as well to adding another 5-10% to the battery. Most people don't base their purchase solely on anything. I may have to go by my local phone stores and chat with the staff to see how much this matters in practice to people.
As a Nexus owner (4, 5, 6, 7), I am 100% willing to compromise in camera quality. However, something has to give. If this phone debuted at $299 or even $349, I suspect we'd be seeing very different results.
It is a shame too because I think the Amazon Fire phone failed for the very same reason.
In hindsight, the ridiculous invite system that one plus had makes sense now. Maybe they were trying to limit the number of phones sold because each one sold at razor thin profits (possibly at a loss after warranty support).
I was 100% prepared to buy (upgrade to) an Essential phone on Sprint until they pulled the deal after massive abuse (people buying for $150, canceling line, and flipping on eBay for $300 profit).
I'm mostly in the same boat: not having a 3.5mm jack is an excluding factor for me. As someone who has multiple headsets, I'm not surrendering to #dongleLyfe until I'm left with no other options. Thankfully the likes of Samsung, LG and OnePlus don't seem to be interested in dropping it.
I would've had a huawei p20 pro right now if that thing carried a 3.5mm jack, as it's one of the very few phones who fills my other requirements.
