Do not assume contemporary low-end quality would the flagship quality. Flagships like LG when they had jacks had high quality DACs—even current Sony phones are good. Adding a jack to the device means less things to dangle & put stress on the already kinda weak charging port; this takes up little room & does not affect waterproofing. Almost all other gear for consuming media has a jack, it is pretty much a conspiracy to push folks into perpetually buying Bluetooth earbuds when the batteries die.
Do not assume contemporary low-end quality would the flagship quality. Flagships like LG when they had jacks had high quality DACs—even current Sony phones are good. Adding a jack to the device means less things to dangle & put stress on the already kinda weak charging port; this takes up little room & does not affect waterproofing. Almost all other gear for consuming media has a jack, it is pretty much a conspiracy to push folks into perpetually buying Bluetooth earbuds when the batteries die.