The persistence of good USB and audio port designs, and some history of the 3.5 mm headphone jack

Also posted this on slashdot as AC.

MicroUSB was introduced January 2007, endorsed by the Open Mobile Terminal Platform (OMTP) for data and power in 2007, and was endorsed for charging by the ITU in 2009.

Some of the earlier phones with MicroUSB were released in 2007: Motorola Q 9h in February, Motorola RAZR V8 and Nokia 8600 Luna in May 2007 (I searched GSMArena). One of the earlier Androids to support MicroUSB is HTC Desire, released in February 2010.

The MicroUSB standard is 15 years old (as of 2022), and is still going strong even in some of the most recent smartphone models, such as Nokia C21 Plus, and in the most basic featurephones, such as in Nokia 105. Nokia 2780 Flip (the 2022 model), which is sort of like a smart featurephone, even comes with a USB-C port.

Since the MicroUSB standard has lasted for fifteen years already, and won't drop off anytime soon, then it's safe to say, that USB Type C, finalized in 2014, will last at least fifteen years or even longer -- up to 2030 and beyond.

The 3.5 mm headphone jack (also known as 1/8" jack) persists due to its ubiquity, for providing a low barrier for entry (no patents), and for preventing planned obsolescence.

According to Wikipedia, the 3.5 mm headphone jack is said to have been designed in the 1950s with the development of transistor radios, but there is no reliable information about exactly when.

The first transistor radio is Regency TR-1. Released in 1954, it was the first commercially-sold portable radio, the first fully transistor-based radio, probably the first to use the 3.5 mm headphone socket in a commercial product meant for consumer use, and the first to introduce a portable headphone (just one) for private listening. The earpiece was based on the design of hearing aids from that time. Any literature about Regency TR-1 mentions the headphone jack like a footnote, as if anyone who wrote about it, was not aware of its significance.

The 3.5 mm jack has been further popularised with the introduction of Sony EFM-117J, a portable radio released in 1964, which is one of several devices that made the mini plug and socket well before Sony Walkman was a thing.