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We asked, you told us: You want to see earbud slots on smartphones

Nokia revealed a feature phone with slots to keep and charge your earbuds, but should the feature come to smartphones?
By
July 26, 2022
Nokia 5710 XpressAudio official resized
Supplied by HMD

HMD recently revealed the Nokia 5710 XpressAudio feature phone, and it stands out thanks to the inclusion of slots on the back of the phone to keep and charge the bundled true wireless earbuds. It’s definitely something we haven’t seen on a phone before.

We posted a poll in our accompanying news article, asking Android Authority readers whether they’d like to see this feature on smartphones. Well, the results are in, and here’s how you voted.

Do you want to see earbud slots on smartphones?

Results

Over 1,100 votes were counted as of writing, and it turns out almost three-quarters of polled readers (74.1%) want to see earbud slots on smartphones.

It’s a pretty handy feature on paper, negating the need for a dedicated charging case for earbuds. Plus, most of today’s smartphones feature big batteries anyway, so the impact on battery life should be negligible when charging the buds.

Related: The best true wireless earbuds around

Meanwhile, 25.88% of respondents say they don’t want to see earbud slots on smartphones. We can understand why people would choose this option, as a feature like this requires a fair amount of space. This space could instead be used for other features like a bigger battery, bigger/more camera sensors, improved cooling, or wireless charging.

Another reason to avoid a feature like this is that the earbud slots won’t necessarily work with any true wireless earbuds. For example, the Nokia 5710 XpressAudio’s slots are made with Nokia’s specific earbuds in mind. Even if you can fit another brand’s earbuds in there, there’s no guarantee that it will actually charge.