Razer, in common with a number of other manufacturers, has not included a 3.5mm headphone jack on their smartphone, the $699 Razer Phone. Critics have shamed Razer for this decision, but Razer’s Chief Executive has gone to Facebook to explain why the company elected to do this.

Unlike some manufacturers, who gloss up what presumably is a similar design decision with marketing hyperbole, Razer’s Min-Liang Tan posted on Facebook explaining that by dropping the headphone jack and associated electronics, the designers were able to “increase the battery size significantly.” Tan’s estimate is a capacity increase of 500mAh, so from an already-impressive 3,500mAh to a small tablet-worthy 4,000mAh.

Other benefits include improving the handset’s thermals, which in turn means that the device performs smoother for longer as the chassis is able to better radiate heat away from the chipset and battery. For a device designed for gaming, this is an important consideration as gaming tends to work the chipset harder, which generates more heat. Tan also explained that the company bundles a dedicated 24-Bit THX Certified DAC adapter with every Razer Phone device, which means the company, provides, “even better quality headphone audio for those who want to hold on to their analog headphones.” Should Razer had included a DAC chipset inside the Razer Phone, an even bigger compromise in battery size and thermal performance would have been made.

Whilst explaining the decision for the removal of the 3.5mm headphone socket, Tan highlighted that Razer is also selling the HammerHead USB Type-C and HammerHead BT headphones, priced at $79 and $99 respectively, offering a complete solution for Razer Phone purchasers.

It’s refreshing for a company to come clean about the decision to remove a component that many customers miss – and to remind customers of the decisions and compromises that take place when designing a smartphone. Razer’s bet is that more customers will appreciate the extra battery life compared with those who will miss the ability to plug their 3.5mm headphones into the device rather than the adapter.

SOURCE [Min-Liang Tan on Facebook]